Camerton Colliery explosion

Two men were killed by an underground explosion at Camerton New Pit. The cause was a mystery at first; it was eventually proved that shot-firing had ignited coal dust suspended in the pit’s atmosphere — one of the first three explosions in Britain attributed to coal dust alone, all of them in the Somerset field.

Cause

Shot-firing igniting airborne coal dust. This was not the explanation reached at the time — the cause was initially a mystery — and was established only afterwards.

Contributing factors

Dry, dusty roadways in a thin-seam pit, and shot-firing carried out in them at a date when the danger of coal dust without firedamp was not generally accepted.

What happened

On 14 November 1893 two men were killed by an explosion underground at Camerton New Pit. What made the accident significant was not its size but its cause. At first no explanation could be found: there was no firedamp to blame it on. It was eventually proved that the shot-firing done by the men had ignited coal dust suspended in the air of the workings. Two further Somerset explosions followed, in 1895 and 1908, and the three together are among the first anywhere in Britain to have been attributed solely to airborne coal dust.

Investigation & inquiry

The cause was not settled immediately. The eventual finding — that shot-firing had ignited coal dust in the mine’s atmosphere — placed the accident among the earliest British evidence that coal dust alone will carry an explosion.

Changes to practice & legislation

Coal dust was, at the time of this explosion, still widely regarded as at worst an aggravating factor in a firedamp explosion rather than a cause in its own right. The Somerset explosions of 1893, 1895 and 1908 are among the first in Britain attributed to dust alone, and the recognition that dry roadways had to be watered or stone-dusted followed from that line of evidence.

Recorded claims

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

• On 14 November 1893 two men were killed by an underground explosion at Camerton. The cause was at first a mystery and was eventually proved to be shot-firing igniting coal dust in the mine’s atmosphere. ¹
• The Somerset coalfield’s complex geology and thin seams gained it notoriety, and three underground explosions there — in 1893, 1895 and 1908 — were among the first attributable solely to airborne coal dust; the 1893 one was at Camerton New. ²

Related terminology

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

• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Named 9 times in this record, first in the summary: “…at first; it was eventually proved that shot-firing had ignited coal dust suspended in the pit’s atmosphere — one of the first three…”
• Firedamp (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s changes to practice: “…still widely regarded as at worst an aggravating factor in a firedamp explosion rather than a cause in its own right. The Somerset…”
• Shot-firing (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “…Pit. The cause was a mystery at first; it was eventually proved that shot-firing had ignited coal dust suspended in the pit’s atmosphere — one of the…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Camerton — Somer Valley Audio Trails — Somer Valley Audio Trails
2. (secondary) Somerset Coalfield — Wikipedia

Record created: 6 September 2026 · Last researched: 6 September 2026