Bell pits have a spoil heap, usually on the northern side which allows the pit to ‘breathe light and air’ from the prevailing south westerly winds to dry out the area. In some instances, where the coal lay very close to the surface it was extracted by a trench rather than by separate pits. Once the coal was removed, the pit was abandoned and a new one sunk nearby, resulting in a line of pits all along the line of the seam as can be seen in a number of places in the Clyne Valley. When the coal was reached, the pit was widened or ‘belled’ out as far as safety allowed, 10 feet being the absolute maximum as the loose shales crumbled easily when exposed. A small pit was sunk through the superficial boulder clay. They represent an early method of mining coal, which was suitable only when the coal was very close to the surface. They are often found running in a line along the coal seam. Descriptionīell pits (or ‘shaft-mounds’) can be recognised as a fairly shallow depression in the ground, perhaps about 5 to 15 feet across with a mound of earth at one side. They represent clear evidence for early coal working in the Clyne Valley, although it is almost impossible to date them accurately. Sites in zone 5 appear to be earlier on the grounds that they are more degraded and eroded than those in zone 6.

They fall into six main groups, two of which (groups 5 and 6 on the map reproduced below) fall within Clyne Wood where the Dukes of Beaufort owned the mineral rights.

A survey published in the journal Gower in the 1950s identified a total of 255 bell pits within the Clyne Valley between Ynys and Dunvant.

Bell found in coal