At 3.50pm on Saturday 23 June 1894, the tiny South Wales mining village of Cilfynydd was rocked by an explosion at the Albion Colliery and 290 men and boys plus 118 to horses were killed. Eleven of those killed were never identified. It became Wales’ (and Britain’s) worst mining disaster, only eclipsed 19 years later by the explosion at the nearby Universal Colliery at Senghenydd 1913 which resulted in the loss of 439 lives.
It is hard to imagine what a disaster of this magnitude meant to community of only 3,000 people. That day, 150 women became widows and more than 350 children from the community were made fatherless. Moriah Chapel lost 40 members and stories emerged of families with huge losses: one house lost a husband, two sons and a son-in-law; another lost a husband three sons and two sons-in-law; a third lost a husband, sons and lodgers totalling nine deaths. Houses became vacant as widows and children moved out to live with relatives elsewhere in Wales and attendance at the village school was so low that it was officially closed for a month.
Immediately after the explosion, 2,000 people gathered at the pit-head and the following day that number increased to an estimated 20,000 sightseers in the area. Opportunists were quick to take advantage and dray loads of beer were brought into the village to replace stocks at the pubs which had been drunk dry the previous day. The pubs opened illegally on Sunday — an unheard of event — and ironically, the chapels remained closed, which was an indication of the shock experienced by the residents of Cilfynydd.
Like all such dreadful events, when examined later it became clear that human failings were the cause of the accident. The mine owners were able to employ expert witnesses at the inquest who testified that there was nothing that the Management could have done to prevent the explosion. The jury returned a complex verdict with a number of recommendations. They concluded that the explosion had been caused by fire damp, a mixture of flammable gases, principally of methane and that a number of regulations had been broken and staff negligent in their safety duties. Among their recommendations was that old workings should be stopped up; a record should be kept of the number of men underground at all times and that more frequent inspections should be made by Her Majesty’s Inspectors.
During the inquest it became clear that the management had no idea how many men were below ground and eventually all collieries were compelled to introduce a system to identify every miner underground at any time. An Albion colliery ‘lamp check’ is in my possession, which was placed on a rack in exchange for a safety lamp, is shown.
Eventually, minor charges were brought against two employees which resulted in fines of £10 and £2 respectively and the colliery reopened two weeks later.
My grandfather travelled as a young man in about 1902 from Trefor in North Wales, where he worked at a granite quarry, to earn more at the Albion colliery in Cilfynydd. He told me stories of how traumatised the village was only eight years or so after the explosion.
A memorial was erected to the 11 unidentified miners who died in the accident and on the Centenary in 1994, a permanent memorial was created at Coedylan Comprehensive School which stands on the site of the Albion colliery. Although the colliery closed in 1966, after 80 years of existence, some capped shafts are still visible on the school playing fields.
Most of the information for this blog is drawn from R Meurig Evans’ excellent book about the Cilfynydd explosion of 1894, titled “One Saturday Afternoon”.
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed reading it, you
are a great author.I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will often come back sometime soon. I want to encourage one
to continue your great writing, have a nice day!
I do not even know how I finished up right here, however I believed this put up used to be good.
I do not know who you’re but certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger in the event you are not already.
Cheers!
of course like your web site however you have
to test the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very troublesome
to inform the truth however I will surely come again again.
Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and in depth
information you provide. It’s awesome to come across a blog
every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted
rehashed information. Wonderful read! I’ve saved your site and I’m
including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
My brother suggested I might like this web site.
He was once totally right. This put up actually made my day.
You cann’t believe just how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
Hello it’s me, I am also visiting this web site regularly, this website is really pleasant
and the visitors are actually sharing fastidious thoughts.
I must thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this blog.
I really hope to view the same high-grade content from you in the future as well.
In truth, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own, personal site now
😉
I for all time emailed this weblog post page to all my contacts, for the reason that if like to read it afterward
my friends will too.
Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before
but after going through a few of the posts I realized it’s new to me.
Regardless, I’m certainly happy I came across
it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back regularly!
My family members always say that I am wasting my time here at net, except I know I am getting
experience everyday by reading thes fastidious articles.
Today, I went to the beach with my children. I found
a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said
“You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed.
There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off
topic but I had to tell someone!
Hi, Neat post. There is an issue together with
your website in internet explorer, could check this?
IE still is the market chief and a large component
of other folks will omit your wonderful writing because
of this problem.
Heya superb blog! Does running a blog like this require a lot of work?
I have absolutely no expertise in computer programming however I
had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyways, should you have
any suggestions or techniques for new blog owners
please share. I understand this is off subject but
I simply needed to ask. Kudos!
Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it, you will be a great author.
I will be sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will
come back someday. I want to encourage you to continue your great job,
have a nice morning!
Spot on with this write-up, I honestly feel this web site needs much more attention.
I’ll probably be back again to read more, thanks for the advice!
Everything is very open with a really clear clarification of the issues. It was definitely informative. Your website is useful. Many thanks for sharing!
Heya are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to
get started and set up my own. Do you need any coding expertise
to make your own blog? Any help would be really
appreciated!
This website was… how do you say it? Relevant!!
Finally I’ve found something which helped me.
Cheers!
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this
website. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between user
friendliness and visual appearance. I must say you have done a excellent job with this.
Also, the blog loads extremely fast for me on Opera.
Exceptional Blog!
Hi, constantly i used to check website posts here early in the daylight, as i
like to gain knowledge of more and more.
Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your
weblog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I am
hoping you write again very soon!
You need to be a part of a contest for one of the finest blogs on the web. I am going to recommend this website!
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now
each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same
comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that
service? Thanks a lot!
Ridiculous quest there. What happened after? Thanks!
Hello! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new apple iphone!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts!
Keep up the outstanding work!
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any
issues of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My website has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced
but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do
you know any techniques to help stop content from being
ripped off? I’d definitely appreciate it.
Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay.
I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
It’s an amazing article for all the web viewers; they will get benefit from it I am sure.
Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s truly
informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels. I’ll appreciate if you
continue this in future. Numerous people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
It’s appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to
be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you some interesting things
or suggestions. Perhaps you can write next articles referring to this article.
I want to read even more things about it!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Dancing Race.
Regards
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger.
I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your magnificent post.
Also, I have shared your website in my social networks!
Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you will be a great author.
I will always bookmark your blog and will eventually come back in the foreseeable future.
I want to encourage that you continue your great posts, have a nice morning!
Fine way of explaining, and good piece of writing to take
data concerning my presentation topic, which i am going to deliver in institution of higher education.
May I simply just say what a relief to discover somebody that really understands what they’re talking about on the web.
You definitely understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important.
More and more people should look at this and understand this side of the story.
I can’t believe you aren’t more popular because
you definitely have the gift.
My family always say that I am wasting my time here at net,
except I know I am getting experience every day by reading thes good articles or
reviews.
Definitely believe that which you said. Your
favorite reason appeared to be on the internet the easiest thing
to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they plainly do
not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing
without having side-effects , people can take a signal.
Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
Hello to every single one, it’s genuinely a pleasant
for me to visit this web page, it includes useful Information.
Link exchange is nothing else but it is only placing the other person’s website link on your page
at proper place and other person will also do same for
you.
It’s actually a cool and helpful piece of info.
I’m happy that you just shared this useful information with
us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
I’m gone to say to my little brother, that he should also pay a visit this blog on regular basis to get updated from most up-to-date gossip.
I was pretty pleased to uncover this web site. I wanted to thank you for ones time for this
wonderful read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of
it and I have you bookmarked to check out new things in your
blog.
I don’t even know how I finished up right here, but I assumed this
post was once great. I don’t know who you might be but certainly you’re going
to a famous blogger when you are not already.
Cheers!
If you wish for to take a good deal from this piece of writing then you have to apply these strategies to your won web
site.
I think the admin of this website is actually working hard for his web site, for the reason that here every information is quality based information.
Hi there, I discovered your web site by means of Google while looking
for a comparable matter, your website came up, it appears great.
I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, simply changed into aware of your weblog via Google, and located that it’s really informative.
I am gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful in case you continue this in future.
Numerous other folks might be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here.
The sketch is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish.
nonetheless, you command get got an impatience over that
you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again as exactly the same
nearly very often inside case you shield this hike.
This paragraph will assist the internet visitors for setting up new blog or even a blog
from start to end.
I think the admin of this web site is in fact working hard in support of his web page,
as here every information is quality based material.
This article is actually a fastidious one it assists new web people,
who are wishing in favor of blogging.