Photograph courtesy of National Museum of Wales

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Twenty years before this photograph was taken In February of 1890, a terrible disaster happened here at the Llanerch Colliery just a few miles from the Glyn Pits. It started in the Meadow Vein seam at a place called 'Cooks slope'. Oblivious to a build-up of gas, the miners descended the shaft to their workplaces. Shortly after the day shift began, a massive explosion occurred ripping through the mine killing 176 men and boys, making it one of the worst disasters in South Wales. This disaster could have been averted if safety lamps had been in use. In a letter dated 5th December 1889, Mr Edward Jones, Managing Director, stated: 'At present, we think the colliery is well ventilated and safe to work with naked lights'. This was said two months before the explosion occurred. The explosion left one row of ten cottages in Abersychan near Pontypool, with eleven fatalities.

This sort of disaster was happening right across the British coalfields because it was not known at the time that coal dust was causing these terrible explosions to travel so fast with a severity that killed everyone in its path. The initial explosion of gas and the blast lifted any coal dust into the air and with the initial ignition set up a chain reaction causing it to rip through the mine workings When this phenomenon was finally realised, stone dust being inflammable was dusted around the work areas and roadways, this had the effect of breaking these chain reactions, reducing the chances of any potential massive explosions caused by coal dust. 

 

 It took some time for work to get back to normal at the Llanerch Colliery after the explosion, and throughout the remainder of the 1890s, a further seven men died from injuries received in accidents there. The graves of two of them -18-year-old Abiathar Stewart and 24-year-old Daniel James- can still be seen in Noddfa burial ground at Abersychan, the former having been crushed between some trucks during shunting operations on the surface on May 9th, 1890 and the latter killed by a falling stone on Feb 3rd, 1897. Others to die included 24-year-old collier Thomas Franks on Christmas day, 1892, from injuries received in the previous June and 48-year-old William Mathews, five hours after being struck by a heavy stone on March 14th, 1893. Williams Mathews had been a sergeant in one of the local Volunteer Brigades and was given a military funeral in Trevethin Churchyard.

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Excerpts from the Eastern valley mining Fatalities 1829-1899 by Brian Foster.