Tuesday, 14th October, 1913, is a day that will remain one of the worst days in British mining history. Today is the 101st anniversary of a massive explosion which devastated a small Welsh town, and claimed the lives of over four hundred miners.
The town of Senghenydd is nestled in the Aber Valley in Glamorgan, South Wales, just to the northwest of the cheesemaking centre of Caerphilly. Originally a farming community, Senghenydd profited from the discovery of coal in the late 19th Century, and the Universal Colliery (opened in 1891) was one of two mines sunk in the region.
The first major accident came on 24th May, 1901, when an explosion at the colliery killed 81 of the 82 miners working at the mine. Despite a demand for significant safety improvements at the pit, nothing was done. Some twelve years later, this lack of action was to prove even more disastrous.
At 8.00am on 14th October, a spark from electrical machinery ignited a large concentration of firedamp (methane). This explosion disturbed coal-dust on the floors, which too began to ignite in a series of explosions. These were so violent that the cage of the Lancaster Pit (the two pits at the colliery were the Lancaster and York pits) was blown back up out of the shaft, and wedged in the pithead winding gear. A series of fires started to spread, and the production of carbon monoxide (known as afterdamp) from the explosions made matters worse.
A total of 440 individuals (439 miners and one rescuer) lost their lives that day, a figure which thankfully, has never been exceeded in British mining accidents. Virtually every family in the town suffered at least one loss.
Universal Colliery was closed in 1928.
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