Blaengwawr Colliery Explosion, 1861

Firedamp exploded in the four-feet workings of Blaengwawr Colliery at Aberaman at about twenty past seven on the morning of Friday 8 March 1861, killing thirteen men and boys and seriously injuring seven more. Between 250 and 300 were underground. The inquest found the gas had accumulated because a ventilation door between two cross-headings had been left open by a person unknown, and asked that safety lamps be used throughout the colliery as the Government Inspector had already recommended.

Cause

An explosion of firedamp in the four-feet vein. The jury found the gas had gathered because the door between Nos. 9 and 10 cross-headings had been left open by some person unknown, cutting off the ventilation of the district; it was fired by a naked light.

Contributing factors

The four-feet workings were worked with naked lights. The Government Inspector for South Wales, Thomas Evans, had already urged the exclusive use of locked safety lamps in the four-feet vein, and the manager told the inquest his father had put the question off until a new manager took charge. The overman, Richard Richards, could neither read, write nor speak English, and could not read Welsh either, so could not himself instruct the men in the colliery rules; new rules approved by the Secretary of State had been drawn up but not yet circulated among the men.

What happened

Between 250 and 300 men and boys were underground when the explosion came at about twenty past seven on the Friday morning, in the four-feet workings known as the Crimea, a mile and a half in from the pit mouth. The colliery had been examined throughout before the men went down at six. Most of the dead were caught going to their work: some had stripped ready to start, and two were killed sitting at the mouth of the heading. The overman, Richard Richards, was in the nine-feet vein when he heard the report; going towards the Crimea he met Terrant coming up the incline, burnt, saying the fire had been with him in his stall. Further in he found David Davies sitting on the ground with his son dead on his lap. The dead ranged from David Thomas and John Morgan, in their fifties and sixties, to three boys of eleven, thirteen and fourteen. Word reached Aberdare quickly and hundreds gathered at the pit.

Rescue & recovery

Richards found the air too foul with sulphur to get through at first and turned back along the airway, ordering canvas to be hung at the seven- and nine-feet dips where the doors had been blown away; with the ventilation restored he was able to work up No. 10 heading and recover the bodies one by one. The manager was at the pit within half an hour and went down with him. All the bodies were at the surface by twenty to ten, and the pit was back in working order before a quarter to twelve. The works surgeon, Mr Davies of Bryngolwg, attended the injured, and agents from Mountain Ash and other collieries came to help.

Investigation & inquiry

The coroner, George Overton, opened an inquest at the Boot Hotel, Aberdare, on Saturday 9 March, and adjourned it to Tuesday 19 March because the Government Inspector could not attend. At the adjourned hearing at the Boot Inn, Thomas Evans, Government Inspector of Mines for South Wales, was present and Frank James, solicitor of Merthyr, appeared for the owner. The manager produced a plan of the colliery and the colliery rules and was examined at length on the ventilation; the surgeon gave medical evidence; the overman described finding the bodies. The coroner pressed the question of safety lamps, the mysterious opening of the door, and the overman's inability to read or write, and ruled against the argument that a manager could not make an absolute rule requiring lamps without the Secretary of State's consent.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

After about an hour the jury returned a verdict that death was caused by an explosion of firedamp, caused by the door between Nos. 9 and 10 cross-heading being left open by some person unknown, and strongly recommended that safety lamps be used exclusively, as Thomas Evans, the Government Inspector for South Wales, had recommended.

Changes to practice & legislation

The coroner told the jury that almost every colliery to the south of Aberdare had by then gone over to locked safety lamps in the four-feet vein, and that scarcely one of them had adopted them until after a serious accident of its own. No change specific to Blaengwawr is recorded in the sources read beyond the jury's recommendation.

Memorials & commemoration

No memorial specific to the explosion has been identified in the sources read.

Recorded claims

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

• The explosion happened on the morning of Friday 8 March 1861, at about twenty past seven. ^1,2
• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page dates the explosion 6 March 1861, against its own death roll and the contemporary newspapers. (disputed) ³
• Thirteen men and boys died and seven were seriously injured; between 250 and 300 people were underground at the time. ^1,2
• The jury found the explosion was caused by firedamp accumulating because the door between Nos. 9 and 10 cross-heading had been left open by some person unknown. ¹
• The jury strongly recommended that safety lamps be used exclusively, as the Government Inspector for South Wales had already recommended. ^1,3
• Richard Richards, overman of seven or eight years' standing, could neither read, write nor speak English and could not read Welsh, and had had the colliery rules read over to him. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) The Aberdare Valley Colliery Disasters 1845-1861 — People's Collection Wales
2. (secondary) Death Roll: Blaengwawr Colliery explosion, 8 March 1861 — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) Blaengwawr Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines

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