Disasters

Explosions, floods, collapses and other major incidents at UK mines — including significant post-closure incidents in abandoned workings. Each record is researched to the same standard as a mine or terminology entry, not just a casualty count.

The 100 disasters most recently added, of 575, newest first.

Disaster	Date	Type	Region	Fatalities
Ladyshore Colliery inundation, 1835 On 10 July 1835 water from the River Croal broke into the Fletchers' Ladyshore Colliery at Little Lever, near Bolton, and drowned ten men and seven boys.	1835	Flooding / Inundation	Greater Manchester	17
Gibfield Colliery explosion, 1850 On 11 February 1850 colliers at Fletcher's Gib Field Pit, Atherton, found gas in one of the bays and tried to sweep it out with their jackets. It fired at a candle that had been left burning, killing five and burning others.	1850	Explosion	Greater Manchester	5
Lyme Pit explosion, 1930 At about 6.15 p.m. on 26 February 1930 a shot fired in the Wigan Four Foot seam of the No. 2 Lyme Pit, Haydock, ignited firedamp on a longwall conveyor face. Five men were killed outright and eight more died of their burns; it was the worst disaster in the Haydock Collieries since Wood Pit in 1878.	1930	Explosion	Lancashire	13
Old Boston Pit shaft-sinking explosion, 1900 At about 5 a.m. on 29 June 1900 gas burst from the floor of the main shaft being sunk at Richard Evans and Company's Old Boston Colliery, Haydock, and caught fire at the sinkers' candles. All ten men at the bottom were burned; eight died.	1900	Explosion	Lancashire	8
Haydock explosion, 1832 In 1832 a second explosion of inflammable air in a Haydock coal pit killed six, all of them sixteen or younger. They were buried together at St Thomas's, Ashton-in-Makerfield.	1832	Explosion	Lancashire	6
Haydock explosion, 1831 In May 1831 an explosion of 'inflammable air' in a coal pit at Haydock killed ten or more colliers, most of them children. They were buried at St Thomas's, Ashton-in-Makerfield, between 18 and 24 May.	May 1831	Explosion	Lancashire	10
Wallsend Colliery 'Dark Wall' explosion, 1786 In 1786 six men were killed by an explosion in the B Pit at Wallsend while cutting a communication with the A Pit through firedamp. The drive, 95 yards long, was afterwards known as the 'Dark Wall', because men chose to cut it in total darkness rather than by the light of a steel mill.	1786	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	6
Wallsend Colliery C Pit explosion, 1803 In September 1803 an explosion described at the time as a 'heavy fire' swept the bords of the C Pit at Wallsend Colliery, killing thirteen men and boys and burning twenty others. Most died of suffocation.	September 1803	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	13
Haydock Colliery explosion, 1850 In November 1850 foul air fired in a pit of R. Evans and Company at Haydock, killing ten men and boys, most of them drawers, and burning others. The men often worked with naked candles against orders.	November 1850	Explosion	Lancashire	10
Henwaun Colliery explosion, 1882 On Monday morning, 27 February 1882, gas exploded in the Three Quarter coal at J. Lancaster and Company's Henwaun Colliery, Blaina, killing the fireman and the night men he had taken in with him before examining the workings.	1882	Explosion	Blaenau Gwent	5
Fochriw Colliery explosion, 1865 On Wednesday morning, 10 May 1865, firedamp exploded in the stall of James Jones at the Dowlais Iron Company's new pit at Fochriw, one of the deepest in the district. Fourteen men and boys were burned, some so badly they were carried home on planks; a boy of fifteen died.	1865	Explosion	Caerphilly	1
William Pit No. 6 Drift explosion, 1907 At about 1.50 p.m. on 26 November 1907 an explosion in No. 6 or 'Taffy's' Drift, a stone drift being driven under the sea at the Whitehaven Colliery Company's William Pit, killed five men and injured seven.	1907	Explosion	Cumbria	5
Mynydd Newydd Colliery explosion, 1845 Shortly after six on Saturday morning, 17 May 1845, an explosion at the Swansea Coal Company's Mynydd Newydd Colliery, Fforest-fach, killed boys aged twelve to seventeen. A boy was believed to have taken a naked light into a heading marked as unsafe to fetch a shovel.	1845	Explosion	Swansea	5
Hurlet Colliery explosion, 1805 At about nine on the morning of Monday 22 April 1805 firedamp exploded in a pit of the Hurlet coal work near Paisley. Four men were blown out of the shaft; thirteen below were found dead, and the father of one of them was suffocated going down to save them.	1805	Explosion	Renfrewshire	18
Albion Colliery explosion, 1906 At about 3.10 p.m. on Saturday 10 November 1906, after the day shift had ended, an explosion of firedamp in C district of the No. 1 seam at the Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, killed repairers and officials at work there. It was put down to a spark from an electric lamp relighter.	1906	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	6
Naval Colliery Ely Pit cage accident, 1909 On the morning of 27 August 1909 a double-deck cage carrying 26 men down the Ely Pit of the Naval Colliery at Penygraig ran out of control when the reversing gear of the winding engine broke. It crashed into the sump, the ascending cage was pulled into the headgear, and the rope fell 525 yards down the shaft onto the wrecked cage.	1909	Winding / Shaft Accident	Rhondda Cynon Taf	5
Lower Duffryn Colliery explosion, 1860 On 6 November 1860 an explosion in the Nine Feet vein of the Lower Duffryn Colliery, near Mountain Ash, killed twelve men and boys. It was the third fatal explosion at the colliery in a few years.	1860	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	12
Lower Duffryn Colliery explosion, 1858 At about two in the morning of 25 February 1858 an explosion of firedamp in the upper colliery of Thomas Powell's Lower Duffryn, at Cwmpennar near Mountain Ash, killed nineteen men and boys.	1858	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	19
Ince Hall Arley Pit explosion, 1854 At half-past two on Saturday 18 February 1854, eleven months after its first disaster, the Arley Pit of the Ince Hall Coal and Cannel Company at Wigan exploded again during a storm, killing 89. Thirty-seven of the dead were burnt; the rest were suffocated by afterdamp.	1854	Explosion	Greater Manchester	89
Ince Hall Arley Pit explosion, 1853 In March 1853 gas exploded at the bottom of the upcast shaft of the Ince Hall Coal and Cannel Company's Arley Pit at Wigan, after the ventilating furnace had been damped down for repairs and relit. About fifty men and boys were killed.	1853	Explosion	Greater Manchester	50
Parkhouse Colliery explosion, 1882 At 10 a.m. on 7 November 1882 an explosion of firedamp in the Clay Cross Company's Parkhouse (No. 7) Pit at Danesmoor, Derbyshire, killed 45 men and boys. The pit was worked by candlelight and had a name as one of the safest in the district; the blast blew off the headstocks and put out the ventilating furnace.	1882	Explosion	Derbyshire	45
Newbottle Colliery Dolly Pit explosion, 1824 On 19 November 1824 an explosion in the Dolly Pit at Newbottle Colliery killed eleven men, eight of them overmen and wastemen. The blast tore out the brattice dividing the shaft and dropped it to the bottom.	1824	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	11
Newbottle Colliery Elizabeth Pit gas disaster, 1821 On 19 October 1821 six men died in the Elizabeth Pit of Newbottle (Nesham's) Colliery when a brattice built up against old workings broke and gas came through. Their candles went on burning in it and gave no warning.	1821	Gas / Asphyxiation	Tyne and Wear	6
Newbottle Colliery boiler explosion, 1815 In the summer of 1815 a new boiler at Newbottle Colliery, raising steam for the engine that drew loaded waggons up the colliery railway, burst on its first day in use while a crowd stood watching. Eleven were killed and over fifty wounded or scalded.	1815	Machinery	Tyne and Wear	11
Newbottle Colliery Success Pit explosion, 1815 At about four in the afternoon of 2 June 1815 an explosion in the Success Pit of Newbottle Colliery, the Nesham family's colliery near Houghton-le-Spring, killed 57 of the 72 people in the pit.	1815	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	57
Heaton Main Colliery inrush, 1815 On 3 May 1815 water from the flooded workings of the old Heaton Banks colliery broke into Heaton Main Colliery, near Newcastle, and closed the bottom of its only shaft. Seventy-five men and boys were trapped. The pit took nine months to drain, and the first body was not reached until January 1816.	1815	Flooding / Inundation	Tyne and Wear	75
Lewis Merthyr (Coedcae) Colliery explosions, 1882 On Saturday 11 February 1882, pay day, with the Coedcae pit of the Lewis Merthyr Navigation Collieries empty, two men repairing the shaft were burnt to death by a fire on the cage. A second explosion, as an exploring party went down, killed four more, among them the banksman.	1882	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	6
Blantyre Colliery No. 3 Pit overwinding, 1878 At 3.25 p.m. on 5 March 1878, four months after the great Blantyre explosion, the cage bringing seven men up No. 3 pit at William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery was wound past the landing into the cross beams. Six fell back down the shaft and were killed; one clung on and survived.	1878	Winding / Shaft Accident	South Lanarkshire	6
Apedale Colliery Sladderhill No. 3 Pit explosion, 1891 During the afternoon shift of 2 April 1891 a blown-out shot of gelatine dynamite fired gas in the Bullhurst seam of the Sladderhill No. 3 Pit, Apedale, and coal dust carried the explosion through the district. Eleven died, most of them boys and young men.	1891	Explosion	Staffordshire	11
Silverdale Colliery Sheriff Pit explosion, 1876 At about 3 p.m. on 6 April 1876 a shot fired in the Seven Feet seam of Stanier's Sheriff Pit at Silverdale ignited a little gas and a quantity of coal dust in the dry workings, killing five colliers, among them the fireman Thomas Wright.	1876	Explosion	Staffordshire	5
Wallsend Colliery A Pit explosion, 1821 On 23 October 1821 the A Pit of Wallsend ('Russell's') Colliery exploded while 56 men and boys were working the Bensham seam close round the shaft. The blast destroyed the brattice that divided the single shaft into upcast and downcast, cutting off the air; 52 died, most suffocated, and only four survived.	1821	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	52
Brynmally Colliery (Forsygo pit) explosion, 1878 On 30 May 1878 an explosion of gas in the No. 6, or Forsygo, pit of Thomas Clayton's Brynmally Colliery near Wrexham, also called Pendwll, killed six colliers.	1878	Explosion	Wrexham	6
Springwell Colliery explosion, 1869 At about 2 a.m. on 29 January 1869 a hewer at John Bowes and Partners' Springwell Colliery fired a shot after refusing a safety lamp and being warned of gas, and the Low Main seam exploded, killing five including the deputy. Afterwards the pit was worked only with safety lamps.	1869	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	5
National Colliery explosion, 1887 At 6.40 p.m. on 18 February 1887 an explosion swept the Four Feet seam of the National Colliery at Wattstown in the Rhondda, a dry, dusty and gassy pit where shots were fired in the roads. Thirty-nine died; the last parts of the workings were not reached for five days.	1887	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	39
Tirpentwys Colliery shaft accident, 1902 On the afternoon of 1 October 1902 the winding rope at Tirpentwys Colliery's upcast shaft, near Pontypool, snapped as the twelfth cage of men was being raised from the Big Vein, and eight colliers and boys fell to the bottom. The rope had jumped the pulley after a loose board over the air-tight tower was carried into it.	1902	Winding / Shaft Accident	Torfaen	8
Niddrie Colliery No. 7 Pit fire, 1884 Early on 24 May 1884 the timber beside the pump rods in the No. 7 incline of Niddrie Colliery, near Portobello, caught fire. The flames destroyed the headgear and smoke filled the workings; most men escaped by No. 12 pit, but sixteen went to the rise workings instead, and seven of them were found dead ten hours later.	1884	Fire	Midlothian	7
Cwmtillery Colliery explosion, 1873 In the early hours of 5 April 1873 firedamp exploded in reopened old workings at Cwmtillery Colliery, where eight night men were working on the roads. None survived. The inspector found that brattice sheets had been left down while the men slept, and that they then walked into the gas with naked lights.	1873	Explosion	Blaenau Gwent	6
Cwmtillery Colliery explosion, 1857 On the morning of 27 May 1857 firedamp exploded in the Three-Quarter seam of John Russell's Tyr Nicholas (Cwmtillery) Colliery, a pit with no furnace and one ventilating door. Thirteen died, among them the fireman Samuel Merrifield, whom the jury blamed for walking into gas with an open lamp.	1857	Explosion	Blaenau Gwent	13
Brynmally Colliery explosion, 1889 On 13 March 1889 a roof fall at Garston's jig in the Queen seam of Brynmally's No. 1 Pit released an outburst of gas that fired at open lamps, killing twenty men and boys, eight of them sixteen or younger. The inspector blamed lax discipline over lamps under the North Wales butty system.	1889	Explosion	Wrexham	20
Brynmally Colliery inrush, 1856 On Tuesday 30 September 1856 water from old workings broke into the No. 3 pit of Clayton and Darlington's Brynmally Colliery near Wrexham and drowned thirteen men. The first body was not reached for almost four weeks, and a pitman was killed during the pumping.	1856	Flooding / Inundation	Wrexham	13
North Gawber Colliery explosion, 1935 At about 2.45 p.m. on 12 September 1935 an explosion in the Nos. 3 and 4 South Districts of North Gawber Colliery, in the gassy Lidgett seam near Barnsley, killed nineteen men. The Chief Inspector concluded that a shot fired in the ripping of a top airway gate had started it, and that it should never have been fired.	1935	Explosion	South Yorkshire	19
Tower Colliery explosion, 1962 At 10.30 a.m. on 12 April 1962 firedamp exploded in the MC3 heading at Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, as electricians restored power after extending a cable. The heading's auxiliary fan had been stopped for about ninety minutes; nine men resting at the foot of the heading were killed and nine injured.	1962	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	9
Silverdale Colliery explosion, 1872 At 8 a.m. on 21 December 1872 gas fired in the Bullhurst seam of Stanier and Company's Silverdale Colliery, Staffordshire, killing all eight men near it; the shaft belched stones and coal. The inspector blamed the management for reopening workings he had had bricked up months before, and the jury could not agree a verdict.	1872	Explosion	Staffordshire	8
Seghill Colliery explosion, 1864 Late on the night of 8 September 1864 gas exploded in the Low Main seam of Joseph Laycock's Seghill Colliery, Northumberland, killing seven, among them a putter of sixteen and a timber leader of seventy. The jury blamed an injured lamp; the inspector could not say where the explosion began.	1864	Explosion	Northumberland	7
Walton Colliery explosion, 1959 On 22 April 1959 firedamp seeping from the floor at a fault in Walton Colliery's Top Haigh Moor seam, near Wakefield, was fired by an arc from a damaged coal-cutter cable in the poorly ventilated 5's Unit. The overman Lawrence Coe and the four men with him died; eight rescuers were taken to hospital with carbon monoxide.	1959	Explosion	West Yorkshire	5
Barnsley Main Colliery explosion, 1947 At 12.15 p.m. on 7 May 1947, four months after nationalisation, firedamp exploded at the top of No. 3 right face in Barnsley Main's Kent's Thick seam and ran the length of the face. Nine men died, most of them from afterdamp; nearly every other man on that side was burned but survived.	1947	Explosion	South Yorkshire	9
Barnsley Main Colliery explosions, 1942 On 16 February 1942 a new trailing cable flashed on B face of Barnsley Main's Fenton seam and fired gas, fatally burning Frederick Wood and starting a fire. The next day, as the district was being sealed off, a far larger explosion killed twelve of the men building the stoppings and injured twenty-eight.	1942	Explosion	South Yorkshire	13
Newdigate Colliery explosion, 1931 At about 10 a.m. on 3 September 1931 firedamp exploded at the end of 6's face in Newdigate Colliery's Two Yard seam, near Nuneaton, on a longwall face under heavy weight. Four men were killed outright and four of the five burned died in hospital. The Chief Inspector traced the ignition to arcing in the conveyor motor's plug.	1931	Explosion	Warwickshire	8
Norton Hill Colliery explosion, 1908 On the night of 9 April 1908 the examiner Charles Burge fired a shot in the roof of the dusty Slyving Vein Incline at Norton Hill Colliery, Midsomer Norton, and set off a coal-dust explosion that killed him and nine others, the youngest fourteen, with five horses.	1908	Explosion	Somerset	10
Cortonwood Colliery explosion, 1932 Just before midnight on 9 December 1932 a flash ran along a machine-cut face in Cortonwood's Silkstone seam, where shots had been fired. Four men were killed outright and three more died of burns in Beckett Hospital, Barnsley; the deputy in charge, Alphonso Allen, was among the dead.	1932	Explosion	South Yorkshire	7
Wallsend Colliery explosion, 1838 On the evening of 19 December 1838 the G or Church Pit of Wallsend Colliery fired while eleven shifters were repairing and propping the roads after the hewers had gone. All eleven were killed, three years after an explosion at the same colliery had killed more than a hundred.	1838	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	11
West Stanley Colliery explosion, 1882 At about 1 a.m. on 19 April 1882 an explosion in the Busty seam of John Henry Burn's West Stanley Colliery killed thirteen of the eighteen men underground. A large stone had fallen from the roof of a bord and released a pocket of firedamp, which fired at the men's Clanny lamps.	1882	Explosion	County Durham	13
Peckfield Colliery explosion, 1896 At 7.15 on the morning of 30 April 1896 a candle fired gas from a small roof fall at Peckfield Colliery, Micklefield, and coal dust carried the explosion through the Beeston Bed workings. Sixty-three of the 105 men and boys in the pit died, most of them trapped by falls and poisoned by afterdamp, with nineteen of the twenty-three pit ponies.	1896	Explosion	West Yorkshire	63
Renishaw Park Colliery explosion, 1871 On the evening of 10 January 1871 a shot fired to blast down roof in an intake at J. and G. Wells's Renishaw Park Colliery near Eckington ignited firedamp. The explosion itself was small, but the ventilation carried its afterdamp two thousand yards into the No. 2 Pit; twenty-six or twenty-seven men and boys died and twelve were injured.	1871	Explosion	Derbyshire	26
Hemingfield Colliery Explosion, 1852 An underground explosion at Earl Fitzwilliam's Hemingfield Colliery, near Elsecar, at 1.30 pm on 22 December 1852 killed ten miners and injured twelve. The inquiry praised Benjamin Biram's fan ventilation, which had divided the workings into two districts and is thought to have kept the toll from being worse.	22 December 1852	Explosion	South Yorkshire	10
Mostyn Colliery explosion, 1840 An explosion at Mostyn Colliery, Flintshire, in the summer of 1840 blew large lumps of coal up a shaft 390 feet deep. Eight men were killed outright and a man and a boy were brought out badly burnt; eleven died in all and five more were seriously injured, leaving six widows and thirty fatherless children.	July 1840	Explosion	Flintshire	11
Mostyn Colliery explosions, 1806 Two firedamp explosions at Mostyn Colliery on the Dee estuary in Flintshire in 1806 killed thirty-six men between them, by the most widely repeated count. The Coal Mining History Resource Centre's list reads the same record differently: thirty-six in the first explosion and about thirty more in the second. A fire in 1807 and another explosion in 1809 followed at the same colliery.	1806	Explosion	Flintshire	36
Lambton Colliery explosion, 1766 On 22 August 1766, just after a hundred men had come off work at Lambton Colliery near Chester-le-Street, masons and labourers building a partition underground asked for a lamp to be let down; it fired the gas, and the explosion blew men and horses up the shaft, killing six.	1766	Explosion	County Durham	6
Dinas Colliery explosion, 1844 On the first morning of 1844 the miners of Dinas went down wishing each other 'Blwyddyn newydd dda i chi!' Shortly afterwards the village of Storehouse heard a roar it had never heard before. Twelve men and boys, the youngest nine years old, had died in Walter Coffin's Middle Pit — the first great explosion in the Rhondda. The stall where it began had been examined not by the overman but by the manager's young son, whom the overman had taken down with him; the coroner invited the jury to find manslaughter and the jury returned accidental death.	1 January 1844	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	12
Dinas Colliery explosion, 1879 At twenty to eleven on the night of 13 January 1879 an explosion at Dinas blew a half-ton iron cap off the mouth of the upcast shaft and fixed it in the headgear. Sixty-three men died, and forty-four horses. Two months earlier the colliery's manager, John Chubb, had had his certificate suspended for incompetence and gross negligence in the management of that same colliery, and had been reappointed as overman under a nominal head manager. The jury censured the owners for it; the inspector called the arrangement a practical ignoring of the court's judgement.	13 January 1879	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	63
Broadmoor Colliery chain break, 1844 On 13 May 1844 eight men and boys were being drawn up the shaft of Broadmoor Colliery at Begelly, Pembrokeshire, when the tub caught on timber near the top and the chain broke. They fell to the bottom; seven died, among them a boy of eleven, and one survived.	13 May 1844	Winding / Shaft Accident	Pembrokeshire	7
Oakwood Colliery explosion, 1872 Just before midnight on Wednesday 10 January 1872 the whole Llynfi valley was shaken by an explosion at Oakwood Colliery near Maesteg. Only eleven men were underground, most of them repairers on the night shift, and all eleven were killed along with six horses. An unlocked lamp was found beside the body of John Lloyd; at the inquest a collier said he had left his work because Caleb Davies meant to fire a shot where gas was known to be, and the jury returned an open verdict on the cause.	10 January 1872	Explosion	Bridgend	11
Rhos Amman Colliery explosion, 1924 At about 11.30 p.m. on 4 January 1924 an explosion destroyed a small tin cabin near the mouth of a new slant being driven at Rhos Amman Colliery, near Brynamman, killing seven men gathered there at the change of shift. Explosives in the cabin were thought to have been thawed at its open fire.	4 January 1924	Explosion	Carmarthenshire	7
Scott's Pit explosion, 1788 Thirteen men died of afterdamp after an explosion caused by naked lights at a Llansamlet colliery on 14 March 1788. Welsh Coal Mines places it at Scott's Pit, begun by Captain John Scott in the 1770s; the Durham Mining Museum records the same date, cause, toll and the same thirteen names under the name Llansamlet. Three of the dead were a father and his two sons.	14 March 1788	Explosion	Swansea	13
Featherstone Main Colliery explosion, 1872 On 2 December 1872 the deputy William Phoenix, examining Featherstone Main Colliery before work, took the top off his lamp and ignited firedamp; he and two boys aged 13 and 14 died.	2 December 1872	Explosion	West Yorkshire	3
Great Mountain Colliery outburst, 1958 A sudden outburst of coal at Great Mountain Colliery, Tumble, on the evening of 25 February 1958 killed three men; two escaped. The pit suffered 37 outbursts of fine coal and methane between 1913 and 1959, and the accident was raised in the Commons two days later.	25 February 1958	Gas / Asphyxiation	Carmarthenshire	3
Great Mountain Colliery outburst, 1935 An outburst of fine coal and methane at Great Mountain Colliery, Tumble, on 31 October 1935 killed two miners, Edgar Owen Collins and Llewellyn Evans: the first of the pit's two fatal outbursts among 37 recorded between 1913 and 1959.	31 October 1935	Gas / Asphyxiation	Carmarthenshire	2
Old Castle Colliery inrush, 1862 On 3 July 1862 water from the old workings of the adjacent Bres colliery broke into Old Castle Colliery, Llanelli, drowning four men in the Bushy seam and two in the Golden Vein above. Sixty or more escaped up a second shaft that had been sunk only shortly before, after the Hartley disaster.	3 July 1862	Flooding / Inundation	Carmarthenshire	6
Henwain Colliery explosion, 1882 Early on Monday 27 February 1882 an explosion in the Three Quarter workings of the Henwain Pit, Blaina, killed the fireman and four of the repairing shift he had taken in with him before examining the workings. The jury blamed the fireman's neglect and cleared the management.	27 February 1882	Explosion	Blaenau Gwent	5
Henwaun Colliery rope break, 1855 Between twelve and one on Thursday 23 August 1855 the nearly new wire winding rope at Henwaun Pit, Blaina, snapped while the hitcher and two young hauliers were being drawn up for dinner. They fell about 70 yards to the bottom and were killed.	23 August 1855	Winding / Shaft Accident	Blaenau Gwent	3
Graig Colliery explosion, 1846 On Wednesday 6 May 1846 fire damp exploded in the Pwll y Graig pit of the Plymouth Iron Company, Pentrebach, near Merthyr, severely burning seven men and boys. All seven died.	6 May 1846	Explosion	Merthyr Tydfil	7
Thomas Chapel Colliery inrush, 1838 On 16 June 1838 colliers at Thomas Chapel, near Begelly in Pembrokeshire, cut into old workings full of water and six men and boys of Begelly were drowned, the worst accident in the local coalfield for a century. William Brace, who ran the pit, was prosecuted for manslaughter by the father of one of the dead, but the grand jury never sent the case to trial.	16 June 1838	Flooding / Inundation	Pembrokeshire	6
Ponthenry Colliery outburst, 1928 On 10 July 1928 an outburst of fine coal dust and methane at Ponthenry Colliery in the Gwendraeth Valley killed two miners, seriously injured three and injured about twenty more. It was the last of the four fatal outbursts at the pit between 1920 and 1928.	10 July 1928	Gas / Asphyxiation	Carmarthenshire	2
Ponthenry Colliery outburst, 1924 On the evening of 3 September 1924 a sudden outburst of fine coal and gas in 19 East, Pumpquart seam, of Ponthenry Colliery's Glynhir slant killed five men; two more were seriously gassed. Over twenty survived by lying face down, and eight rescuers were later honoured by the Carnegie Hero Trust.	3 September 1924	Gas / Asphyxiation	Carmarthenshire	5
Genwen Colliery explosion, 1907 An explosion in the Four Feet headings of the small Genwen Colliery near Llanelli on 5 March 1907 killed four miners, and two volunteers who went down the return airway afterwards died in the afterdamp. Screw-locked lamps, no lampman and poorly organised exploration drew criticism; the manager was fined and the pit was abandoned.	5 March 1907	Explosion	Carmarthenshire	6
Glynea Colliery explosion, 1913 Four days after Senghenydd, on 18 October 1913, a blown-out shot of Swalite ignited firedamp in the Fiery seam at Glynea Colliery near Llanelli. Nine men eating their food outbye of the brattice were burned and eight died over the following fortnight; criminal proceedings and civil claims followed.	18 October 1913	Explosion	Carmarthenshire	8
Gadlys Colliery explosion, 1871 An explosion of gas at Gadlys Colliery, Aberdare, on 4 October 1871 killed four men and boys outright: two packers, a haulier of eighteen and a door boy of eleven. A fifth, the packer William Isaac, died later of his injuries.	4 October 1871	Explosion	Rhondda Cynon Taf	4
Cwmneol Colliery overwind, 1855 On 28 November 1855 the cage carrying eight men up Cwmneol Colliery's shaft at Cwmaman overshot the bank, crashed into the headgear and broke the rope, and the cage and its occupants fell 240 yards to the pit bottom. The young engine driver was tried for manslaughter and acquitted.	28 November 1855	Winding / Shaft Accident	Rhondda Cynon Taf	8
Great Fenton Colliery explosion, 1885 At about 7 a.m. on 8 April 1885 a blown-out shot in the Knowles seam of the Homer Pit at Great Fenton (Stafford) Colliery, Stoke-on-Trent, fired gas that had accumulated at the top of a level. Eight men and boys died, four of them of burns over the following ten days, and five were injured. The coroner's jury recommended that mines be worked without shot-firing as far as possible.	8 April 1885	Explosion	Staffordshire	8
Drakewalls Mine Entombment and Rescue, 1889 Two miners filling a worked-out area at Drakewalls Mine were buried when the sand they were releasing ran too fast. After two nights of failed attempts, a second rescue led by the pitman Thomas Chapman blasted a channel down to them with small charges of dynamite, and both were pulled out alive at midnight after food and water had been lowered 18 fathoms to them.	5 February 1889	Other	Cornwall	0
West Moor Colliery explosion, 1851 Shortly before one o'clock on 31 October 1851 an explosion in the metal coal drift of West Moor Colliery, Killingworth, killed six men outright and burnt eight more, two boys among them dying within hours. It came after a week of smaller explosions in the same working, and the coroner had come to the village that day for the inquest on an earlier victim.	31 October 1851	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	8
West Moor Colliery explosion, 1845 A blower had been struck a fortnight earlier when a fault was cut through at West Moor colliery, Killingworth. On the evening of 3 April 1845 the gas fired at the end of one of the headings, killing four men and six boys. The viewer, John Wales, told the inquest that lamps were not needed in the pit; the men had Davy lamps and lived, and the belief was that a boy sent down ahead of them with a naked light set the gas off. The coroner could find no fault with the ventilation and the jury returned accidental death.	3 April 1845	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	10
West Moor Colliery explosion, 1844 At about nine in the morning of 18 January 1844 gas from a fall of stones was fired at a candle in Lord Ravensworth and Partners' West Moor Colliery, Killingworth. Six men were burnt but left the pit alive; five or six of them died.	18 January 1844	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	5
Coxlodge Colliery explosion, 1863 An explosion of firedamp at the Bower pit of Coxlodge Colliery, north of Newcastle, on 6 March 1863 killed nineteen men by Wikipedia's account and twenty-two by the Durham Mining Museum's. The museum records the ignition as caused by naked lights. The colliery, developed by Matthew Bell and Charles Brandling about 1810, closed in 1894 and its men went to other pits nearby.	6 March 1863	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	19
Page Bank Colliery shaft fire, 1858 At eight in the morning on 30 September 1858 the back overman at Page Bank, Thomas Kellet, was knocked from the top of the cage by something falling in the shaft and fell to the bottom. Fire followed at the shaft, and ten people died. Fire engines were called from the surrounding towns to pump river water down the pit while the colliery's own pumping engine was turned on the flames; the inspector thought the case unusual enough to set out the inquest evidence at length in his annual report.	30 September 1858	Fire	County Durham	10
Houghton Colliery explosion, 1850 Clouds of coal dust thrown up the shaft at six in the morning of Monday 11 November 1850 were the first sign that Houghton Pit had exploded. Twenty-seven men and boys were killed, most of them by afterdamp. Wives and parents crowded the pit heap in their thousands while the search went on, and the bodies and survivors were not drawn up until three in the afternoon. The inquest at the White Lion Hotel ended in a verdict of negligence over the exposure of a naked light, though the jury could not say by whom.	11 November 1850	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	27
Houghton Colliery explosion, 1828 Seven men and boys died in the New Pit at Houghton-le-Spring on Monday 1 September 1828 — the first disaster at Lord Durham's colliery, which had been sunk only five years before. The accident was put down to a door in the mine having been carelessly left open on the Saturday night, so that foul air gathered over the weekend and fired when the pitmen came back on Monday morning with their lights. The inquest returned accidental death.	1 September 1828	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	7
Ingham Colliery explosion, 1947 At a quarter past eleven on the night of 9 September 1947 firedamp exploded in the No. 2 South district of the Wheatley Lime seam at Ingham Colliery, Thornhill, near Dewsbury. The flame ran some three thousand yards. Eleven men are named among the dead and one, the shotfirer Jesse Clarke, was found alive three hours later. The chief inspector found that a flame safety lamp had been deliberately opened by cutting its lead rivet, and that a spark from its relighter had fired gas forced out of abandoned workings by a door put in half an hour earlier.	9 September 1947	Explosion	West Yorkshire	12
Carr House Colliery inrush, 1913 Water from old flooded headings of the neighbouring Aldwarke Main Colliery burst into a narrow heading in the Parkgate seam at Car House Colliery, Rotherham, on 16 June 1913, drowning eight men. Boreholes had been drilled ahead of the face, but the plans were a few feet out and the barrier left was only three feet.	16 June 1913	Flooding / Inundation	South Yorkshire	8
Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery explosion, 1914 The ventilating fan at Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery, near Barnsley, was stopped for about sixteen minutes on the afternoon of Saturday 30 May 1914 to be changed over from gas to steam. Gas gathered at the face in William Fisher's gate; when the fan restarted it was carried over an electric coal cutter whose switch cover was held by one bolt instead of six and was not flame-tight. Twelve men died. The jury found the whole of the management 'very negligent, but not criminally so'.	30 May 1914	Explosion	South Yorkshire	12
Garswood Hall No. 9 Colliery explosion, 1932 Twenty-seven people were killed at Garswood Hall No. 9 Colliery, near Wigan, on 12 November 1932 in an explosion of firedamp which the Durham Mining Museum records as ignited by an electric spark. The inquiry that followed was thorough: its report works through the colliery's ventilation, shotfiring, stonedusting and lighting, the story of the explosion and the rescue, a damaged safety lamp and the electric signalling circuits, before reaching its conclusions and listing the victims and their injuries.	12 November 1932	Explosion	Greater Manchester	27
Garswood Hall No. 9 sinking explosion, 1902 Early on 2 April 1902 the No. 9 sinking shaft at Garswood Hall Colliery, Edge Green, had just reached the gassy Ravin seam at 270 yards when gas filling the shaft was fired, almost certainly by the electric light hung in it. The blast wrecked the forty-foot headgear; the banksman and most of the men at the bottom were killed.	2 April 1902	Explosion	Greater Manchester	14
Morley Main Colliery explosion, 1872 An explosion of firedamp at Morley Main Colliery, between Dewsbury and Leeds, on 7 October 1872 killed thirty-four people. The Durham Mining Museum records the ignition as caused by a naked light and names the dead; Morley's own histories note that the town's worst mining disaster went publicly unmarked for 140 years.	7 October 1872	Explosion	West Yorkshire	34
East Hetton Colliery inrush, 1897 At half past three in the morning on 6 May 1897 water burst into East Hetton Colliery from old workings and drowned ten people. The first warning was water seeping from the face of a longwall in the Harvey seam a mile north of the shaft. The inspector reported that only a limited number of men were below at that hour, and that on a day shift the loss would have been far greater; the water was fought by throwing a demolished engine house, clay and lime into the old Cassop shaft and pumping from every available source.	6 May 1897	Flooding / Inundation	County Durham	10
Medomsley Colliery cage accident, 1923 On 24 February 1923 the ascending cage in Medomsley Colliery's Busty shaft left its guides about 80 feet below the surface, struck a cast-iron girder, and fell, killing the two onsetters and six shaft lads riding in it. The inquiry blamed cage shoes left in use too long against a guide partly renewed with rail of a different section.	24 February 1923	Winding / Shaft Accident	County Durham	8
Washington Glebe Colliery explosion, 1908 The Glebe Pit at Washington was four years old when it exploded on 20 February 1908, killing fourteen people and five ponies. Its shafts had been sunk through the surface deposits by the freezing process to the Low Main seam at 114 fathoms, and it was in the Low Main, where whole working had begun only sixteen months before, that the explosion started and stayed. The inspector's report set out the shotfiring with permitted explosives fired by battery, and noted that the air had not been measured since five days before the explosion.	20 February 1908	Explosion	Tyne and Wear	14
Brandon Colliery explosion, 1899 A powder shot fired by the deputy in broken pillar workings of the Brockwell seam at Brandon Colliery, County Durham, on 15 August 1899 ignited firedamp lying in an old headway. Two men were killed outright and four more, including the deputy, died of their burns over the next three days; four others were injured.	15 August 1899	Explosion	County Durham	6
Lovers Lane Colliery explosion, 1872 Twenty-seven men and boys died at John Fletcher's Lovers Lane pit at Atherton on 28 March 1872 when a shot blew out its stemming in the Five Feet mine. The air reached the working faces through six iron pipes of about a foot in area each — six square feet of airway in all, for an average length of forty-one yards — and an escape that had been letting extra air into the workings had been stopped that very morning. Ten of the dead were nineteen or younger; five were twelve or thirteen.	28 March 1872	Explosion	Greater Manchester	27
Ince Moss Colliery explosions, 1871 The explosion in the Wigan Nine Feet mine at the Moss Pits, Ince, near Wigan, on 6 September 1871 was, in the inspector's words, the most serious casualty of the year or that he had ever known. Sixty-four people were at work in the mine and six more were sinking the upcast pit below, seventy in all. Sixty-eight bodies were left underground: the rescuers found the mine on fire, a second slight explosion drove them back, and the attempt to recover the dead was given up.	6 September 1871	Explosion	Greater Manchester	70
Low Hall Colliery explosion, 1869 About four in the afternoon of Monday 15 November 1869 a blown-out shot fired gas in the Six Feet seam of the Moss Hall Coal Company's No. 5 pit at Platt Bridge near Wigan. Twenty-seven died. The coal caught fire, and with no other water to hand the owners tapped the Liverpool Corporation's Rivington aqueduct, which ran within a few yards of the pit, and drowned the mine. Weeks passed before all the bodies could be recovered and the inquest could not conclude until the water was out.	15 November 1869	Explosion	Greater Manchester	27