Gresford Disaster Memorial, Pandy

Category	Art
Dates	22 September 1934: the explosion. November 1973: the colliery closes. 1982: the memorial built and unveiled.

The memorial to the 266 men killed at Gresford Colliery in 1934, built round a wheel from the pit's winding gear and unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1982 after a long campaign by Margaret Capper, who lost two of her family, and the miners' agent Ted McKay.

A large spoked pit wheel set upright between two stone pillars on a lawn behind iron railings. — The Gresford disaster memorial at Pandy, with the colliery's winding wheel, in 2018 Richard Hoare, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph and Wikimedia Commons

The mining history in this record

An explosion and fire at Gresford Colliery near Wrexham on 22 September 1934 killed 266 men. The colliery closed in November 1973, and in the 1980s its site became an industrial estate.

A memorial took nearly fifty years. Margaret Capper, two of whose family had died in the disaster, and the miners' agent Ted McKay campaigned for it against opposition and apathy, locally and nationally. It was built in 1982 on Bluebell Lane, Pandy, close to the old colliery, around one of the wheels from the pit-head winding gear, and unveiled by the Prince of Wales that year.

People

Margaret Capper and Ted McKay, campaigners for the memorial.

Legacy today

The wheel memorial stands near the industrial estate that replaced the colliery. Gresford is also remembered in the folk ballad 'The Gresford Disaster' and in Robert Saint's brass-band hymn 'Gresford'.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

The Gresford Disaster Memorial, built in 1982, is made around a wheel from the colliery's pit-head winding gear. (documented fact) ^1,2
It was built after a long campaign, against opposition and apathy, by Margaret Capper, two of whose family were killed, and the miners' agent Ted McKay. (documented fact) ¹
It was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1982. (documented fact) ¹
The memorial stands on Bluebell Lane, Pandy, near the colliery site, now an industrial estate. (documented fact) ^1,2
It commemorates the 266 men killed by the explosion and fire of 22 September 1934. (documented fact) ²

Mines

Gresford Colliery — Wrexham
The memorial at Pandy, near the colliery site, is built around one of Gresford's winding wheels, for the 266 men killed in 1934.

Disasters

Gresford Colliery explosion, 1934 — 22 September 1934

Sources

(secondary) Gresford Disaster Memorial — People's Collection Wales
(secondary) Gresford disaster — Wikipedia
(observational) Gresford Mining disaster memorial (Geograph 5801642) — Wikimedia Commons (Geograph)

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026