Development of many mines, and hence small settlements into villages and towns in the area, was brought about by a combination of a rich deposits of anthracite in the western South Wales coalfield, as well as the construction of the Neath and Brecon Railway from 1862.

David Evans of the Evans-Bevan coal mining partnership, had wanted to call the colliery after his daughter, Isabella Bevan who cut the first sod on the land at Bryn Dulais farm with a silver spade on Monday 11 March 1872.

During World War II the colliery was featured in an anti-Nazi film The Silent Village, made with the cooperation of the South Wales Miners Federation.

The first dwellings erected in the village were single storey buildings for the coal miners, named Brick Row,[2] which are still in place today.

Thomas employed on an annual salary of £52.In 1905, a mixed collection of bronze objects found much earlier in the Bryntêg area, was recognized as being an important find.

Some history of the village still remains, with the pit head winding gear sunk in the ground next to the site of the old colliery, and five pairs of preserved sections of railway line indicating the size of the enterprise.

Originally the colliery team, Seven Sisters RFC founded in 1897, are a WRU affiliated rugby union club.