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.
241 disasters.
| Disaster | Date | Type | Region | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abercarn colliery (Prince of Wales) explosion, 1878 A firedamp explosion tore through Prince of Wales Colliery (Abercarn Colliery) on 11 September 1878, killing 268 men and boys — the third-worst death toll in South Wales Coalfield history. |
11 September 1878 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 268 |
| Abercynon Colliery Haulage Accident, 1906 On the afternoon of Saturday 28 April 1906, about fifteen minutes before the end of the shift, a journey of twenty-four full trams of coal ran away underground at Abercynon Colliery and into the men waiting at the pit bottom to go up. Five were killed and at least six seriously injured. |
28 April 1906 | Haulage / Transport | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 5 |
| Abercynon Colliery Shaft Accident, 1895 Six sinkers were killed at Abercynon Colliery on 9 September 1895 when the bowk they were riding struck a projection in the shaft and they were precipitated to the bottom. |
9 September 1895 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 6 |
| Abercynon Colliery Sinking Accident, 1893 Eight sinkers were killed by a fall while the shafts of Abercynon Colliery — then the Dowlais Cardiff Colliery — were being sunk on 23 January 1893. A ninth man, David Jones, died a month later of injuries from the same fall. |
23 January 1893 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 8 |
| Aberfan disaster, 1966 A saturated colliery waste tip above the village of Aberfan collapsed as a liquefied slurry on the morning of 21 October 1966, engulfing Pantglas Junior School and nearby houses and killing 144 people, 116 of them children — one of the deadliest disasters in British history and a direct consequence of how the colliery's own waste tips had been sited and managed. |
21 October 1966 | Surface / Tip Failure | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 144 |
| Agecroft Colliery shaft accident, 1859 Seven men and boys were drawn against the winding pulley and fell down the shaft at Agecroft Colliery on 4 January 1859, after a shaft-position indicator's signal band slipped loose and the engineman, with no other way to judge the cage's position, relied on hearing the signal bell alone. |
4 January 1859 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Greater Manchester | 7 |
| Albion Colliery explosion, 1894 A firedamp and coal-dust explosion tore through Albion Colliery on 23 June 1894, killing 290 men and boys — the second-worst death toll of any British colliery disaster after Senghenydd in 1913. |
23 June 1894 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 290 |
| Alderley Edge West Mine deaths Two men, George Etchells and Alfred Hadfield, died after going into the disused West Mine and losing their way in its passages; their bodies were not found for three months. |
May 1929 | Other | Cheshire | 2 |
| Annagher Pit fireball, 1898 Coal had been coming out of the new Annagher pit for barely a month when, shortly after one o'clock on 29 September 1898, gas ignited sixty metres down and engulfed four miners in a fireball. Three died. Two men who went back down after them were decorated for it, one with the Royal Humane Society's highest award. |
29 September 1898 | Explosion | County Tyrone | 3 |
| Apedale Colliery Explosion, 1878 An explosion at the No. 1 Burley Pit of Apedale Colliery, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, killed twenty-three men and boys — the worse of two major explosions to strike the pit within a decade. |
27 March 1878 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 23 |
| Apedale Colliery Explosion, 1885 A second major explosion at Apedale Colliery's Burley Pit, seven years after the 1878 disaster, killed nine men. |
20 June 1885 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 9 |
| Astley Green Colliery explosion, 1939 A firedamp explosion struck Astley Green Colliery in the early hours of 7 June 1939 while men fought an underground fire over a mile from the pit bottom, killing five men including the pit manager and injuring four more; mines rescue teams were themselves driven back by further explosions. |
7 June 1939 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 5 |
| Auchengeich Colliery explosion, 1931 An explosion tore through the night shift in No. 2 Pit — the Round Pit — at Auchengeich Colliery in the early hours of 22 January 1931. Five men were killed outright and a sixth died the next day. Five others who had escaped unhurt went straight back in to look for them and were themselves overcome by gas. |
22 January 1931 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 6 |
| Auchengeich Colliery fire, 1959 A fire in an underground booster fan filled the return airway of Auchengeich Colliery with carbon monoxide, and a man-riding train carrying 48 miners was sent into it. Forty-seven died; one man walked out. It remains the worst mining disaster in 20th-century Scotland. |
18 September 1959 | Fire | North Lanarkshire | 47 |
| Auchenharvie Colliery inrush, 1895 At about three in the afternoon on 2 August 1895, water burst out of old workings into the rise of Auchenharvie's No. 4 Pit and swept down the inclines to the shaft and on into the dook. Nine people drowned, four of them brothers and two of them children. Five more were entombed behind a blockage and dug out alive two days later. |
2 August 1895 | Flooding / Inundation | North Ayrshire | 9 |
| Baddesley Colliery Explosion An underground fire, started by an unprotected steam boiler installed in the return airway, trapped nine night-shift men in the deep workings at Baddesley Colliery. The rescue effort ran for fourteen hours before a gas explosion killed twenty-three of the men attempting it, among them the colliery's owner. Thirty-two died in all. |
1 May 1882 | Explosion | Warwickshire | 32 |
| Bardykes Colliery Roof Fall, 1936 A very large fall of roof in the loading gate of a conveyor run in the Splint Seam at Bardykes Colliery killed five men and a pony on the evening of Saturday 21 March 1936. |
21 March 1936 | Collapse / Roof Fall | South Lanarkshire | 5 |
| Barnburgh Main Colliery explosion, 1957 A firedamp explosion at 3pm on 26 June 1957 in the Newhill seam's North West 1 District at Barnburgh Main Colliery killed six men and injured fourteen others, after a shot-firing blast brought down a stone that damaged a power cable, producing a flash that ignited gas escaping from a break in the roof 73 yards away. |
26 June 1957 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 6 |
| Bedford Colliery Explosion, 1886 A firedamp explosion at Bedford No. 2 Pit, Leigh, on Friday 13 August 1886 killed 38 men and boys. The inquest established that a miner drawing pit props had seen firedamp in his lamp and not reported it, and that a second miner, finding his own lamp firing, shook it instead of lowering it and carrying it out. |
13 August 1886 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 38 |
| Bedwas Navigation Colliery Explosion, 1912 An underground explosion at Bedwas Navigation Colliery on 27 March 1912, within weeks of the pit raising its first coal, badly injured twelve men, three of whom died. The cause was attributed to a spark from the colliery's electric signalling system. |
27 March 1912 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 3 |
| Bedwellty Pits Explosion, 1865 An explosion at the No. 1 pit of Bedwellty Pits near Tredegar on 16 June 1865 killed twenty-seven miners, six of them boys under sixteen. It was reported to the country in the Illustrated London News, which printed engravings both of the colliery and of the colliers' funeral. |
16 June 1865 | Explosion | Blaenau Gwent | 27 |
| Bentley Colliery explosion, 1931 A firedamp explosion in the North-East District of Bentley Colliery's Barnsley seam killed 45 men and boys on the evening of 20 November 1931, most likely ignited by a gob fire smouldering in the mine's old workings; the rescue that followed brought eight Edward Medals. |
20 November 1931 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 45 |
| Bentley Colliery manrider derailment, 1978 An underground manriding train carrying 65 miners derailed after running away down an incline at Bentley Colliery on 21 November 1978, killing seven men and injuring many more. |
21 November 1978 | Haulage / Transport | South Yorkshire | 7 |
| Bersham Colliery explosion, 1909 A shot fired at the far end of the No.2 West Level ignited a pocket of firedamp at Bersham Colliery on 3 August 1909, killing eight men. |
3 August 1909 | Explosion | Wrexham | 8 |
| Bickershaw Colliery explosion, 1942 An explosion in No.4 pit's Rise Unit, probably caused by spontaneous combustion igniting gas in sealed-off old workings, killed 6 men shortly before midnight on 5 January 1942. |
5-6 January 1942 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 6 |
| Bickershaw Colliery explosion, 1959 Carbon monoxide from an explosion in an abandoned district of the Plodder Seam killed 5 men at Bickershaw Colliery on 10 October 1959. |
10 October 1959 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 5 |
| Bickershaw Colliery shaft accident, 1932 An overwound cage carrying 20 men plunged through the bottom of Bickershaw's No.3 shaft into a water-filled sump on 10 October 1932, drowning 19 of them in one of British mining's worst shaft accidents. |
10 October 1932 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Greater Manchester | 19 |
| Big Pit explosion (1908) A localised underground explosion killed three men. |
11 December 1908 | Explosion | Torfaen | 3 |
| Big Pit fire (1913) Three men died in a fire near the underground stables while trying to rescue the pit ponies stabled there; the horses survived. |
7 April 1913 | Fire | Torfaen | 3 |
| Bilsthorpe Colliery Explosions (1934) Two separate firedamp explosions three hours apart in the North West No. 6 district killed nine men and injured a further forty. |
26 July 1934 | Explosion | Nottinghamshire | 9 |
| Bilsthorpe Colliery Piping Collapse (1927) A burst water pipe brought roughly 100 tons of shattered ironwork crashing down the sinking shaft, killing fourteen men working below. |
1 March 1927 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Nottinghamshire | 14 |
| Bilsthorpe Colliery Roof Collapse (1993) A roof collapse caused by unsafe roof bolting killed three men nearly 2,000 feet underground as they drove a tunnel toward a new coal seam; an under-manager was posthumously awarded the George Medal for warning his colleagues. |
18 August 1993 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Nottinghamshire | 3 |
| Blantyre Colliery Explosion, 1879 A second firedamp explosion at Dixon's Blantyre No. 1 pit, less than two years after the catastrophic 1877 disaster at the same colliery group, killed 28 men and boys. |
2 July 1879 | Explosion | South Lanarkshire | 28 |
| Blantyre Mining Disaster A firedamp explosion tore through Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's colliery at High Blantyre on the morning of 22 October 1877, killing 207 men and boys -- the worst mining disaster in Scottish history. |
22 October 1877 | Explosion | South Lanarkshire | 207 |
| Blidworth Colliery Cage Collision (1943) Three men cleaning water garlands from a scaffold mounted on a descending cage were killed when the shaft's two cages collided for an unexplained reason. |
Sunday night, 6 June 1943 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Nottinghamshire | 3 |
| Bold Colliery shaft accident, 1905 A cage carrying men down the shaft at Bold Colliery, St Helens, descended too rapidly on 20 January 1905, overshooting the Yard Mine level and crashing onto a sinking platform thirty yards below, killing five miners and seriously injuring fourteen more. |
20 January 1905 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Merseyside | 5 |
| Botallack Mine shaft accident The chain hauling a man-carriage up the Boscawen Diagonal Shaft broke; the carriage ran back out of control and struck timber at the bottom, killing all nine men and boys aboard. |
18 April 1863 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Cornwall | 9 |
| Bothwell Castle Colliery shaft accident, 1889 An engineman's failure to shut off steam in time sent a descending cage crashing into its seat at Bothwell Castle Colliery's No. 2 pit on 28 June 1889, killing five miners. |
28 June 1889 | Winding / Shaft Accident | South Lanarkshire | 5 |
| Boulby Mine gas blowout, 2016 Miner John Anderson, 56, was killed at Boulby Mine on 17 June 2016 by a sudden, powerful release of trapped gas — a 'gas blowout' around 15 metres across that displaced an estimated 1,000 tonnes of mineral, described by one expert witness as the biggest such blowout he had ever seen. It followed a separate fire at the mine only two months earlier that had injured seven workers. |
17 June 2016 | Other | North Yorkshire | 1 |
| Bowhill Colliery disaster, 1931 A firedamp explosion and the afterdamp that followed it killed ten men working in the Dunfermline Splint seam at Bowhill Colliery, Cardenden, on 31 October 1931 — one of the worst disasters in the history of the Fife coalfield. |
31 October 1931 | Explosion | Fife | 10 |
| Brayton Domain Colliery Explosion, 1915 At about eleven in the morning on 26 April 1915, a shot of gelignite was fired into an almost entirely undermined rib of coal in the Yard Band seam of Brayton Domain No. 4 Colliery, next to a goaf whose condition nobody had checked. The gas in it exploded. Seven of the eight men at work in the district died of their burns over the following weeks, among them the deputy and shotfirer himself. |
26 April 1915 | Explosion | Cumbria | 7 |
| Bromley Colliery Drowning Disaster (1913) A cotter pin worked loose in the winding gear, sending a cage 60 yards down the shaft; all three men aboard survived the fall itself but drowned in standing water before rescue. |
7 November 1913 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Somerset | 3 |
| Brookhouse Colliery Overwind, 1958 An overwind in the No. 1 downcast shaft at Brookhouse Colliery injured 36 of the 44 men in a descending cage, after excessive winding speed went unchecked by faulty braking and an improperly equipped automatic safety device. |
4 March 1958 | Winding / Shaft Accident | South Yorkshire | 0 |
| Bryngwiog Lead Mine Inundation, 1862 On Saturday 22 February 1862, water from old workings broke into the Bryngwiog lead mine on Halkyn Mountain in Flintshire and sixteen men were drowned. The dead came from villages scattered across the mountain — Moel-y-Crio, Lixwm, Rhewl, Rhesycae, Foel, Llaneurgain and Cilcen. |
22 February 1862 | Flooding / Inundation | Flintshire | 16 |
| Bryngwiog Mine inrush, 1862 Sixteen men drowned when Bryngwiog Mine, on Halkyn Mountain, broke into the flooded old workings of the abandoned Hendre Mine and filled with water within minutes — one of the worst disasters in the district's lead-mining history. |
February 1862 | Flooding / Inundation | Flintshire | 16 |
| Bullcroft Colliery Explosion, 1941 Six men were killed outright by an ignition of gas at Bullcroft Colliery just after three in the morning on 19 October 1941. They were about 430 feet from the shaft bottom, and all but one were members of the mine rescue team, at work on problems within the mine. |
19 October 1941 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 6 |
| Burngrange Oil Shale Mine explosion and fire, 1947 An open acetylene cap lamp ignited firedamp underground at Burngrange Oil Shale Mine on the evening of 10 January 1947, triggering an explosion and fire that killed 15 of the 53 men underground that shift — the greatest single loss of life in the history of Scotland's shale oil industry. |
10 January 1947 | Explosion | Midlothian | 15 |
| Bwllfa Colliery Fire (1867) A ventilation-system fire at Bwllfa Colliery filled an underground drift with smoke during a shift change on 27 December 1867, killing five of the eleven men working there. |
27 December 1867 | Fire | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 5 |
| Bwllfa Dare Colliery Sinking Explosion (1874) Two sinkers were killed and a third badly injured when they ignited gas blowers while sinking a new shaft at Bwllfa Dare Colliery, Cwmdare, on 18 May 1874. |
18 May 1874 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 2 |
| Cadeby Main Colliery disaster, 1912 A firedamp explosion at Cadeby Main Colliery in the early hours of 9 July 1912 killed 35 men outright, with three more later dying of their injuries; a second explosion that same day killed 53 members of the rescue party sent to recover the dead, bringing the total death toll to 91 — one of the worst mining disasters in British history. |
9 July 1912 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 91 |
| Cadzow Colliery Gas Incident, 1929 A fireman and two miners were overcome and killed by gas at Cadzow Colliery, Hamilton, after going in to examine a place where a shot had just been fired on 10 October 1929. |
10 October 1929 | Gas / Asphyxiation | South Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Cambrian Colliery explosion, 1905 A firedamp explosion at Cambrian Colliery's No.1 pit in Clydach Vale killed 35 men on the night of 10 March 1905, apparently ignited when a bratticeman's safety lamp broke against falling rock; a five-day underground fire that followed prevented any further rescue. |
10 March 1905 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 35 |
| Cambrian Colliery explosion, 1965 A firedamp explosion at Cambrian Colliery, caused by an electrical arc igniting gas that had built up after a ventilation structure was left open for over two hours, killed 30 men on 17 May 1965 — the last major mining disaster in South Wales history. |
17 May 1965 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 30 |
| Cardowan Colliery explosion, 1932 A firedamp explosion, triggered when a shot was fired into coal already loosened by an earlier shot, killed 11 men at Cardowan Colliery's dip side face on 16 November 1932. |
16 November 1932 | Explosion | North Lanarkshire | 11 |
| Cavanacaw rockfall and water inrush, 2018 Over-charging with explosives brought down 150 tonnes of rock from an underground roadway roof at Cavanacaw Gold Mine, narrowly missing a worker, before the resulting unstable ground let surface water flood into the workings, further endangering the underground workforce. |
July 2018 | Collapse / Roof Fall | County Tyrone | 0 |
| Celynen Colliery roof fall (1909) A heavy fall of rock at Celynen South Colliery's No. 3 pit trapped collier Joseph Absalom and his young assistant Alfred Phillips at the coal face. Despite a rescue effort lasting up to 26 hours, during which the trapped men could still be heard, both died before they could be freed. |
14 May 1909 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Caerphilly | 2 |
| Chanters Colliery Explosion, 1957 Gas that had accumulated in Chanters Colliery's No. 2 drift after a roof fall five days earlier was ignited by an electrical arc when an electrician twisted a switch's cover plate onto a live busbar, killing eight men. |
6 March 1957 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 8 |
| Chartershaugh Colliery Explosion, 1778 A firedamp explosion at Chartershaugh Colliery on 8 December 1778 killed 24 men, one of the deadliest recorded Durham coalfield disasters of the eighteenth century. |
8 December 1778 | Explosion | County Durham | — |
| Chatterley Whitfield (Whitfield) Colliery explosion A smithy fire spread through the ventilation flue and ignited gas underground, and further explosions followed when ventilation was cut to fight the fire — sources give the final death toll as anywhere from 21 to 28. |
7 February 1881 | Explosion | Staffordshire | — |
| Clandown Colliery Gunpowder Explosion (1868) Two colliers were fatally injured by a gunpowder explosion caused by misusing blasting powder meant only for the roof, on coal itself. |
27 November 1868 | Explosion | Somerset | 2 |
| Clandown Colliery Roof Fall (1877) Two colliers, one of them a teenager, were killed together in a single fall of roof. |
5 February 1877 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Somerset | 2 |
| Congo Pit flooding, 1895 At ten past one in the morning of 10 December 1895 the Emerald Pit in the townland of Congo flooded catastrophically and six men were killed. The colliery's head engineer had warned that old water-filled shafts lay nearby and that breaching one would be disastrous. That is exactly what happened. |
10 December 1895 | Flooding / Inundation | County Tyrone | 6 |
| Creswell Colliery fire, 1950 A conveyor-belt fire at a transfer point in Creswell Colliery's High Hazel seam killed 80 men by carbon monoxide poisoning on 26 September 1950, after fire cut off the only intake route and toxic smoke filled the sole usable return airway — one of the worst British coal-mining disasters of the post-war era. |
26 September 1950 | Fire | Derbyshire | 80 |
| Cronton Colliery explosion An explosion in the Pasture (Crombouke) seam during the morning shift killed eight men after two shots were fired simultaneously at adjoining stalls, likely igniting firedamp released by a roof fall. |
11 December 1917 | Explosion | Merseyside | 8 |
| Crossgill Mine Fall of Ground (1911) A large mass of ore and stone fell without warning from the side of a working at Crossgill Mine, killing two men on the spot. |
14 September 1911 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Cumbria | 2 |
| Cwm Ebol Reservoir Dam Breach (2012) A landslip cracked the dam wall of Cwm Ebol quarry's old mill reservoir and blocked its sluice gates, causing water to overtop the structure and prompting the precautionary evacuation of the nearby village of Pennal. |
10 June 2012 | Surface / Tip Failure | Gwynedd | 0 |
| Cwmnantddu Colliery Explosion, 1849 An explosion of firedamp in the New Pit at Cwmnantddu — the colliery later known as Llanerch — killed five men on the morning of 10 August 1849. Two of them were a father and his son of about fourteen. |
10 August 1849 | Explosion | Torfaen | 5 |
| Cwmorthin Back Vein collapse A catastrophic collapse in the Back Vein roughly halved production and made about half the workings inaccessible, eventually forcing the operating company into liquidation. |
1884 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Gwynedd | — |
| Cwmorthin fatal accident and mine-status test case A fatal accident at Cwmorthin — nicknamed 'The Slaughterhouse' after 21 workers died there between 1875 and 1893 — led to a test case that reclassified the site as a mine rather than an exempt quarry under new safety law, and the company was wound up soon after. |
1875 | Other | Gwynedd | — |
| Cwmtillery Colliery Explosion, 1876 An explosion at Cwmtillery Colliery on 18 December 1876 killed either sixteen or twenty-three men and boys, depending on which account is followed. It was the worst and the last of four underground explosions at the colliery in twenty years. |
18 December 1876 | Explosion | Blaenau Gwent | 23 |
| Cymmer Colliery Explosion, 1856 On the morning of 15 July 1856, 160 men and boys went down the Old Pit at Cymmer Colliery near Porth for the six o'clock shift. A gas explosion near the mine entrance trapped those already deeper in; 114 died, most of them of afterdamp. Forty-nine were boys under sixteen, fifteen of them under twelve. The mine's manager and four officials were charged with manslaughter and all were acquitted. |
15 July 1856 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 114 |
| Cynheidre-Pentremawr outburst, 1971 Shortly after noon on 6 April 1971, a heading being driven in the No. 2 Cross Measure Driveage at Cynheidre erupted without warning, ejecting around 400 tons of fine coal and roughly two million cubic feet of firedamp into the workings. Six men were killed by asphyxiation, and the gas travelled far enough through the ventilation system to overcome dozens more at a longwall face a considerable distance away before a quick-thinking electrician shut down an auxiliary fan and slowed its spread. |
6 April 1971 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Carmarthenshire | 6 |
| Darran Colliery Explosion, 1909 At about four on the morning of Friday 29 October 1909, with fifty night-shift men underground, Darran Colliery exploded. The blast vented up the upcast shaft and shattered the pit-head casing, and it disabled the winding shaft. Twenty-seven died — five of them rescuers whose breathing apparatus did not hold enough oxygen to get them out again. |
29 October 1909 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 27 |
| Daw Mill Colliery fire, 2013 An underground fire caused by spontaneous combustion broke out at Daw Mill Colliery, Britain's biggest coal producer, described as the worst underground blaze in the UK for thirty years; all 92 workers underground were safely evacuated, but the fire could not be extinguished and led directly to the mine's permanent closure and UK Coal's collapse into administration. |
22 February 2013 | Fire | Warwickshire | 0 |
| Deep Navigation Colliery shaft accident, 1902 A fractured cast-iron pump pipe fell from the shaft wall onto an ascending, double-decked cage carrying 32 men at Deep Navigation Colliery on 11 November 1902, killing five and injuring two. |
11 November 1902 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Merthyr Tydfil | 5 |
| Dolcoath Mine stope collapse A timbered stope collapsed at the 412-fathom level, one of the deepest workings in Cornwall, killing eight miners and trapping a ninth for over a day and a half before he was rescued unhurt. |
20 September 1893 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Cornwall | 8 |
| Easington Colliery explosion, 1951 An underground explosion in the Fifth ('Duckbill') district of Easington Colliery killed 81 miners outright, with two rescue workers later dying from the effects of afterdamp — one of the worst British colliery disasters of the 20th century. |
29 May 1951 | Explosion | County Durham | 83 |
| East and North Wheal Rose Flooding Disaster A sudden, violent thunderstorm flooded East Wheal Rose and the neighbouring North Wheal Rose within minutes on 9 July 1846, drowning 39 miners in the deadliest single mining disaster in Cornwall's history. |
9 July 1846 | Flooding / Inundation | Cornwall | 39 |
| East Cannock Colliery Explosion (1877) A methane explosion at East Cannock Colliery in 1877 killed four boys and four pit horses, and seriously injured two men. |
31 August 1877 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 4 |
| East Plean Colliery explosion, 1922 A shot fired in the Torwood Levels blew out instead of breaking the coal, igniting coal dust and killing twelve men; four more were overcome by carbon monoxide, and the officials who led the recovery were poisoned in their turn. |
13 July 1922 | Explosion | Stirling | 12 |
| East Pool Mine shaft collapse A large underground rockfall destroyed both of East Pool's winding shafts and flooded the mine; no deaths were reported, but the mine had to sink an entirely new shaft to survive. |
1921 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Cornwall | 0 |
| Elliot Colliery Cage Fall Three men fell to their deaths at Elliot Colliery, New Tredegar, on 4 March 1892 when a bolt connecting the top of their cage snapped as they were being lowered down an 86-yard trial shaft, dropping the cage and its occupants to the bottom. |
4 March 1892 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Caerphilly | 3 |
| Eppleton Colliery Explosion, 1951 An explosion at Eppleton Colliery on 6 July 1951 killed nine men. Firedamp was ignited by the defective master control box of a Joy loader — a mechanical coal-loading machine — and the flame was carried on by coal dust. The Mines Inspector reported on it. |
6 July 1951 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 9 |
| Far Green Colliery shaft accident, 1859 An ascending cage carrying sixteen men and boys overwound fifty feet past its normal stopping point and struck the headgear pulley at Far Green Colliery on 5 November 1859, after the winding engineman was briefly distracted; ten died. |
5 November 1859 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Staffordshire | 10 |
| Featherstone Massacre During the national coal lockout of 1893, a crowd of over 2,000 gathered at Ackton Hall Colliery amid rumours that coal was being moved out to break the strike. After the Riot Act was read and the crowd failed to disperse, soldiers of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry opened fire; two bystanders, James Gibbs and James Arthur Duggan, were fatally wounded and died the next day. The event became known as the Featherstone Massacre, a landmark moment in British labour history. |
7 September 1893 | Other | West Yorkshire | 2 |
| Ferndale Colliery explosion, 1867 Two consecutive explosions at Ferndale Colliery's No.1 pit killed 178 men and boys on 8 November 1867, after a gas accumulation the fireman had already warned the manager about ignited from a naked light — one of the worst disasters in Welsh mining history. |
8 November 1867 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 178 |
| Ferndale Colliery explosion, 1869 A second major explosion at Ferndale Colliery, in the fiery Four Foot Seam, killed 53 men and boys on 10 June 1869, less than two years after the pit's 1867 disaster. |
10 June 1869 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 53 |
| Flooding of the Adelaide Mine A sudden inrush of water flooded the Adelaide rock-salt mine at Marston overnight on 13 March 1928, ending rock-salt mining at Northwich for good and creating the subsidence lake now known as Adelaide Flash. |
13 March 1928 | Flooding / Inundation | Cheshire | 0 |
| Fochriw Colliery Explosion, 1902 A fall of roof released a body of firedamp at Fochriw Colliery, which was ignited by a naked light, killing eight miners. |
4 June 1902 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 8 |
| Fochriw Colliery Winding Accident, 1870 The winding rope detached from its drum at Fochriw Colliery's No. 1 shaft, sending the cages and everyone in them plunging to the bottom and killing five men — the second such accident at the colliery within two months. |
8 January 1870 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Caerphilly | 5 |
| Fordell Colliery boiler explosion, 1876 A steam boiler exploded at Fordell Colliery's William Pit near Dunfermline on 30 September 1876, killing four people outright — mostly young women sheltering near the boiler house during a work stoppage — with a possible fifth victim dying later of her injuries. |
30 September 1876 | Explosion | Fife | 4 |
| Frickley Colliery gassing, 1931 Five deputies were overcome by carbon monoxide and died while reopening Frickley Colliery after its Christmas shutdown on 28 December 1931, in what became remembered locally as the darkest single day in the colliery's history. |
28 December 1931 | Gas / Asphyxiation | South Yorkshire | 5 |
| Garden Pit Inundation, Landshipping, 1844 On the afternoon of 14 February 1844 the Daucleddau broke into the Garden Pit at Landshipping, whose workings ran a quarter of a mile out beneath the estuary. Fifty-eight people were below; thirty-three were cut off at once and forty drowned. Eighteen were brought up in the coal buckets by putting the horses to a gallop on the whim. It remains the worst loss of life in Pembrokeshire mining. |
14 February 1844 | Flooding / Inundation | Pembrokeshire | 40 |
| Garnant Colliery Disaster, 1884 At about five on the morning of Wednesday 16 January 1884, ten men crowded into a cage at Garnant Colliery that was meant to carry eight. The winding rope snapped and the cage fell 225 feet to the bottom of the shaft. All ten were killed — four of them aged sixteen or under. They had come early so as to finish in time for a funeral. |
16 January 1884 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Carmarthenshire | 10 |
| Gartshore Colliery explosion, 1923 An explosion at No. 3 Gartshore Pit on the evening of 28 July 1923 killed eight of the twelve men constructing a water lodgment at the bottom of a new shaft; a pit bottomer thrown clear by the blast climbed back underground himself to help pull the injured to safety. |
28 July 1923 | Explosion | East Dunbartonshire | 8 |
| Gethin Colliery explosion, 1862 Gas ignited at a naked flame in the No. 19 heading of Gethin's Lower pit on 19 February 1862, killing 47 men and boys. The inquest found the ventilation deficient and returned a verdict of manslaughter against the manager; a grand jury then found no case to answer. |
19 February 1862 | Explosion | Merthyr Tydfil | 47 |
| Gethin Colliery explosion, 1865 Three years and ten months after the Lower pit killed 47 men, Gethin's Upper pit exploded on 20 December 1865 and killed 34 more. John Moody, the manager held responsible for the first explosion and never tried for it, was found culpably negligent again — and acquitted again. |
20 December 1865 | Explosion | Merthyr Tydfil | 34 |
| Glamorgan Colliery explosion, 1932 A gas explosion in the Pentre seam at Glamorgan Colliery, Llwynypia, killed eleven men, including two members of the rescue party. |
25 January 1932 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 11 |
| Gleision Colliery Flooding, 2011 Four miners drowned at the small drift mine Gleision Colliery when a controlled blast, intended to breach into disused flooded workings for ventilation, instead released around 650,000 gallons of water into the tunnel where seven men were working -- the worst mining disaster in Wales in three decades. |
15 September 2011 | Flooding / Inundation | Neath Port Talbot | 4 |
| Glencraig Colliery Haulage Accident 1933 A Glencraig repairer named English was crushed to death by a rake of haulage hutches in 1933 while trying to escape unexpectedly restarted machinery — an accident whose 1937 House of Lords ruling, Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co Ltd v English, established the employer's non-delegable duty to provide a safe system of work, still a foundational principle of UK employers'-liability law. |
1933 | Haulage / Transport | Fife | 1 |
| Golborne Colliery explosion, 1979 A firedamp explosion in the Plodder Seam at Golborne Colliery killed ten men on 18 March 1979; a 20-year-old apprentice electrician, seriously injured, was the sole survivor among those caught in the blast. |
18 March 1979 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 10 |
| Great Boys Colliery Explosion, 1877 A blown-out shot at Great Boys Colliery killed eight men, despite the shot-lighter believing he had cleared the area first — the inquest jury strongly censured the mine's management. |
6 March 1877 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 8 |
| Great Laxey Mine scaffold collapse A working scaffold gave way underground, and the four men on it fell into a water-filled sump about 17 feet deep. All four drowned, including the youngest, 18-year-old Henry Lewis Gelling. |
10 December 1904 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Isle of Man | 4 |
| Great Western Colliery Fire, 1893 An underground fire at the Great Western Colliery, Hopkinstown, on 11 April 1893 trapped around 200 men in the Four Feet seam east of the Hetty Pit. About 150 were brought out alive; 63 men and boys, aged between 14 and 61, died. |
11 April 1893 | Fire | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 63 |
| Greenside Mine fire, 1952 A fire that broke out over a weekend in the North Shaft workings released carbon monoxide through the mine when the day shift restarted the air compressor, killing four miners — the worst single loss of life in Greenside's history. |
7 July 1952 | Fire | Cumbria | 4 |
| Greenside Mine gas exposure, 1960 Two surface workers at Greenside Mine, William Sinkinson and Alex Santamara, died from gas exposure after entering abandoned stopes without authorisation, searching for mineral specimens, on the night before the mine's second Operation Orpheus test explosion. A rescue attempt by two colleagues left both men briefly overcome by the same gas, and earned them the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct; an inquest attached no blame to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment scientists then working at the mine. |
14-15 January 1960 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Cumbria | 2 |
| Gresford Colliery explosion, 1934 An explosion in the Dennis section of Gresford Colliery's Main seam killed 261 miners in the early hours of 22 September 1934, with three more men dying in the rescue effort and a further worker killed in a subsequent explosion — 266 deaths in total, making it one of the worst disasters in British mining history. A subsequent government inquiry found widespread falsification of ventilation records and serious management failings, though prosecutions resulted only in a conviction for inadequate record-keeping. |
22 September 1934 | Explosion | Wrexham | 266 |
| Grove Pit Disaster, 1930 An underground gas explosion at Grove Colliery, beneath Brownhills Common, killed fourteen miners — most from carbon monoxide poisoning as they tried to escape rather than from the blast itself. |
1 October 1930 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 14 |
| Hafod Colliery Explosion (1873) The colliery's own master dataller improperly opened his safety lamp to inspect a ventilation door, igniting an explosion that killed five men. |
11 December 1873 | Explosion | Wrexham | 5 |
| Haig Colliery explosion, 1922 A firedamp explosion at Haig Colliery on 5 September 1922 killed 39 men, the worst of three major explosions to strike the mine over its working life. |
5 September 1922 | Explosion | Cumbria | 39 |
| Haig Colliery explosion, 1931 A firedamp explosion in the Main Band seam, over two miles underground at Haig Colliery, killed 27 miners and injured 13 more on the evening of 29 January 1931. |
29 January 1931 | Explosion | Cumbria | 27 |
| Hamstead Colliery fire, 1908 A fire at the pit bottom staging of Hamstead Colliery, near Great Barr, killed 26 men on 4 March 1908, including a rescuer, after poisonous fumes filled the workings before most of the underground shift could escape. |
4 March 1908 | Fire | West Midlands | 26 |
| Hapton Valley Colliery explosion, 1962 A gas explosion at Hapton Valley Colliery just after 9.45am on 22 March 1962 killed 16 men outright, with three more later dying of their injuries, in a mine whose seams were already known to carry unusually high levels of firedamp. |
22 March 1962 | Explosion | Lancashire | 19 |
| Harraton Nova Scotia Pit Chokedamp Deaths, 1817 Two days after the Row Pit explosion killed thirty-eight at Harraton, eight men went down the colliery's Nova Scotia pit to repair shaft damage the blast had done. Chokedamp from the Row Pit had entered the workings. A second party sent to find them was driven back by it, and the eight had to be left to their fate. |
2 July 1817 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Tyne and Wear | 8 |
| Harraton Row Pit Explosion, 1817 At about eleven in the morning on 30 June 1817 the gas in the Row Pit at Harraton Colliery ignited and thirty-eight men and boys were killed. It was among the most violent explosions of its era: the shaft bottom, 82 fathoms down, was blown into the air along with two of the bodies. Ten of the dead were from a single family — a grandfather, his two sons and seven grandsons. |
30 June 1817 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 38 |
| Hartley Colliery disaster, 1862 The cast-iron beam of New Hartley Colliery's pumping engine fractured and fell down the mine's single shaft during a shift changeover, blocking the only way in or out and sealing 204 men and boys underground, all of whom died of suffocation over the following days despite a sustained rescue effort. The disaster's central lesson — that a mine with only one shaft has no way out if that shaft fails — led directly to a change in the law within months. |
16 January 1862 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Northumberland | 204 |
| Hebburn Colliery 'A' Pit Explosion, 1889 An improperly stemmed shothole in the Beaumont seam triggered an explosion at Hebburn Colliery's 'A' Pit in the early hours of 4 November 1889, killing six. |
4 November 1889 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | — |
| Hebburn Colliery Explosion, 1805 A firedamp explosion at Hebburn Colliery on 21 October 1805 killed between 32 and 35 men and boys, leaving five widows and eighty-one orphaned children — a tragedy that directly inspired Newcastle physician Dr. Thomas Trotter's pioneering pamphlet on preventing mine gas explosions. |
21 October 1805 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | — |
| Hebburn Colliery Explosion, 1814 An explosion at Hebburn Colliery on 12 August 1814 killed the underviewer and ten others while they were adjusting the mine's ventilation, after not allowing enough time for firedamp to clear. |
12 August 1814 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | — |
| Hebburn Colliery Explosion, 1849 A firedamp explosion in the Bensham seam at Hebburn Colliery on the morning of 5 June 1849 killed 33 men and boys, with almost everyone in the affected north-west district of the pit killed outright. |
5 June 1849 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | — |
| Hebburn Colliery Explosion, 1852 A firedamp explosion at Hebburn Colliery on 6 May 1852 killed 22 men and boys after a single 37-yard bord became fouled with gas when a ventilation door was left neglected. |
6 May 1852 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | — |
| Herbertshire Colliery explosion, 1893 On the afternoon of 30 June 1893, an explosion of firedamp and coal dust in the Dook Section of Herbertshire No. 3 pit, Denny, killed two men and injured several more. A formal government inquiry, appointed personally by the Home Secretary H. H. Asquith, concluded after a two-day hearing and 29 witnesses that a safety lamp had been unlawfully opened, exposing a naked flame in ground where fine, dry coal dust turned a small gas ignition into a serious explosion. |
30 June 1893 | Explosion | Falkirk | 2 |
| Hetton Downs Pit Explosion, 1836 An explosion in the Downs pit of the Hetton colliery on 28 January 1836 killed twenty and left another man so badly scorched there was little hope for him. The inquest found the cause was a boy failing to keep a ventilation trap door shut — and heard that the men preferred candles to the Davy lamp because candles gave a better light. |
28 January 1836 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 20 |
| Houghton Main Colliery explosion, 1930 A firedamp explosion during ripping operations at Houghton Main Colliery killed seven men in December 1930, after a deputy fired a fourth shot hole despite reportedly detecting a break in the coal that should have prompted a check for gas. |
12 December 1930 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 7 |
| Houghton Main Colliery explosion, 1975 An explosion in the Meltonfield seam at Houghton Main Colliery on 12 June 1975 killed five men after firedamp, which had accumulated in an unventilated heading for nine days, was ignited by frictional sparking from an auxiliary fan; a major public inquiry followed. |
12 June 1975 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 5 |
| Houghton Main Colliery shaft accident, 1886 An overwound cage struck the headframe and fell 535 yards down the shaft at Houghton Main Colliery on the morning of 30 December 1886, killing all 10 men and boys riding in it; the engineman was tried for manslaughter and acquitted. |
30 December 1886 | Winding / Shaft Accident | South Yorkshire | 10 |
| Houldsworth Colliery Cage Accident (1906) The winding engineman lost control while lowering thirteen men in the cage at Houldsworth Colliery, Patna; the cage was violently re-raised on landing, crushing two men to death. |
2 September 1906 | Winding / Shaft Accident | East Ayrshire | 2 |
| Huskar Pit Flooding, 1838 A thunderstorm burst a stream into the ventilation drift at Huskar Pit as 40 children tried to leave the mine, drowning 26 of them aged 7 to 17 — a disaster whose scale of child deaths directly shaped the Mines and Collieries Act 1842. |
4 July 1838 | Flooding / Inundation | South Yorkshire | — |
| Kames Colliery Explosion, 1957 An explosion in the West Mine's Six Feet Section at Kames Colliery, Muirkirk, killed seventeen men after a match struck to light a cigarette ignited firedamp in an unventilated heading — the worst Scottish mining disaster in six years, in a pit that had been considered so safe it was used for experimental blasting work. |
19 November 1957 | Explosion | East Ayrshire | 17 |
| Kellingley Colliery gas explosion, 2010 A methane explosion in Kellingley Colliery's 501's District during the evening shift on 23 November 2010 forced the evacuation of 218 miners. No one was killed or seriously injured, but a Health and Safety Executive investigation found a poorly maintained safety curtain had let an explosive gas mixture build up, and the mine's operator was later prosecuted and fined. |
23 November 2010 | Explosion | North Yorkshire | — |
| Kemberton Colliery Pit Cage Disaster (1910) A winding rope that had been tested sound that same morning suddenly fractured during a descent at Kemberton Colliery, killing seven men and boys, three of them fourteen or younger. |
Sunday night, 4 December 1910 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Shropshire | 7 |
| Kennox Colliery Flood (1943) A sudden inrush of water flooded Kennox No. 7 mine, Douglas, trapping three men of one family; a thirteen-day national rescue effort ultimately failed to reach them alive. |
30 May 1943 | Flooding / Inundation | South Lanarkshire | 3 |
| Keppel Cove dam burst, 1927 After a night of exceptional rainfall and gale-force winds, the earth dam supplying Greenside Mine's hydro-electric power at Keppel Cove was overtopped and burst, sending a flood down into Glenridding village that wrecked shops, bridges and a hotel — four hotel staff were rescued from a flooding basement. |
night of 28–29 October 1927 | Flooding / Inundation | Cumbria | — |
| Kilton Mine Kibble Accident, 1873 Two sinkers were killed at Kilton Mine when the kibble carrying them up a sinking shaft struck a bunton and capsized after a shot-firing operation, precipitating them to the bottom just as one of the charges exploded. |
23 December 1873 | Winding / Shaft Accident | North Yorkshire | 2 |
| Kinglassie Colliery Roof Fall 1912 A large stone fell from the roof at Kinglassie Colliery on the night of 19 August 1912, killing William Whitton, 17, and Patrick Macauley, a married man with an infant son, and injuring two other miners. |
19 August 1912 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Fife | 2 |
| Kinglassie Colliery Roof Fall 1926 Thomas Gordon Whittaker and John Bennet Culbert, both miners' drawers, were killed when the roof burst in a new working's main roadway at Kinglassie Colliery; a public inquiry heard the roadway had been insufficiently supported. |
17 December 1926 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Fife | 2 |
| Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery Inrush A sudden inrush of liquefied peat and moss flooded Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery on the evening of 7 September 1950, trapping 129 miners underground; 116 were led to safety over the following three days in one of the most dramatic rescues in British mining history, but 13 died. |
7 September 1950 | Flooding / Inundation | East Ayrshire | 13 |
| Leadhills (Minehill) suffocation, 1817 Seven miners were suffocated by fumes from a pumping engine at the Minehill workings at Leadhills in 1817 — a disaster local accounts say discouraged mining there for years afterwards. |
1817 | Gas / Asphyxiation | South Lanarkshire | 7 |
| Levant Mine man-engine disaster During a shift change at Levant Mine, a link between the man-engine's reciprocating rod and its surface beam broke, collapsing the engine down the shaft while 130-150 miners were using it. |
20 October 1919 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Cornwall | 31 |
| Lewis Merthyr Colliery explosion, 1956 A firedamp explosion at Lewis Merthyr Colliery on 22 November 1956 killed nine men and injured five more, after methane that had accumulated undetected in an unventilated roof-fall cavity was ignited by a falling stone striking a steel roof support. |
22 November 1956 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 9 |
| Linnyshaw Colliery Explosion, 1861 An explosion in the Rams mine at Linnyshaw Colliery, Worsley, killed nine colliers; the coroner could find no evidence of how the gas had been ignited. |
27 February 1861 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 9 |
| Llanbradach Colliery Explosion, 1901 An explosion in the Pretoria district of the No. 2 pit at Llanbradach Colliery on the evening of 10 September 1901 killed eight men and forty-one pit ponies. Only fourteen men were underground at the time — ostlers, firemen and repairers preparing for a shift due down at six o'clock. The inquest jury found that coal dust had been ignited by shot-firing at a place that had not been sufficiently watered. |
10 September 1901 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 8 |
| Llanerch Colliery Explosion, 1869 At about half past eight on the night of Tuesday 25 May 1869, firedamp exploded in the Sinking Pit at Cwmnantddu — the colliery later known as Llanerch — killing all seven men who were making roads in the deep, some 700 to 800 yards from the shaft bottom. The workings were generally supposed to be free of gas and, once tested with a safety lamp, were worked with open lights. Twenty-one years later the same colliery, still using naked lights, killed 176. |
25 May 1869 | Explosion | Torfaen | 7 |
| Llanerch Colliery Explosion, 1890 On the morning of 6 February 1890 a gas explosion in Cook's slope at Llanerch Colliery, Abersychan, killed 176 men and boys — one of the worst disasters in the history of Welsh mining. Two months earlier the colliery's managing director had written that the pit was thoroughly well ventilated and safe to work with naked lights, declining the Inspector of Mines' advice to bring in closed safety lamps after an explosion the previous October. |
6 February 1890 | Explosion | Torfaen | 176 |
| Llay Main Colliery Explosion At about a quarter past one on the morning of Friday 5 December 1924, gas ignited in the North Two Yard district of Llay Main Colliery, near Wrexham. The flame travelled only twenty or thirty yards, but nine men and boys died in it — including the fireman who had fired the shot that set it off. The other 407 men underground got out. The divisional inspector’s report to Parliament found the district’s ventilation inadequate and criticised the practice of relying on exhaust air from a haulage engine to ventilate working places. |
5 December 1924 | Explosion | Wrexham | 9 |
| Lluest Colliery Explosion, 1899 An explosion at Lluest Colliery at Pontyrhyl in the Garw Valley on 18 August 1899 killed nineteen men and boys. One of the dead had come from another part of the mine to help and was overcome by afterdamp. A Home Office report on the disaster was laid before the Commons that October. The colliery stopped producing three years later. |
18 August 1899 | Explosion | Bridgend | 19 |
| Lofthouse Colliery disaster, 1973 About three million gallons of water burst into the South 9B district of Lofthouse Colliery from abandoned 19th-century workings in the early hours of 21 March 1973, killing seven men. Only one body was ever recovered. |
21 March 1973 | Flooding / Inundation | West Yorkshire | 7 |
| Maerdy Colliery explosion, 1885 An explosion in the North West dip workings at Maerdy Colliery on 23 December 1885 killed around 76-81 men, with roughly 750-961 men underground at the time. |
23 December 1885 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 76 |
| Magpie Mine suffocation of three Maypitt miners Three miners from the neighbouring Maypitt mine suffocated after Magpie miners lit fires underground to smoke them out during a dispute over a shared lead vein — the origin of the mine's 'Widow's Curse' story. |
1833 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Derbyshire | 3 |
| Maltby Main Colliery explosion, 1923 An explosion tore through Maltby Main Colliery at 9.15am on Saturday 28 July 1923, a mile from the pit bottom, while men were working to seal off a stubborn underground gob fire. Twenty-seven died; only one body was recovered at the time. The disaster became known locally as 'Black Saturday'. |
28 July 1923 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 27 |
| Manvers Main Colliery explosion, 1945 A firedamp explosion in the Meltonfield seam at Manvers Main Colliery on 4 March 1945 killed five men after a damaged power cable, left connected and re-energised, ignited gas that had escaped past a ventilation failure. |
4 March 1945 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 5 |
| Marine Colliery explosion, 1927 An underground gas and coal-dust explosion in the Black Vein seam at Marine Colliery killed around 52 men in the early hours of 1 March 1927, one of the major South Wales colliery disasters of the interwar period. |
1 March 1927 | Explosion | Blaenau Gwent | 52 |
| Markham Colliery explosion, 1937 A firedamp explosion at Markham Colliery, ignited by a faulty electrical coal-cutter after a roof break released trapped gas, killed 9 men by carbon monoxide poisoning on 21 January 1937. |
21 January 1937 | Explosion | Derbyshire | 9 |
| Markham Colliery explosion, 1938 Runaway tubs colliding with steel roof supports dislodged a damaged electrical cable at Markham Colliery's Blackshale Pit, sparking a coal-dust explosion that killed 79 men on the night of 9-10 May 1938 — the worst of the colliery's three disasters. |
10 May 1938 | Explosion | Derbyshire | 79 |
| Markham Colliery shaft accident, 1973 A descending cage carrying miners at Markham Colliery's No.3 shaft failed to slow before reaching the pit bottom on 30 July 1973, after a fatigue-cracked brake rod fractured; 18 men were killed and 11 seriously injured. |
30 July 1973 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Derbyshire | 18 |
| Mauricewood Colliery fire, 1889 An underground fire at Mauricewood Colliery, near Penicuik, on 5 September 1889 killed 63 of the 70 men and boys working the pit that day, one of the worst mining disasters in Scottish history; it took over six months to recover all the bodies. |
5 September 1889 | Fire | Midlothian | 63 |
| Maypole Colliery explosion, 1908 At ten past five in the evening of 18 August 1908, an explosion of firedamp and coal dust tore through the Four Feet seam at Maypole Colliery, Abram, killing 76 men — Wigan's worst mining disaster. The blast wrecked the pithead winding gear and the fan house that ventilated the whole mine, and it took until 1917, nine years later, to recover the last body. |
18 August 1908 | Explosion | Lancashire | 76 |
| McLaren Colliery Explosion, 1902 An explosion at McLaren Colliery, Abertysswg, on 3 September 1902 killed seventeen men. The colliery was five years old, and the village around it younger still; the dead came from the new streets of Abertysswg and from Tredegar down the valley, and the youngest of them was seventeen. |
3 September 1902 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 17 |
| Michael Colliery fire, 1967 A fire broke out underground during the night shift at Michael Colliery on 9 September 1967, filling the workings with thick smoke as some 300 miners fought their way to the surface. Nine men died; the bodies of three were never recovered, and remain in the sealed workings to this day. The fire closed the colliery for good. |
9 September 1967 | Fire | Fife | 9 |
| Mill Close Mine firedamp explosion Five miners died when a shot-firer's naked flame ignited firedamp gas that had already been detected and flagged as dangerous in the days before the blast. |
3 November 1887 | Explosion | Derbyshire | 5 |
| Mostyn Colliery Inundation, 1884 In July 1884 water from the Dee estuary broke into Mostyn Colliery in huge quantities. Pumping made no difference, because the water was coming in from the sea. Around two hundred men and boys lost their work, the colliery never reopened, and coal mining at Mostyn ended after some six centuries. |
July 1884 | Flooding / Inundation | Flintshire | 0 |
| Murton Colliery explosion, 1942 A firedamp explosion at 8pm on 26 June 1942, in the Back-over Flat district of Murton Colliery's Five Quarter seam, killed 13 of the 15 men working there when a deputy fired six shot holes simultaneously without first checking for gas. |
26 June 1942 | Explosion | County Durham | 13 |
| Nantymwyn dynamite explosion, 1892 Two Cornish miners, William Beswetherick and John Lewarne, died after a box of gelatine dynamite they were handling caught fire and partly exploded underground — an incident that prompted a formal report to the Home Secretary by HM Inspector of Explosives. |
28 March 1892 | Explosion | Carmarthenshire | 2 |
| Nantymwyn Mine Explosion (1892) A box of gelatine dynamite being lowered down the shaft slipped and partially detonated at Nantymwyn mine; both miners lowering it walked home afterwards but died from the effects within days. |
28 March 1892 | Explosion | Carmarthenshire | 2 |
| National Colliery explosion, 1905 A firedamp explosion in the Nine Feet seam workings at National Colliery, Wattstown, on the morning of 11 July 1905 killed 119 of the 122 men and boys at work there, one of the worst disasters in the history of the South Wales coalfield. |
11 July 1905 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 119 |
| Naval (Pen-y-Craig) Colliery explosion, 1880 An explosion at Pen-y-Craig Colliery (also called Naval Steam Colliery), Penygraig, on 10 December 1880 killed 101 men and boys, one of the worst disasters of the Rhondda coalfield's early expansion; a joint inquest strongly condemned the colliery's manager, Moses Rowlands, for breaches of safety rules. |
10 December 1880 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 101 |
| Naval Colliery explosion, 1884 A second explosion at the same Penygraig pit that had killed 101 men in 1880 struck on 27 January 1884, killing 12 — 11 in the blast itself and a twelfth, Daniel Thomas, who died later from suffocation sustained during the rescue attempt. |
27 January 1884 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 12 |
| Neston Colliery explosion, 1777 An explosion at Neston Colliery killed four colliers, among the earliest recorded fatal mining accidents on the Wirral peninsula. |
17 May 1777 | Explosion | Cheshire | 4 |
| New Tredegar Colliery Explosion, 1875 A minor gas explosion at New Tredegar Colliery on 2 December 1875 injured two men. The workings were inspected, found free of gas, and the manager nonetheless ordered that nobody should go down for twenty-four hours. His order was disregarded, the men descended the next morning under the overman's instructions, and at eight o'clock a second explosion killed twenty outright. Two more died later, making twenty-two. |
3 December 1875 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 22 |
| Nine Mile Point Colliery sinking rockfall Twenty-six men were buried when a rockfall struck the workings during the sinking of Nine Mile Point's shafts in August 1904; seven were killed. |
August 1904 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Caerphilly | 7 |
| Oaks Colliery explosion, 1847 A firedamp explosion at Oaks Colliery (then also known as Ardsley Main) killed 73 men and boys — at the time regarded as the first really serious explosion in the South Yorkshire Coalfield. |
5 March 1847 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 73 |
| Oaks Colliery explosion, 1866 Two explosions on successive days at Oaks Colliery killed 361 men and boys, including 23 volunteer rescuers who died in the second blast — for nearly fifty years the worst mining disaster in English history. |
12-13 December 1866 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 361 |
| Old Coal Pit Explosion, Coalbrookdale (1856) An explosion caused by neglected ventilation rules at the Old Coal Pit, Coalbrookdale, killed eleven men and boys, including two who died attempting a rescue. |
3 July 1856 | Explosion | Shropshire | 11 |
| Park Slip Colliery explosion, 1892 An explosion of firedamp, its violence multiplied by coal dust, tore through Park Slip Colliery near Tondu on 26 August 1892, killing 112 of the men and boys underground — one of the worst single mining disasters in Welsh history. |
26 August 1892 | Explosion | Bridgend | 112 |
| Parys Mountain boiler explosion, 1870 A large Cornish boiler at the ore-crushing plant exploded during a lunch break, demolishing the building; accounts from the same local research group differ sharply on the death toll, citing either one confirmed death with 8–10 injured, or seven men killed. |
19 October 1870 | Explosion | Anglesey | — |
| Pendlebury Colliery Explosion, 1870 A roof fall released a large quantity of gas at Pendlebury (Wheatsheaf) Colliery on 27 September 1870, which travelled along the ventilation current and ignited among men working with naked lights, killing six. |
27 September 1870 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | — |
| Pendleton Colliery Floor Heave, 1925 At 3,550 feet — among the deepest workings in Britain — the floor of Pendleton Colliery's Rams seam suddenly heaved upward without warning, killing six men in a genuine rockburst, or 'crump'. |
4 November 1925 | Other | Greater Manchester | 6 |
| Pentre Colliery Explosion, 1871 An explosion on the night shift at Pentre Colliery in the Rhondda on 24 February 1871 killed thirty-eight men and boys. The blast wrecked one side of the headgear, and a rescue party of five was overcome by afterdamp the moment its cage reached the pit bottom; two of the five died and are counted among the dead. |
24 February 1871 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 38 |
| Point of Ayr Colliery shaft-sinking accident, 1952 Six men employed by a civil engineering contractor were killed on 4 July 1952 while sinking a new shaft at Point of Ayr Colliery. |
4 July 1952 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Flintshire | 6 |
| Pretoria Pit Disaster At about 7.50 on the morning of Wednesday 21 December 1910, an explosion tore through the workings of the Hulton Colliery Company’s Bank Pit No. 3 at Over Hulton, near Westhoughton — the pit universally known as the Pretoria Pit. Of the 344 men and boys underground in the affected districts, only three came out alive, and one of those died the following day. The final toll of 344 dead makes it the worst mining accident in Lancashire’s history and the third worst in Britain, after the Oaks Colliery explosion of 1866 and Senghenydd in 1913. |
21 December 1910 | Explosion | Greater Manchester | 344 |
| Primrose Colliery Disaster, 1858 On 13 October 1858 the fumes of an engine boiler suffocated fourteen men and boys, and seven horses, underground at the Primrose Colliery near Rhos. The colliery was then owned by Morgan and Lewis, and was afterwards redeveloped as the New Primrose Colliery. |
13 October 1858 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Neath Port Talbot | 14 |
| Queen Pit Explosion, 1868 An explosion at the Queen Pit, part of the Haydock Collieries complex, killed around two dozen men and boys after a blown-out shot ignited accumulated firedamp in an area with damaged ventilation cloth. |
30 December 1868 | Explosion | Lancashire | 26 |
| Queen Pit Explosion, 1869 A second, much larger explosion at Haydock's Queen Pit, less than seven months after the December 1868 explosion at the same pit, killed 56-57 men and boys after a shot ignited firedamp released by a roof fall in a working known as Pilkington's place. |
21 July 1869 | Explosion | Lancashire | 57 |
| RAF Fauld explosion, 1944 An accident during routine ordnance handling at the RAF's underground ammunition depot, built into a disused Staffordshire gypsum mine, detonated thousands of tonnes of stored explosives — the largest explosion in British history, killing at least 70 people and leaving a crater over 1,000 feet across. |
27 November 1944 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 70 |
| Ram Hill Colliery Rope Failure (1855) A jointed winding rope broke while drawing two colliers up No. 2 Ram Hill Pit, killing both, and drew a government inspector's outright condemnation of the practice. |
5 April 1855 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Gloucestershire | 2 |
| Redding Colliery inrush, 1923 Water from long-abandoned 19th-century workings burst through a fault into Redding Colliery's No.23 pit before dawn on 25 September 1923, trapping 66 men underground and killing 40 of them in one of Scotland's worst mining disasters. |
25 September 1923 | Flooding / Inundation | Falkirk | 40 |
| Risca New Pit Explosion, 1880 At half past one on the morning of 15 July 1880, firedamp exploded at the Risca New Pit, killing 120 men and boys. Almost all of them were repairers working through the night while the colliers were at home. The blast wrecked the engine-room at the upcast shaft and damaged the ventilating fan, delaying the rescue. |
15 July 1880 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 120 |
| Rufford Colliery Water Barrel Disaster (1913) A jammed brake lever caused a runaway winding engine to drop a five-ton water barrel some 156 yards down the sinking shaft onto a scaffold of workers below. |
8 February 1913 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Nottinghamshire | 14 |
| Seafield Colliery roof fall, 1973 The roof of Seafield Colliery's D22 face, a steep seam running out under the Firth of Forth, collapsed on the evening of 10 May 1973, trapping nine men and killing five. |
10 May 1973 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Fife | 5 |
| Seaham Colliery Explosion At about 2.30 on the morning of Wednesday 8 September 1880, an explosion — heard at the surface "like the report of a heavy cannon" — tore through the Hutton and Maudlin seams of Seaham Colliery, County Durham. Of the 231 men and boys underground, 161 were killed by the NMRS reckoning; other accounts give 164. Nearly 200 horses and ponies died with them. All three shafts were blocked by jammed cages, fires broke out underground, and 29 bodies were never recovered: the Maudlin seam was sealed with them still in it, and the men refused to go back to work until they came out. |
8 September 1880 | Explosion | County Durham | 161 |
| Seaham Colliery Explosion, 1871 An outburst of gas from the roof of Seaham Colliery's No. 3 pit was ignited during blasting, killing 26 men and boys — nine years before the far larger disaster that would make the colliery's name. |
25 October 1871 | Explosion | County Durham | 26 |
| Senghenydd colliery disaster, 1901 Three underground explosions killed 81 miners at Universal Colliery as the night shift was leaving — an earlier disaster at the same colliery that struck again, far more severely, in 1913. |
24 May 1901 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 81 |
| Senghenydd colliery disaster, 1913 An explosion in the western workings of Universal Colliery killed 439 miners and one rescuer — the worst mining disaster in British history. |
14 October 1913 | Explosion | Caerphilly | 440 |
| Seven Sisters Colliery Explosion, 1907 An underground explosion at Seven Sisters Colliery on 10 November 1907 killed five men. It was attributed to a defective safety lamp, and the manager afterwards prosecuted both the fireman who had an unlocked lamp underground and the surface lampman who had let a defective one be given out. Both were convicted. |
10 November 1907 | Explosion | Neath Port Talbot | 5 |
| Shocking Pit Accident at Frizington (1864) A temporary scaffold erected at the mouth of the Crossgill iron-ore pit collapsed, dropping three men to their deaths while three others narrowly escaped. |
10 December 1864 | Surface / Tip Failure | Cumbria | 3 |
| Silverwood Colliery Paddy Mail Disaster A runaway underground materials train collided with a man-riding train carrying miners to their shift at Silverwood Colliery, killing ten men and injuring 29 — one of the worst underground transport accidents in the South Yorkshire coalfield. |
3 February 1966 | Haulage / Transport | South Yorkshire | 10 |
| Six Bells Colliery explosion, 1960 A firedamp and coal dust explosion tore through the 'W' district of the Old Coal seam at Six Bells Colliery, Abertillery, at about 10:45 on the morning of 28 June 1960. Forty-five of the 48 men working in the district were killed. It remains the worst colliery disaster in Britain since the Second World War. |
28 June 1960 | Explosion | Blaenau Gwent | 45 |
| Six Bells Colliery shaft-sinking accident, 1895 Four men sinking the shafts at Arael Griffin — later Six Bells Colliery — were killed on 9 February 1895 when they fell from the bowk carrying them down the shaft. Two more men died the same way before the sinking was finished. |
9 February 1895 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Blaenau Gwent | 4 |
| Snaefell Mine disaster Timber left smouldering underground filled the mine's shafts with carbon monoxide; miners descending on the morning shift were overwhelmed before they realised the danger. Sources give the death toll as 19-23. |
10 May 1897 | Gas / Asphyxiation | Isle of Man | 20 |
| Snailbeach Mine winding-rope accident, 1895 Seven miners were killed at George's Shaft when the winding rope — in continuous service for eight and a half years, twice the normal replacement interval — snapped internally and dropped their cage 252 yards to the bottom of the shaft. |
6 March 1895 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Shropshire | 7 |
| South Kirkby Colliery explosion, 1935 A firedamp explosion in the Barnsley Seam at South Kirkby Colliery killed 10 men in August 1935; a second explosion during the rescue effort itself burned five more, including a rescue-brigade officer who later died of his injuries. |
28 August 1935 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 10 |
| Springwell Colliery Explosion, 1833 An explosion in the B Pit at Springwell Colliery on 9 May 1833 killed forty-seven people instantly. Only nine or ten were adults; the rest were boys, some of them eight years old. The mine had been examined and declared safe that morning, and safety lamps ordered as a precaution when a blower was pricked. Thirty-nine of the dead were still underground the following night. |
9 May 1833 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 47 |
| Springwell Colliery Explosion, 1837 Four years after an explosion killed forty-seven at Springwell, the ventilation had been rebuilt and the pitmen no longer thought the mine fiery. On 6 December 1837 a second explosion in the Hutton seam killed twenty-seven of the twenty-nine men and boys at work in that district. The likeliest cause was a safety lamp dropped across the rolley way and run over. |
6 December 1837 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 27 |
| Tareni Colliery Flood, 1909 Five miners drowned at Tareni Colliery when a working district broke into the adjoining, long-abandoned and waterlogged workings of the Ynysgeinon Pit. |
2 November 1909 | Flooding / Inundation | Neath Port Talbot | 5 |
| The Longannet Flooding On the evening of Saturday 23 March 2002, roadways near the bottom of the Castlehill section of the Longannet Complex flooded within minutes, most likely through or around an underground dam sealing off older, worked-out ground. Fifteen men underground at the time were evacuated safely; the mine never reopened, ending deep coal mining in Scotland. |
23 March 2002 | Flooding / Inundation | Fife | 0 |
| Thorne Colliery Shaft Accident, 1926 Six sinkers were killed at Thorne Colliery on 15 March 1926 when the capstan engine holding their six-ton sinking scaffold failed and dropped it, with its ropes, to the bottom of the No. 2 shaft. It was the largest loss of life in a British mine that year, and it came three weeks after sinking proper had been completed. |
15 March 1926 | Winding / Shaft Accident | South Yorkshire | 6 |
| Thornley Colliery Explosion, 1841 A firedamp explosion in the Harvey Seam 'A' Pit at Thornley Colliery on 5 August 1841 killed nine workers, eight of them boys aged between 9 and 17, after gas accumulated when a young trapper left his ventilation door open too long. |
5 August 1841 | Explosion | County Durham | — |
| Tilmanstone Colliery shaft accident, 1909 Tilmanstone's No. 2 shaft was still being sunk in 1909 when a hoisting bucket, or hoppit, fell down it, killing three men and wrecking the pumping equipment that was keeping the workings dry. A thousand gallons of water a minute poured in, and sinking was abandoned for nine months. |
1909 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Kent | 3 |
| Trimdon Grange Colliery Explosion, 1882 An explosion in the Harvey seam of Trimdon Grange Colliery on the afternoon of 16 February 1882 killed 74 men and boys, among them rescuers overcome by afterdamp that travelled through the underground connection into the neighbouring East Hetton (Kelloe) colliery. |
16 February 1882 | Explosion | County Durham | 74 |
| Tylorstown Colliery explosion, 1896 An explosion swept Tylorstown's Nos. 6, 7 and 8 pits as the day shift descended on 28 January 1896, killing 57 men and boys, after a delayed shot fired into a gas-charged road ignited firedamp and coal dust through the dry workings. |
28 January 1896 | Explosion | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 57 |
| United Hills Mine boiler explosion, 1830 An engine boiler burst at United Hills Mine (later Tywarnhayle Mine), near Porthtowan, killing nine of the thirteen people present. |
3 February 1830 | Machinery | Cornwall | 9 |
| Upton Colliery Explosion, 1940 Shortly before midnight on 4 June 1940 an explosion tore along a longwall face in the No. 2 district of the Barnsley seam at Upton Colliery, about a mile and a half from the pit bottom. Six men were killed and eight burned. It was believed that a stopping sealing off an area where a fire had burned some months earlier had blown out. |
4 June 1940 | Explosion | West Yorkshire | 6 |
| Usworth Colliery Explosion, 1885 At 8.58 on the evening of Monday 2 March 1885, methane that had built up in a stone drift at Usworth Colliery was ignited by shotfiring. The coal dust, gas and air explosion that followed killed forty men outright; two more died of afterdamp while trying to reach them. Hundreds of Usworth miners were suddenly out of work. |
2 March 1885 | Explosion | Tyne and Wear | 42 |
| Valleyfield Colliery explosion, 1939 An explosion in Dodd's Heading at Valleyfield Colliery on the night of 28 October 1939 killed 35 men and travelled more than 1,500 yards through the workings. The inquiry found it began as an ignition of firedamp during shot firing, and was carried by coal dust that should not have been there. |
28 October 1939 | Explosion | Fife | 35 |
| Walsall Wood Colliery Collapse (1956) A collapsed roof junction in the Charles Seam at Walsall Wood Colliery killed four men on 9 October 1956; a fifth was rescued alive after some seven hours trapped in the debris. |
9 October 1956 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Staffordshire | 4 |
| Wath Main Colliery explosions, 1930 Two explosions in the Billingley Drift District of Wath Main Colliery on 24 February 1930 killed seven men and injured three more, after a fall of roof broke a miner's flame lamp in an area an inspector's ventilation order had not, in fact, been carried out. |
24 February 1930 | Explosion | South Yorkshire | 7 |
| Weigfach Colliery Explosion, 1877 An explosion at the New Weigfach colliery at Fforestfach near Swansea on 9 March 1877 killed eighteen men and boys. The dead included the overman and two trammers aged sixteen and twenty, and most of the men left widows and young children. |
9 March 1877 | Explosion | Swansea | 18 |
| Wellington Pit explosion, 1910 An explosion of firedamp and coal dust in the No. 3 North District of Wellington Pit, Whitehaven, on the evening of 11 May 1910 killed 136 men and boys. The fire that followed could not be fought, and the pit was sealed two days later with the dead still inside; it was not reopened until the end of September. |
11 May 1910 | Explosion | Cumbria | 136 |
| West Cannock No. 5 Colliery Explosion (1933) An explosion in the Shallow Seam at West Cannock No. 5 Colliery, Hednesford, killed several miners on 16 May 1933 -- sources disagree on the exact toll. |
16 May 1933 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 5 |
| West Stanley Colliery explosion, 1909 A coal-dust explosion at West Stanley Colliery — the Burns Pit — on the afternoon of 16 February 1909 killed some 167 men and boys across four seams, among them children of thirteen and fourteen. Around thirty came out alive, twenty-six of them led out by a deputy who kept them together in the dark. |
16 February 1909 | Explosion | County Durham | 167 |
| Western Colliery sinking explosion, 1874 A gas explosion during the sinking of Western Colliery, at what later became the Wyndham Western complex at Nantymoel, killed five sinkers on 7 December 1874. |
7 December 1874 | Explosion | Bridgend | 5 |
| Wheal Jane acid mine water discharge, 1992 An estimated 50,000 m³ of acidic mine water burst from the flooding, abandoned Wheal Jane workings and turned the Carnon River and Fal estuary ochre-yellow — one of the most notorious mine-water pollution incidents in British history, and one still being actively treated more than three decades later. |
13 January 1992 | Flooding / Inundation | Cornwall | — |
| Wheal Mary Ann Footway Shaft Rescue A volunteer clearing the Footway Shaft at the disused Wheal Mary Ann (recorded in the Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service's own report as 'St Mary's Lead Works') was trapped chest-deep when part of a drainage trench collapsed on him, triggering a rescue involving Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service, paramedics, an RAF Sea King helicopter and the Cornwall Air Ambulance. |
13 November 2007 | Collapse / Roof Fall | Cornwall | 0 |
| Wheal Owles flooding disaster Miners broke through into the flooded, long-abandoned workings of Wheal Drea, trapping and drowning twenty men and boys underground. |
10 January 1893 | Flooding / Inundation | Cornwall | 20 |
| Wheldale Colliery explosion, 1923 An underground explosion in the Silkstone Seam's No. 2 District at Wheldale Colliery on 22 February 1923 killed nine men — one outright, the rest of severe burns — after the deputy's own shot ignited coal dust during ripping work. |
22 February 1923 | Explosion | West Yorkshire | 9 |
| Wheldale Colliery fire, 1891 A fire broke out in the engine plane of Wheldale Colliery's Silkstone Pit on 8 December 1891, killing five men overcome by smoke and fumes while trying to escape; the mine was ultimately flooded to bring the fire under control. |
8 December 1891 | Fire | West Yorkshire | 5 |
| Whitfield Colliery Explosion (1881) A firedamp explosion caused by an overheated blacksmith's flue killed at least 21, and by some accounts as many as 28, men and boys at Whitfield Colliery, Hanley -- one of the worst disasters recorded on this archive -- and led to the colliery manager standing trial for manslaughter. |
7 February 1881 | Explosion | Staffordshire | 24 |
| Whitwick Colliery Fire, 1898 A gob fire in Whitwick Colliery's No. 5 Pit killed 35 men and boys overnight, the worst mining disaster in Leicestershire's history, leaving 27 widows and 84 children under 13 orphaned. |
19 April 1898 | Fire | Leicestershire | 35 |
| William Pit Explosion A shot fired in the No. 2 Dip face of the undersea workings at Whitehaven ignited firedamp and coal dust, two and a half miles out from the shaft. Fourteen men were killed by the blast. Ninety more survived it and then died of the carbon monoxide it left behind, before rescuers working through more than twenty hours could reach them. |
15 August 1947 | Explosion | Cumbria | 104 |
| William Pit Explosion, 1823 A firedamp explosion in William Pit's Main Band workings at Whitehaven killed 32 people, including 15 boys and 2 girls, and seventeen pit ponies — one of at least fourteen serious explosions recorded at the pit over its working life. |
18 October 1823 | Explosion | Cumbria | 32 |
| William Pit Explosion, 1839 Firedamp that had gone undetected since the previous Saturday exploded when a boy carrying a naked candle followed the overman into workings a mile and a half from the shaft — killing between 21 and 23 men and boys, most from one small stretch of New Houses. |
18 February 1839 | Explosion | Cumbria | 23 |
| William Pit Explosion, 1941 A genuinely unusual disaster: water gas, produced when water was poured onto glowing coal in a sealed-off fire area at William Pit, accumulated in a confined space and exploded, killing twelve. |
3 June 1941 | Explosion | Cumbria | 12 |
| Windsor Colliery Shaft Accident, 1902 A working stage collapsed during shaft-sinking at Windsor Colliery, Abertridwr, dropping eight men into a flooded sump and drowning six of them. |
3 June 1902 | Winding / Shaft Accident | Caerphilly | 6 |
| Wood Pit Explosion, 1878 An underground gas explosion at Wood Pit, Haydock, killed 189 men and boys — one of the deadliest mining disasters in English history, and the worst to strike the Haydock Collieries complex. |
7 June 1878 | Explosion | Lancashire | 189 |
| Woodhorn Colliery explosion A repairing shift of thirteen men was setting steel roof girders in the Main Seam at Woodhorn when firedamp, accumulated over a weekend of reduced ventilation, was ignited by a naked light. All thirteen died. |
13 August 1916 | Explosion | Northumberland | 13 |
| Workington Colliery Inundation, 1837 On the evening of 28 July 1837 the sea burst into the workings of Workington Colliery, which had been driven 1,500 yards out under it with only about 150 feet of strata above. The Isabella, Union and Lady pits were submerged and 27 men and boys drowned, along with a comparable number of horses. The danger had been common talk in the town for months, and the owner had been written to about it. |
28 July 1837 | Flooding / Inundation | Cumbria | 27 |
| Wylam Colliery Boiler Explosion, 1865 A boiler explosion at Wylam Colliery killed three workers, including a 13-year-old boy, and was reported at the time in the local press. |
27 October 1865 | Machinery | Northumberland | 3 |
| Wynnstay Colliery Explosion (1863) A fireman firing a shot in an upbrow ignited accumulated gas, killing thirteen men and boys and injuring six more -- the first of three fatal explosions to strike this colliery within a decade. |
9 December 1863 | Explosion | Wrexham | 13 |
| Wynnstay Colliery Explosion (1868) An explosion following the replacement of a ventilation door with a brick stopping killed ten men -- the second of three fatal explosions to strike this colliery within a decade. |
30 September 1868 | Explosion | Wrexham | 10 |
| Wynnstay Colliery Explosion (1873) Insufficiently bored and improperly rammed shot holes let gas from two shots ignite, killing seven men and boys -- the third of three fatal explosions to strike this colliery within a decade. |
24 April 1873 | Explosion | Wrexham | 7 |
| Yew Tree Colliery Explosion, 1858 A firedamp explosion in Yew Tree Colliery's Crombuke mine, caused by a skipped safety inspection, killed 25 men and boys -- the worst mining disaster in Tyldesley's history. |
11 December 1858 | Explosion | Lancashire | 25 |