Rickets Head south mining activity panorama

Nolton Haven to Newgale
The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks.

This southward panoramic view from the coast path shows Rickets Head on the right and St Brides Bay in the background. The present-day profile of the headland is a result of former coal mining activity and the removal of overburden to access the Rickets Head Vein coal which cropped out at the base of the sandstone which comprises the up-standing pillar of rock.

The coast path climbs up from Rickets Head over the disturbed ground and spoil heaps visible in the foreground.

On the left of the photo in the flatter grassy area, are old shafts and degraded, grassed-over, spoil heaps of Rickets Head Colliery which worked the underlying Black Cliff Vein.

Stratigraphically, the rocks of Rickets Head are the highest (youngest) in the Carboniferous sequence of the Pembrokeshire coalfields.