Abergwawr Colliery boiler explosion, 1869

A boiler burst at the surface of Powell Duffryn's Abergwawr or Plough pit, beside Treaman station, on 31 May 1869, killing four men and injuring four.

Cause

The fracture of one of the eye-pieces by which a stay was attached to the boiler shell, which left the end too weak to resist the steam pressure.

What happened

Abergwawr's steam came from three large egg-ended boilers bedded in masonry a few yards from the Taff Vale Railway at Treaman station. On 31 May 1869 one of them, a forty-foot boiler of seven-sixteenths-inch plate, burst. It was torn apart: one end, weighing several hundredweight, was thrown about a hundred yards, the slate roof of the forty-foot engine house was shattered, and stones were flung across the road into the houses opposite. A shift of men was arriving for work at the time.

Four were killed: George Rose, 32, the stoker; Daniel Griffiths, 32, a collier with four children; David Richards, 17, a collier and his widowed mother's only support; and David Lewis, 22, a labourer. Four others were hurt, one seriously. The boiler had worked at the colliery for twenty-three years after coming from Cornwall, and new boilers were already being installed as part of a remodelling of the works. The boilers were not insured, and the loss to the company was put at £400 to £600.

Investigation & inquiry

At the inquest on 25 June 1869 before the coroner George Overton, the jury found that the explosion was caused by the fracture of an eye-piece holding one of the stays; the coroner took this as equivalent to a verdict of accidental death.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• A boiler explosion at Abergwawr Colliery, Treaman, on 31 May 1869 killed four and injured four. ^1,2
• The three boilers stood near Treaman station on the Taff Vale Railway, at Powell Duffryn's Abergwawr or Plough pit. ^1,2
• The inquest jury found the explosion was caused by the fracture of an eye-piece attaching a stay to the shell. ¹
• One end of the boiler was blown about a hundred yards. ^1,2

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…Four others were hurt, one seriously. The boiler had worked at the colliery for twenty-three years after coming from Cornwall, and new boilers…”
• Engine House (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…was thrown about a hundred yards, the slate roof of the forty-foot engine house was shattered, and stones were flung across the road into the houses…”

Sources

1. (secondary) 1869 (Welsh mining fatalities by date) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) The Fatal Boiler Explosion in the Aberdare Valley (Western Mail, 2 June 1869) — Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales
3. (secondary) Abergwawr Colliery, Aberaman — Welsh Coal Mines

Record created: 7 October 2026 · Last researched: 7 October 2026