MineArchiveDisasters
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 1452, newest first.
| Disaster | Date | Type | Region | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sark's Hope Mine flooding, 1845 In 1845 the ceiling of the deepest gallery of Sark's Hope silver mine at Port Gorey, Little Sark, collapsed and the sea flooded the workings, drowning ten miners. The company was uninsured; mining ceased, the concern was wound up in 1847, and the debts cost the Le Pelley family the fief of Sark. |
1845 | Flooding / Inundation | Sark | 10 |
| Balbardie Colliery runaway carriage, 1866 On the night of Saturday 12 May 1866 two girls who had brought supper to their relatives at No. 1 pit, Balbardie Colliery, near Bathgate, persuaded the men to let them ride down the dook to see the workings. The rope of the carriage had run slack; when it tightened it broke, and the carriage ran away down the incline and overturned. Ann Baxter died almost at once and Catherine Leech soon after; her uncle was gravely injured. |
1866 | Haulage / Transport | West Lothian | 2 |
| Skellyton Colliery explosion, 1937 On the afternoon of 22 October 1937 an explosion in the Clyde Head section of Skellyton Colliery, Larkhall, killed the colliery manager, David Baxter, and the fireman, Charles Laird Lyle. Gas had been found at the coal face there that morning and the men turned back; the two officials were in the section when it fired. |
1937 | Explosion | South Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Cobbinshaw South mine explosion, 1912 In January 1912 a fireman and two other men were sealing off a gassy part of the Tarbrax Oil Company's Cobbinshaw No. 3 shale mine with a stopping, working with safety lamps that had no bonnets. With the stopping nearly finished, the gas fired and blew it out, and its stones killed the fireman, Robert McArdle, and John Scanton and injured the third man. |
January 1912 | Explosion | West Lothian | 2 |
| Dalmeny shale pits roof fall, 1908 On the night of 12 February 1908 men were clearing a fall from the haulage road of the Dalmeny Oil Company's shale mine near South Queensferry, which had long been under repair and heightening, when a large stone fell from the roof fifteen feet above and buried five of them. The fireman, George Halkett, was killed outright and a second man died before reaching the infirmary; the manager, examining the roof at the time, was critically injured. |
12 February 1908 | Collapse / Roof Fall | West Lothian | 2 |
| Duddingston shale mines runaway tub, 1912 On 27 May 1912 two roadsmen of the Oakbank Oil Company's Duddingston shale mines near Winchburgh were killed walking down the main haulage dook of No. 1 mine to their work, when a loaded tub slipped from the stationary endless rope and ran down onto them. |
1912 | Haulage / Transport | West Lothian | 2 |
| Allanshaw Colliery explosion, 1904 Early on the morning of 13 June 1904 a man at the pit bottom of No. 1 pit, Allanshaw Colliery, Hamilton, heard a dull noise. A search found the miner Patrick Harrison unconscious and badly burned and his son dead. There were signs of an explosion, yet the workings were undamaged and both men's safety lamps were locked. Patrick Harrison died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary two days later. |
13 June 1904 | Explosion | South Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Spindleside Colliery crane accident, 1921 On the afternoon of Friday 18 March 1921 the manager of Spindleside Colliery, Cleland, Robert Mackay, and its electrical engineer, Thomas Buchanan, were unloading part of a haulage engine from a motor lorry with a jib crane when the crane snapped and the jib fell on them. Both died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary that evening. |
18 March 1921 | Machinery | North Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Swinhill Colliery explosion, 1939 On the afternoon of 26 October 1939 an explosion in the Drumgray section of Swinhill Colliery, Larkhall, killed two miners, Archibald Brown, 35, and John Clark, 16. Other men in the pit were unaffected; seven of them made five attempts to reach the two through dense smoke. |
26 October 1939 | Explosion | South Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Swinhill Colliery roof fall, 1909 On the morning of Saturday 13 March 1909 men were repairing a roadway in No. 2 pit at the Darngavil Coal Company's Swinhill Colliery, near Larkhall, when a fall of stones came away from the roof and buried two of them. William M'Lean was dead when they were dug out; William Plenderleith lived about two hours. |
13 March 1909 | Collapse / Roof Fall | South Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Swinhill Colliery overwinding, 1901 On 16 December 1901, as three men stood in the cage at the top of No. 6 pit, Swinhill, near Larkhall, ready to go down, the engineman started the engine the wrong way. The cage was drawn up into the headgear and two of the men fell about 50 fathoms down the shaft; the third was rescued from the top, badly crushed. |
16 December 1901 | Winding / Shaft Accident | South Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Kippsbyre Colliery inundation, 1939 About midday on 22 September 1939 water from disused workings burst into Francis McLean's mine at Airdrie, named Mosside in the official returns and the newspapers of the day and Kippsbyre in a 2020 Scottish Parliament motion. Five men raced the rising water to the shaft and got out with seconds to spare; Thomas Lang, James Walker and Alexander Kinnaird, working in a side gallery, were trapped and drowned, and their bodies were never recovered. |
22 September 1939 | Flooding / Inundation | North Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Bankpark Colliery cage accident, 1913 On 18 July 1913 the engineer and a labourer of the Bankpark Coal Company's colliery at Tranent were riding up the upcast shaft when the winding rope broke and the cage fell 46 fathoms to the sump, killing both. The rope, little more than a year old, had lost a strand two days earlier and proved to have rusted through from the inside. |
18 July 1913 | Winding / Shaft Accident | East Lothian | 2 |
| Viewpark Colliery explosion, 1922 On the morning of 11 April 1922 an electric coal cutter burst in the eastern section of the Splint seam of No. 1 pit at Robert Addie and Sons' Viewpark Colliery, Uddingston, in a section where gas had been found before. Eleven of the twelve men there were seriously burned; John Chalmers, 21, and Andrew Martin, 46, died two days later. The whole workforce struck the next day, and the inquiry returned an open verdict. |
11 April 1922 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Prestongrange Colliery explosion, 1887 At about six in the morning of 29 August 1887, with the miners of Prestongrange Colliery near Prestonpans on strike, Frederick Curtis and his fourteen-year-old son Francis went down to fetch their tools from the Jewel seam, with the fireman James M'Ewan, carrying a safety lamp, ahead to examine the places. An explosion killed all three. Only a few men were in the pit; the miners worked with open lamps. |
29 August 1887 | Explosion | East Lothian | 3 |
| Prestongrange Colliery roof fall, 1914 In 1914 two men straightening the line of the upper part of a conveyor face at the Summerlee Iron Company's Prestongrange Colliery were buried when a block of roof nearly six feet thick collapsed without warning. James Johnstone was killed outright and James Cooper lived for two and a half hours. The Dundee Courier reported it in late October; NMRS dates it 23 December. |
October 1914 | Collapse / Roof Fall | East Lothian | 2 |
| Prestongrange Colliery roof fall, 1910 About noon on 6 October 1910 a heavy fall in the Summerlee company's Prestongrange Colliery, near Prestonpans, caught three Musselburgh miners driving a mine through a faulted stretch of the Jewel seam workings. All three were conscious and talking as the manager and a visiting Inspector of Mines led seven hours of rescue work; Thomas Gorman died in the Infirmary next morning and Campbell later. |
6 October 1910 | Collapse / Roof Fall | East Lothian | 2 |
| Balbardie Colliery boiler explosion, 1895 On the morning of Tuesday 19 February 1895 the two centre boilers of six at the Dovecot pit of Walker and Cameron's Balbardie Colliery, Bathgate, burst, wrecking the pithead works, felling a chimney stalk and killing the fireman Richard Beswick and a labourer, Robert Strickland. About 300 men were thrown idle. |
19 February 1895 | Machinery | West Lothian | 2 |
| Darngavil Colliery inrush, 1920 On 18 August 1920, with seven men at work in a seam of Darngavil Colliery at Greengairs, surface water broke into the shafts at 1,200 gallons a minute. The pump could not keep up and the men were likely to be cut off. The engineman ran to fetch John Shields, a miner who lived close by; Shields went down alone into the rising water and brought all seven out. He was awarded the Edward Medal. |
18 August 1920 | Flooding / Inundation | North Lanarkshire | 0 |
| Westrigg Colliery roof fall, 1920 On 29 January 1920 a heavy fall of roof in United Collieries' Westrigg Colliery at Blackridge buried seven men. When they were dug out John M'Garrity was dead; Peter Marshall and George Sneddon, taken with James Watson to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, died later, Sneddon on 24 March. Three others were less seriously hurt. |
29 January 1920 | Collapse / Roof Fall | North Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Quarter Colliery shaft accident, 1906 About two in the afternoon of 21 December 1906 the engineman of United Collieries' pit at Quarter, near Hamilton, felt a snatch on the rope and a piece of the cage slides fell to the bottom. The manager, Robert Gardiner, the oversman, Andrew Maxwell, and an oncostman, James Macginty, went into the shaft to examine it; a mass of debris broke away from the shaft side and crushed them and their cage at the pit bottom. |
21 December 1906 | Winding / Shaft Accident | South Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Wishaw Colliery explosion, 1849 At half past five on the morning of 13 August 1849 firedamp exploded in Mr Wilson's No. 6 pit at Wishaw Colliery as the shift went down. The blast threw both cages, the slides, part of the barring and the midwall out of the shaft, with one man, and scattered remains 400 yards. A boy below called to be taken up, but the pit filled with damp; all nine underground died, while nearly thirty more waited at the top. |
13 August 1849 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 9 |
| Monkland Colliery roof fall, 1903 On the forenoon of 8 October 1903 a fall from the roof buried a young miner, John M'Donald, in No. 11 pit of James Dunlop and Co.'s Monkland Colliery at Calderbank. His father and a workmate, Philip Jarvie, ran to dig him out; the roof came down on them too, and all three died before they could be freed. |
8 October 1903 | Collapse / Roof Fall | North Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Haughhead Colliery explosion, 1867 On the afternoon of Saturday 13 April 1867, after work had stopped at Merry and Cunninghame's Haughhead Colliery, Hamilton, the underground manager James Bryce and a drawer began to remove a stopping built to confine gas from an earlier fire in the soft coal. The pent-up gas reached a miner's lamp nearly thirty fathoms off and exploded, killing all three men. |
13 April 1867 | Explosion | South Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Newliston Mine fire, 1919 Fire broke out in the upper level of Young's Newliston shale mine near Broxburn on Tuesday 15 April 1919. When local efforts failed, rescue brigades from Bathgate and Coatbridge fought it for two days. Early on 18 April, working round by a circuitous road to open an air course, the teams met carbon monoxide far from the fire; their masks failed, and three young rescue men died. |
18 April 1919 | Fire | West Lothian | 3 |
| Philpstoun No. 5 Mine explosion, 1907 On the afternoon of 28 January 1907 gas exploded in No. 5 shale mine of James Ross and Co., Philpstoun Oil Works, on the hill above Ecclesmachan. Part of the roadway roof came down, and when rescuers cleared it they found the three miners beyond it, all about twenty and unmarried, dead of asphyxia. |
28 January 1907 | Explosion | West Lothian | 3 |
| Blairadam Colliery roof fall, 1908 At about four in the morning of 13 February 1908, in No. 2 pit of Blairadam Colliery on the west side of Kelty, at least twelve yards of a hard freestone roof fell without warning onto an electric coal-cutting machine in the Dunfermline Splint seam. Its machineman and two assistants were killed. The pit had been idle the day before, and only six men were below. |
13 February 1908 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Fife | 3 |
| Orbiston Colliery fire, 1893 About midnight on Friday 26 May 1893 fire was found in the Splint coal of Orbiston Colliery, Bellshill, where a fall of coal and rubbish had come down by a working pump. Seven men sent to put it out stayed too long and were overcome by 'white damp'; most were got out, but Peter M'Allister, John M'Killop and William Maddison, who went in to save a fellow-workman, died. The fire was under control by midday on Saturday. |
27 May 1893 | Fire | North Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Gavieside No. 11 Pit cage accident, 1885 Between six and seven on the morning of Monday 16 March 1885, the eighth cage lowered into No. 11 Gavieside shale pit at West Calder left its slides less than twenty fathoms down and jammed. The rope kept paying out until the cage broke free and dropped some thirty fathoms; four of the six young miners in it were thrown out and killed at the bottom of the shaft. |
16 March 1885 | Winding / Shaft Accident | West Lothian | 4 |
| Montgomeryfield Colliery cage accident, 1898 At about six in the morning of 24 February 1898 four lads were being lowered to the Tourha landing of No. 1 Montgomeryfield Pit, Dreghorn, when coils of the rope slipped off the drum onto a cross beam, which broke. The double-decked cage fell to the bottom, through a newly laid scaffold and into fourteen feet of water, killing all four, two of them brothers. |
24 February 1898 | Winding / Shaft Accident | North Ayrshire | 4 |
| Springhill Colliery explosion, 1917 At about 7.30 on the morning of 18 July 1917 four men walked up the stone drift to the abandoned Major coal workings of No. 1 Cauldhame Pit, Springhill Colliery, at Springside near Kilmarnock, to lift the last rails. The fireman went first with a naked light. Gas had gathered at the top of the drift, and it exploded; all four were badly burned and died in Kilmarnock Infirmary over the next five days. |
18 July 1917 | Explosion | North Ayrshire | 4 |
| Drumpellier Colliery explosion, 1875 On Friday 16 July 1875 three young men, the brothers Charles and John Richardson and Arthur Moffat, were killed by a firedamp explosion in No. 4 pit, Drumpellier, Coatbridge, while replacing a wooden brattice with a brick air-course wall between the Splint and Kiltongue coals. The manager had told them the day before not to go to the work. |
16 July 1875 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Drumpellier Colliery explosion, 1898 At about 5.10 p.m. on 28 January 1898, as two brushers and the night fireman prepared a shot in the engine dook of the Summerlee and Mossend company's Drumpellier Colliery, Coatbridge, a charge of gunpowder, not the permitted roburite, fired the thick coal dust. All three were killed, and the day fireman John Gordon died of afterdamp in the search. The inquiry found the cause to be 'a shot of gunpowder igniting coal dust'. |
28 January 1898 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 4 |
| Barrwood Colliery explosion and fire, 1878 On the morning of 8 March 1878, two hours after eighty men had gone down Barrwood Colliery at Kilsyth, the air reversed and the bottom of the downcast shaft filled with flame. Men in the ironstone workings escaped to the upcast, but those in the main dook were cut off. Rescuers were driven back by afterdamp and repeated explosions, and on the sixth day the burning mine was sealed and flooded. Seventeen died; the last body was recovered on 10 September. |
8 March 1878 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 17 |
| Edmonstone Colliery shaft collapse, 1839 At about half past ten on the night of Friday 8 March 1839 the lined shaft of an Edmonstone Colliery pit, leased by Alexander and Mowbray Stenhouse, gave way some forty or fifty yards down, entombing nine men and four women and girls. After two failed attempts to reach them, they groped through a flooded air passage to a neighbouring pit and were all brought up alive on the Sunday morning, 36 hours after they went down. |
8 March 1839 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Midlothian | 0 |
| Robroyston Colliery firedamp deaths, 1926 On 3 November 1926, in the last month of the national stoppage, two miners returning to John Watson Ltd's Robroyston Colliery, Glasgow, were allowed to go to a through airway between two stone drifts to fetch tools left there in April. They did not come back; search parties found them dead among firedamp, 70 yards beyond the point where they had been told to stop. |
3 November 1926 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Glasgow | 2 |
| Robroyston Colliery overwind, 1924 At about quarter past ten on the night of 28 March 1924, as the back shift came up and the night shift went down at Robroyston Colliery, the winding engine overwound. The ascending cage, with eight men, smashed into the headgear beams; the descending cage, with six, crashed into the sump. All fourteen were injured and five died. |
28 March 1924 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Glasgow | 5 |
| Quarrelton Colliery inrush, 1818 On the morning of 2 May 1818 miners at Mr Houston's Quarrelton pit by Johnstone took the coal too close to an old pit full of water, and it broke in. Of those cut off, five died; two were found alive ten days later, having lived on pit water and three pieces of oatcake found in the pockets of men who escaped. |
2 May 1818 | Flooding / Inundation | Renfrewshire | 5 |
| Quarrelton Colliery bucket accident, 1805 At the turn of 1804 and 1805 three men were being let down a coal pit at Quarrelton, near Johnstone and Paisley, in a bucket when the rope broke and they fell to the bottom. Two died instantly and the third about two hours later. It is the first recorded accident at Quarrelton in which miners lost their lives. |
Late 1804 or early 1805 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Renfrewshire | 3 |
| Carbarns Colliery explosion, 1900 At a quarter to one on 12 February 1900 the manager, oversman, fireman and an oncostman at Carbarns Colliery, Wishaw, were trying to clear firedamp from a new heading in the Ell Coal when it exploded. The manager, Henry Danks, was killed; the oversman, fireman and oncostman also died. |
12 February 1900 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Starlaw Shale Pit fire, 1870 Shortly after the furnace was fired at about half past eleven on 9 April 1870, soot on the timber lining of the upcast at Starlaw shale pit near Bathgate caught fire. A first attempt to douse it seemed to succeed, but the fire broke out again; eight miners were killed and several others badly burned. |
9 April 1870 | Fire | West Lothian | 8 |
| Bogles Hole Pit explosion, 1846 At about four on the morning of Monday 28 September 1846 a shift of five men and a boy went down Bogles Hole Pit at the Clyde Iron Works, Tollcross. A ventilation door had been left open since Saturday and firedamp had filled the back mine; the oversman led them in with a naked light and the gas exploded, killing all six. |
28 September 1846 | Explosion | Glasgow | 6 |
| Dykehead Colliery fire, 1861 Around midday on 7 August 1861 the wooden lining at the bottom of the shaft of Dykehead (Summerlee) Colliery, east of Hamilton, caught fire with some forty-five men and boys below. Fire engines quenched the flames and volunteers were lowered to bring the men out, but twelve died of chokedamp underground and one more a fortnight later. |
7 August 1861 | Fire | South Lanarkshire | 13 |
| Commonhead Colliery explosion, 1850 Just after six on the morning of 23 July 1850, nineteen men went down Commonhead pit at Airdrie, idle since the Saturday. The oversman, Alexander Willison, had barely gone forward to examine the workings when firedamp exploded. Seventeen were killed; only his brother James, near the shaft bottom, escaped. The owners were charged with culpable homicide. |
23 July 1850 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 17 |
| Victoria Pit explosion, Nitshill, 1851 At about twenty to five on the morning of Saturday 15 March 1851 firedamp exploded in the Victoria Pit at Nitshill, owned by the Coats family of Paisley. Of the 63 men and boys below, 61 were killed; two were brought out alive after 45 hours. It was reckoned at the time the worst loss of life in a Scottish mine. |
15 March 1851 | Explosion | Glasgow | 61 |
| Bignall Hill Colliery explosion, 1874 On Christmas Eve 1874 firedamp exploded in the Bullhurst seam of the Bignall Hill Colliery at Audley, north Staffordshire, the property of the representatives of Josiah Wedgwood. Of twenty-two people known to be in the pit, seventeen were killed. The inquest blamed naked lights in a seam where gas had been found that morning and urged locked lamps throughout the district's Bullhurst and Banbury seams. |
24 December 1874 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 17 |
| Hayeswood Colliery inrush, 1845 Early on 4 February 1845, with almost a hundred men and boys underground at Hayeswood Colliery, Timsbury, the workings broke into old flooded ground for which there were no plans. The water rushed in about a mile from the shaft; most escaped in the dark, but seven men and four boys drowned. The pit never recovered from the flood. |
4 February 1845 | Flooding / Inundation | Somerset | 11 |
| Ysguborwen Colliery drift accident, 1884 On 1 February 1884 a collier, Mark Griffiths, 40, and his helper, Patrick Carey, 15 or 16, were killed together while at work in the drift at Ysguborwen Colliery, Trecynon, near Aberdare. At the inquest the next day the jury returned a verdict of accidental death. |
1 February 1884 | Other | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Wallsend Colliery explosion, 1790 On 4 October 1790 an explosion at Wallsend Colliery, north of the Tyne, killed seven people. It was one of a run of explosions at the colliery in its first sixty years, after those of 1785 and 1786 and before the larger losses of 1799, 1803, 1821 and 1835. |
4 October 1790 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 7 |
| Wallsend Colliery Edward Pit explosion, 1925 At 6.50 on the morning of Sunday 9 August 1925 firedamp exploded around an electric coal-cutter in the Yard Seam of the Edward Pit, Wallsend. Four machinemen were killed by burns and shock and a fifth man died of afterdamp trying to get out. The inspector blamed lax inspection and ventilation on a 550-yard face that depended on a single brattice sheet; the agent and manager were fined. |
9 August 1925 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 5 |
| Ferndale No. 5 Pit cage accident, 1910 On 22 September 1910 a cage lowering twelve men and boys at D. Davis and Sons' Ferndale collieries crashed onto the sump boards near the bottom of the shaft. The gates burst open and the men were thrown out; all twelve were hurt, a youth, Thomas Pope, was killed, and Charles Mason died after his leg was amputated. |
22 September 1910 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Bishwell Colliery locomotive collision, 1883 On the afternoon of 5 May 1883 the Bishwell Colliery locomotive, coming down from the pit to the Great Western line at Gower Road with loaded wagons behind it, ran into wagons on the siding at a blind curve. The driver, Thomas Lewis, and Edward Davies were killed outright, and one of two boys riding home on the engine was badly injured. |
5 May 1883 | Haulage / Transport | Swansea | 2 |
| Cwmneol Colliery shaft accident, 1883 In March 1883 two London contractors, Charles Eely and James Sancto, were coating the steam pipes in the upcast shaft of the Powell Duffryn Company's Cwmneol pit at Cwmaman when the crab lowering their bucket ran wild. They fell some 150 yards into five or six feet of water at the bottom and were killed; the man working the windlass had his arm broken. |
March 1883 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Tynybedw Colliery shaft accident, 1882 On 6 November 1882 the rope broke in the upcast shaft at Tynybedw Colliery, Pentre, and the mechanic Samuel Phillips and his assistant, William Jones, fell to their deaths. The inquest jury blamed the agent and manager for failing to see that the rope was properly examined. |
6 November 1882 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Henwaun Colliery locomotive accident, 1872 On the evening of 4 March 1872 the locomotive that ran between the Blaina ironworks and the Henwaun pit, returning empty and driven fast, jumped the rails near Club Row and turned over. Workers going home, mostly young women, were riding on its tender and buffers; a mother and her thirteen-year-old daughter were killed and several others hurt. |
4 March 1872 | Haulage / Transport | Blaenau Gwent | 2 |
| Hook Colliery explosion, 1871 At about eight on the morning of 22 November 1871, just after the men had gone down, firedamp exploded in Hook Colliery on the Western Cleddau, about four miles from Haverfordwest. Some seventeen men and boys were burned. The first reports expected no deaths, but two colliers, Joseph James and John Phillips, died. |
22 November 1871 | Explosion | Pembrokeshire | 2 |
| Tylecoch Colliery explosion, 1866 On 21 August 1866 the mining engineer William Bedlington of Whitchurch, about 57, and Enoch Francis, the owner's contractor, were killed by an explosion of firedamp while examining the long-disused Four Foot level of Tylecoch Colliery in the Rhondda Fawr. The day before, gas had stopped Bedlington finishing his survey. |
21 August 1866 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Lletty Shenkin Colliery explosion, 1853 On 15 September 1853 firedamp exploded in Level No. 1 of Lletty Shenkin Colliery at Cwmbach, near Aberdare, while 49 men and boys were at work. Two door boys, David Thomas, 11, and John Williams, 12, were killed and the collier William Rees died of his burns. A coroner's jury found the manager, David Sims, guilty of manslaughter, but he was acquitted at the Assizes. |
15 September 1853 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 3 |
| Crimea Colliery explosion, 1858 In August 1858 firedamp exploded in the Crimea or Cyfing pit at Ystalyfera, belonging to Thomas Walters of Swansea, as twelve men who had been sitting and smoking by naked lights near the shaft bottom rose to start work. Six were killed, among them the overman, David Jones, and his sons of fourteen and twelve, and three were injured. The inspectors found the western workings unventilated. |
August 1858 | Explosion | Neath Port Talbot | 6 |
| Basset and Grylls Mine inrush, 1858 On 24 August 1858 the floor of an old shaft at Porkellis, filled to three or four fathoms with dressing-floor waste and covered by half an acre of tin slimes, gave way. Slime and water poured down through the 24 fathom crosscut into the deep workings, where some fifty men ran for their lives; seven were buried. The ground fell in over about 2,000 square fathoms and the bodies could not be recovered. |
24 August 1858 | Flooding / Inundation | Cornwall | 7 |
| Stanrigg Colliery inrush, 1918 Between ten and half past ten on the morning of 9 July 1918 liquid peat moss broke through into the shallow Humph seam workings of McCracken Brothers' Stanrigg and Arbuckle Colliery near Airdrie. Fifty-eight men and boys escaped, but nineteen in the Humph section were cut off. Boreholes found the workings under water by the second day; eight bodies were recovered and eleven remain entombed. |
9 July 1918 | Flooding / Inundation | North Lanarkshire | 19 |
| Foggs Colliery cage accident, 1907 Just after four in the afternoon of 4 October 1907, as men were being wound up at the end of the shift, the ascending cage at Foggs Colliery, carrying ten men on its upper deck, struck the descending cage where they passed in the old downcast shaft. Its rope was pulled from the capping, the safety catches failed, and the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft, crashing into the water of the sump. All ten men were killed. |
4 October 1907 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Greater Manchester | 10 |
| Foggs Colliery fire, 1877 About ten in the morning of Wednesday 7 February 1877 smoke poured from the upcast at Foggs Colliery, Darcy Lever, as a fire swept the Doe mine workings. About forty men were wound up, but ten in the furthest workings were suffocated. Rescue parties with respirators were driven back, the pit was sealed, and a second explosion wrecked the surface the next morning; the last bodies were not recovered until July. |
7 February 1877 | Fire | Greater Manchester | 10 |
| Oakthorpe underground fire, 1985 In 1985 a shallow coal seam smouldering beneath Oakthorpe, Leicestershire, broke out as a major underground fire. Ground temperatures in gardens reached 260 degrees Celsius, houses on School Street and the southern edge of the village were damaged by subsidence, and several had to be demolished and their residents re-housed. |
1985 | Fire | Leicestershire | 0 |
| Raglan Colliery roof fall, 1903 At about half past ten on the night of Thursday 15 January 1903 a fall of rock several tons in weight came down on two colliers holing under the No. 3 Rhondda seam at Hedley's Raglan Colliery, Heol-y-Cyw, killing George Britten, 32, and John Leyshon, 18. Men in the next stall saw it fall; both were dead when they were dug out after midnight. |
15 January 1903 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Bridgend | 2 |
| Lower Duffryn Colliery electrocution, 1911 Two excavators, John G. Christy and George Young, were electrocuted at the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company's Lower Duffryn Colliery near Mountain Ash on 9 May 1911. |
9 May 1911 | Machinery | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Penllwyngwent Colliery runaway journey, 1910 Early on Wednesday 9 February 1910, as the night shift walked up the steep 'B' drift of Cory Brothers' new Penllwyngwent Colliery at Ogmore Vale, a runaway journey of empty trams crashed into another journey below them. Matthew Wilson was killed outright, Thomas Meyrick died being carried home, and Richard Williams was seriously injured. |
9 February 1910 | Haulage / Transport | Bridgend | 2 |
| Blaenclydach Colliery dam burst, 1910 On the afternoon of Friday 11 March 1910 water dammed in the abandoned Blaenclydach No. 2 level on the mountainside above Clydach Vale burst out as men drove a borehole through the barrier. Some 800,000 gallons of water and slurry swept down onto the school in Oak Street and the houses and shops around it, killing a mother and five children. |
11 March 1910 | Flooding / Inundation | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 6 |
| Fochriw Colliery explosion, 1870 Late on Saturday 30 April 1870 firedamp exploded at the stables of the Dowlais Iron Company's No. 2 Vochriw pit, killing the two horse-keepers, Robert Hughes and Thomas Jones, and fifteen horses. Only the two men were in the pit; the inquest found that doors left open by the ostlers had let gas collect and then carried it to the stable light. |
30 April 1870 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 2 |
| South Rhondda Colliery roof fall, 1916 On 4 November 1916 Thomas Perkins and Caleb Tomlin went back down the new Tynycoed drift of the South Rhondda Colliery at Llanharan to attend the pump and were buried by a fall of soft wet ground. So much debris filled the drift that their bodies were not recovered for three weeks. |
4 November 1916 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Penydarren Colliery explosion, 1879 An explosion of gas in a Dowlais Iron Company pit at Penydarren at about two in the morning of Sunday 23 March 1879 killed the haulier Matthew Rees and burnt the rest of a ten-man repairing shift but one. |
23 March 1879 | Explosion | Merthyr Tydfil | 1 |
| Penydarren Colliery sinking accident, 1870 On Friday 3 June 1870 five sinkers being lowered down the shaft of a new pit the Dowlais Iron Company was sinking near Cwm Bargoed fell to the bottom when the rope slipped off the drum of the hand winch. Owen Williams and John Jenkins were killed and the other three badly injured. |
3 June 1870 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Merthyr Tydfil | 2 |
| Bryn Navigation Colliery roof fall, 1956 In April 1956 Arthur Wanklyn and David Davies were killed under the same fall of roof at the National Coal Board's Bryn Navigation Colliery near Maesteg; it took four hours to reach them. |
April 1956 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Neath Port Talbot | 2 |
| Bryn Navigation Colliery roof fall, 1918 Two brothers from Cwmavon, David John and Jonathan Stephens, were killed by a fall of roof while working in the same stall at the Bryn Navigation Colliery on Friday 5 April 1918. They were completely buried and their bodies were recovered some hours later. |
5 April 1918 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Neath Port Talbot | 2 |
| Braichycymmer Colliery roof fall, 1907 At about midnight on Tuesday 25 June 1907 a big fall in a new drift being driven at Pontycymmer to win the Victoria seam buried three men. Joseph Toman was killed; the contractor David Davies was dug out alive after about twenty hours of dangerous rescue work but died soon after; John Maloney was freed injured. |
25 June 1907 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Bridgend | 2 |
| Dyffryn Main Colliery overwind, 1878 On 26 February 1878 the cage carrying seven night-shift men up the shaft at the Bryncoch Main Colliery, near Neath, was overwound into the headgear. Two men fell to the bottom and were killed and another was badly hurt; the inquest returned accidental death. |
26 February 1878 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Neath Port Talbot | 2 |
| Ty Trist Colliery shaft accident, 1905 On 15 December 1905 two men lowered into the No. 1 shaft at Ty Trist Colliery, Tredegar, to repair a burst steam-pipe joint were overcome by the escaping steam and fell to the pit bottom. Two men who went up the shaft to find them were nearly suffocated. |
15 December 1905 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Blaenau Gwent | 2 |
| Cwmpennar Colliery incline collision, 1886 On the evening of 9 December 1886 men riding up the Powell Duffryn Company's self-acting incline at Cwmpennar to the George Pit were run into by descending coal wagons when a stone jammed the points. Five died and several more were injured; the inquest found the evidence of how the stone got there inconclusive. |
9 December 1886 | Haulage / Transport | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 5 |
| Caedefaid Colliery roof fall, 1875 A fall of roof in the Caedefaid level at Maesteg buried three men at about four o'clock on the afternoon of 31 August 1875. They lay trapped until the fireman found them the next day; all three died. |
31 August 1875 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Bridgend | 3 |
| Glanddu Colliery roof fall, 1875 A stone of about five tons fell from the roof of the shared Glanddu level near Pengam on 21 May 1875, killing two colliers riding in to work and injuring three. The coroner's jury found their employer guilty of manslaughter for leaving the road unexamined; the grand jury threw out the bill. |
21 May 1875 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Caerphilly | 2 |
| Graig Colliery sinking explosion, 1892 Late on 26 February 1892 gas that had gathered in the sinking at the Graig Pit, Aberdare, exploded at the sinkers' candles, killing the banksman John Evans and burning eleven men; the inquest found the officials had not written up their inspections. |
26 February 1892 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 1 |
| Cefn Brithdir Colliery inrush, 1888 On the evening of 22 August 1888 two firemen opening up an old heading at the 'George Inn' colliery at Brithdir, near New Tredegar, disturbed a stopping holding back water and were drowned when it burst out. |
22 August 1888 | Flooding / Inundation | Caerphilly | 2 |
| Hollybush Colliery boiler suffocation, 1881 On the morning of Sunday 18 December 1881 four men working on a pumping engine and its boiler underground at Hollybush Colliery, between Blackwood and Tredegar, were suffocated when the workings filled with fumes. |
18 December 1881 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Caerphilly | 4 |
| Vivian Colliery sinking explosion, 1890 On Monday 8 December 1890, while the new Vivian pit at Six Bells, Abertillery, was being sunk, part of a dynamite charge that had failed to fire the night before exploded as the sinkers broke up the debris, killing three men and injuring six. |
8 December 1890 | Explosion | Blaenau Gwent | 3 |
| Machen Colliery explosion, 1858 On 26 April 1858 gas exploded at Augustus Morgan's colliery at Machen in the lower Rhymney valley; three men and a boy died of their burns, and the inquest heard that a safety lamp found at the scene had a faulty clasp. |
26 April 1858 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 4 |
| Castle Pit explosion, 1895 In the early hours of a July morning in 1895 gas exploded in the Four Feet seam at Castle Pit, Troedyrhiw, south of Merthyr Tydfil, burning three rippers so badly that all three died of their injuries. |
July 1895 | Explosion | Merthyr Tydfil | 3 |
| Upper Bank Pit inrush, 1905 Shortly before midday on 27 November 1905 water burst into a level at Upper Bank Pit, Llansamlet, with about 150 men underground; all escaped, the last of them a boy found unhurt in a tram that the flood had washed into the timbers. |
27 November 1905 | Flooding / Inundation | Swansea | 0 |
| Moreton Colliery explosion, 1870 On a Friday morning at the end of September 1870 gas exploded at a naked light in the newly deepened pit at Moreton Colliery, Saundersfoot, killing two boys and burning eight others. |
Late September 1870 | Explosion | Pembrokeshire | 2 |
| Moreton Colliery explosion, 1860 At seven in the morning of 20 October 1860 firedamp exploded in a heading of Moreton Colliery near Saundersfoot, ten minutes after the men had gone in with a mix of safety lamps and naked candles, killing three and injuring eight. |
20 October 1860 | Explosion | Pembrokeshire | 3 |
| Callands Pit explosion, 1816 On the morning of 5 January 1816 fire-damp exploded at the Pentre Colliery near Swansea, whose pumping shaft was Calland's Pit, killing two men and dreadfully burning five others. |
5 January 1816 | Explosion | Swansea | 2 |
| Westernmoor Colliery inundation, 1878 On the morning of Tuesday 16 April 1878 a stall at Westernmoor Colliery, a small slant near Neath, broke into old workings abandoned more than a century before, and the rush of water and debris drowned three men and a boy of fourteen. |
16 April 1878 | Flooding / Inundation | Neath Port Talbot | 4 |
| Caepontbren Colliery explosion, 1912 On 1 November 1912 a spark from the electric signalling system at New Caepontbren Colliery, Pontyates, ignited gas, and four men, a mechanic and three hitchers, were badly burnt. |
1 November 1912 | Explosion | Carmarthenshire | 0 |
| Glynhebog Colliery explosion, 1900 On 28 May 1900 a roof fall where a pillar was being worked out in the Pumpquart anthracite seam at Glynhebog Colliery slant, Pontyberem, released gas that the air current carried onto the naked lights of men waiting nearby; three were badly burnt and two died. |
28 May 1900 | Explosion | Carmarthenshire | 2 |
| Cwm Capel Colliery inrush, 1907 At 7.45 on the morning of Saturday 7 December 1907 a heading in Jones's slant at Cwm Capel Colliery, Burry Port, broke into flooded old workings through a barrier of only six inches of coal; a boy of fifteen was drowned and a young collier died of his injuries eleven days later. |
7 December 1907 | Flooding / Inundation | Carmarthenshire | 2 |
| New Lodge Colliery roof fall, 1931 On the morning of Thursday 19 November 1931 a heavy fall of roof at a parting in New Lodge Colliery, Burry Port, buried and killed two repairers, William Jones and Joseph Lewis. |
19 November 1931 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Carmarthenshire | 2 |
| Crown Colliery sinking accident, 1911 On 31 July 1911 the rope holding a 30-hundredweight sinking pump above the sinkers in the new shaft at Crown Colliery, Pwll, near Llanelli, snapped at its clamp, and the pump fell on the men walling the shaft below, killing four. |
31 July 1911 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Carmarthenshire | 4 |
| Guerets Colliery steam scalding, 1895 On the afternoon of Saturday 19 October 1895 two colliers left behind in Guerets' Graigola Colliery at Clydach tried to make their own way out through the upcast airway and were scalded to death by steam, with no engineman at his post to wind them. |
19 October 1895 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Swansea | 2 |
| Birchgrove Colliery trench collapse, 1923 On 21 October 1923 the sides of a trench being dug at the surface of Birchgrove Colliery, near Swansea, collapsed on three men, burying two colliers, Thomas Rees and Richard Warwick, who were dead when recovered. |
21 October 1923 | Other | Swansea | 2 |
| Birchgrove Colliery sinking accident, 1896 On the evening of Wednesday 20 May 1896 a stone of about a ton and a half fell from the unwalled side of the Brothers Pit at Birchgrove, near Swansea, while it was being deepened to the Four-Feet seam, killing two sinkers outright and fatally injuring a third. |
20 May 1896 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Swansea | 3 |
| Birchgrove Colliery inrush, 1889 Around midnight on 15-16 April 1889 a stall in the Graigola seam at Birchgrove Colliery, near Swansea, was driven to within three feet of the flooded old Cwmdu workings; the coal gave way and the water drowned four men and six horses. |
16 April 1889 | Flooding / Inundation | Swansea | 4 |