Glanddu Colliery roof fall, 1875

A stone of about five tons fell from the roof of the shared Glanddu level near Pengam on 21 May 1875, killing two colliers riding in to work and injuring three. The coroner's jury found their employer guilty of manslaughter for leaving the road unexamined; the grand jury threw out the bill.

Cause

A large flat stone, estimated at five tons, fell without warning from a high part of the main level's roof onto the tram in which the men were riding.

Contributing factors

The level was used by three or four separate coal owners to bring their coal out through one mouth, and none of them examined that stretch of the main road daily as the Coal Mines Regulation Act required. Beyond the arched section near the mouth the sides and roof had not been repaired for some time, and in the assistant inspector's opinion the pillars left to support the road had been worked away. Thomas Latch, whose company owned the tramway and had kept the level up, stopped doing so when his colliery ceased work at the start of the strike in January 1875, while the two small concerns working through the level carried on double shifts. The men rode in on the trams because there was water in the level, a practice their employer knew of but had never allowed.

What happened

Between five and six o'clock on the morning of Friday 21 May 1875, five colliers were riding in empty trams, drawn by a horse, along the Glanddu (or Carngethin) level near Pengam towards their workings a long way in. They worked for Richard Clayton Evans, whose small Pottery Colliery sent its coal out along the same road. About 300 yards in, where the roof was high, a stone of about five tons fell onto the last tram, in which they sat. Their fellow workmen got four of them out alive. James Price was killed on the spot; the stone had to be jacked up to free him. Some of it had to be broken off Josiah Bull, whose arm and thigh were broken and who had internal injuries; he was taken home and died a few hours later. Daniel Evans, John Price and William Lewis were injured. Little work was done in the district that day.

Rescue & recovery

Fellow workmen freed the men at once, jacking up and breaking the stone. Dr James of Blackwood and Dr Leigh of Gelligaer attended the injured.

Investigation & inquiry

Thomas Cadman, assistant inspector of mines, examined the level on 22 May. He found it arched and fairly safe for some distance from the mouth, but beyond a point near the accident long neglected and unsafe, with only three or four props under very dangerous stones, and judged that the supporting pillars had been worked away; part of it had fallen since the accident, and he advised that no one go in until it was repaired. The inquest, before the coroner W. H. Brewer at the Ivy Bush Inn, Pengam, was attended by Lionel Brough, inspector of mines, and lawyers for Latch and Co., the Carngethin Company and the widows. Evans told it that he had appointed no one to examine the level, not thinking it his duty, and had never established the special rules the Act required. On 3 June the jury found that Price had been killed by a stone falling in the Glanddu level and that his employer, Richard Evans, was culpably negligent, which the coroner recorded as a verdict of manslaughter.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

Evans was committed for trial on the coroner's warrant and released on bail. In July, on a summons brought at the inspector's instance for failing to comply with the Mines Regulation Act, magistrates at a special sessions at Blackwood also committed him for trial. Friends raised a subscription towards his costs, put at over £150. At the Monmouthshire summer assizes in August 1875 the grand jury threw out the bill of indictment for manslaughter, and after formalities Evans was discharged.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The manager of the colliery was convicted of manslaughter because of lack of inspection. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• On 21 May 1875 a fall of roof in the Glanddu level killed James Price and Josiah Bull and injured three other men. ^1,2,3
• A stone estimated at five tons fell from the roof onto a tram in which five colliers were riding to work. ^2,3
• The assistant inspector, Thomas Cadman, found the level beyond the arched section neglected and unsafe, and that no owner examined it because three or four owners used the one road. ^4,5
• The coroner's jury found the men's employer, Richard Evans, culpably negligent, a verdict of manslaughter. ^4,5
• At the Monmouthshire assizes in August 1875 the grand jury ignored the bill of indictment for manslaughter and Evans was discharged. ⁶
• The manager of the colliery was convicted of manslaughter because of lack of inspection. (disputed) ¹

Related terminology

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

• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the contributing factors: “The level was used by three or four separate coal owners to bring their coal out through one mouth, and none of them…”
• HM Chief Inspector of Mines (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the investigation: “Thomas Cadman, assistant inspector of mines, examined the level on 22 May. He found it arched and fairly safe…”
• Level (contextual relationship)
  Named 10 times in this record, first in the summary: “A stone of about five tons fell from the roof of the shared Glanddu level near Pengam on 21 May 1875, killing two colliers riding in to work…”
• Tub (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the cause: “…without warning from a high part of the main level's roof onto the tram in which the men were riding.”
• Waggonway (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s contributing factors: “…the road had been worked away. Thomas Latch, whose company owned the tramway and had kept the level up, stopped doing so when his colliery ceased…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Glan Ddu level, Pengam — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) 'Disastrous colliery accident at Fleur-de-Lis: two men killed', Western Mail, 22 May 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) 'The calamity to miners in a Pengam level', South Wales Daily News, 29 May 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) 'Fleur-de-Lis: verdict of manslaughter against a colliery proprietor', Monmouthshire Merlin, 11 June 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
5. (primary) 'The late fatal accident at Pengam', The Cardiff Times, 5 June 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
6. (primary) 'Monmouthshire Assizes: the charge of manslaughter against a colliery proprietor', County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser, 7 August 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
7. (primary) 'Blackwood: the fatal colliery accident at Pengam', Monmouthshire Merlin, 16 July 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)
8. (primary) 'Y ddamwain angeuol yn Pengam', Y Gwladgarwr, 2 July 1875 — Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026