Lletty Shenkin Colliery Explosion, 1849

An explosion of firedamp at Lletty Shenkin Colliery, Cwmbach, on the afternoon of Friday 10 August 1849 killed fifty-two of the 112 men and boys underground. Only about five were burned; the rest were suffocated by the afterdamp. The inquest returned accidental death with a rider that the colliery's old workings should be separately ventilated and never connected with the intake air.

Cause

Ignition of firedamp in the workings. The cause was attributed to gas leaking from abandoned workings that were not separately ventilated from the colliery's intake air.

Contributing factors

The colliers had put aside the safety lamps issued to them and were working by candle, saying they could earn twice as much by that light. Ventilation was by furnace, and a new air-pit six or seven hundred yards away was still being sunk. The fireman told the inquest that there were old workings he never went through, and that some of them were not stopped up.

What happened

One hundred and twelve men and boys went down the Lletty Shenkin pit on the morning of Friday 10 August 1849. The fireman had gone through the workings ahead of them and found firedamp in two or three places, marking them with the usual signals; the colliers avoided those and worked elsewhere, most of them by candlelight rather than by the safety lamps that had been issued to them. Between three and four in the afternoon a dense column of smoke and dust shot up the shaft, enveloping the headframe and the engine house. There was no report — the engine drowned any sound — and the first that most of those above ground knew of it was the smoke. The engineman, David Thomas, turned a stream of water into the workings to force fresh air down and stayed at his post waiting for signals from below. Underground, one witness at the inquest thought there had been two explosions in quick succession, and that the afterdamp of the first killed most of the men. Groups of colliers gathered where they had been working and consulted each other on how to get out; some found the return roads too hot to pass, sat down where the air was coolest, and lost consciousness. Only two men, at the furthest point of the colliery, came out entirely unhurt. Fifty-two of the 112 died. Only about five were burned; a boy of fifteen, found first, had been badly mutilated by the blast itself, and an eleven-year-old, Benjamin Sims, was brought up alive and died within hours. The rest were suffocated by the afterdamp and were brought up unmarked, as though asleep. Six of the eleven horses underground were killed; a fifth was found alive twenty-four hours later, still standing in its yoke.

Rescue & recovery

Men went down within minutes and were driven back by the sulphurous air, going down again and again until they got through about three-quarters of an hour after the explosion. David Thomas, the underground agent, went down the upcast with a safety lamp and led the search through the workings, repeatedly putting his own life at risk. Almost all the safety lamps were already underground and there were none at the surface for the rescuers; David Williams of Ynyscynon sent to his own works and to Aberdare for every lamp that could be found, and Thomas Powell's agent sent about two dozen over from the Duffryn colliery. Two men who went down to put out the ventilation furnace were themselves overcome and were only revived in the open air. Forty-three bodies were brought up dead and ten more men died after reaching the surface; fifteen were carried out insensible from the afterdamp and recovered. Fifteen coffins were carried from the same spot together for the funerals at Aberdare on the Sunday, eight in another group and seven in a third, with seven taken to Merthyr and three to Cefn.

Investigation & inquiry

The deputy-coroner, Mr Morgan, opened an inquest at the Black Lion Inn, Aberdare, on Saturday 11 August before a jury of local men that included the Rev. Thomas Price. The bodies were viewed, burial was permitted, and the inquest was adjourned to Friday 18 August so that three men unconnected with the colliery — Mr Dobson, mineral agent to the Hon. R. H. Clive; David Williams, coalmaster of Ynyscynon; and John Smith, coal agent at the Abernant works — could inspect the workings and report. Mr Blackwell, sent down specially by the Government, spent the week at the colliery and went through the whole of the workings with them, and told the jury that the object of sending inspectors into a pit was to collect facts and prevent similar casualties in future rather than to give evidence himself. The adjourned inquest sat at the Town Hall on 18 and 19 August, working through the identification of the bodies, the medical evidence and then the ventilation of the pit; the plan of the workings was produced, and the fireman admitted under questioning that there were old workings he never went through, and that some of them were not stopped up.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

The verdict was accidental death, with a rider that the old workings should be separately ventilated and never connected with the colliery's intake air. No proceedings followed against the proprietor, William Thomas of Abercanaid, who paid for the coffins and gave what help he could to the widows and children.

Changes to practice & legislation

The explosion fed a growing demand in Aberdare, among local figures including the Rev. Thomas Price who had sat on the coroner's jury, for mines inspectors who would visit collieries regularly — a demand the miners themselves resisted, wanting inspection done by experienced colliers instead, so that little changed for years. Contemporary comment also pressed the case for mechanical ventilation: one newspaper regretted that Bruton's ventilator, then working at Gelligaer, had not been installed at Lletty Shenkin.

Memorials & commemoration

No memorial specific to the explosion has been identified. The dead were buried at Aberdare, Merthyr and Cefn in the days after.

Recorded claims

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

• The death roll transcribed from the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian and the Cambrian dates the explosion to Friday 10 August 1849, between three and four in the afternoon. ^1,2
• The Durham Mining Museum dates the explosion 11 August 1849 — the day the inquest opened — and the Welsh Coal Mines colliery page gives 14 August. (disputed) ^3,4
• Fifty-two of the 112 men and boys underground were killed: forty-three brought up dead, ten who died after reaching the surface, and one boy, Benjamin Sims, aged about eleven, who lingered some hours. ^1,2
• Only about five of the dead were burned; the rest were suffocated by the afterdamp and were brought up without external marks. ²
• The explosion was attributed to gas leaking from abandoned workings, and the inquest's rider required that the old workings be separately ventilated and never connected with the colliery's intake. ^3,2
• The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. ³

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Death Roll: Lletty Shenkin Colliery, Cwmbach, Aberdare, 10 August 1849 (compiled from the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian and the Cambrian, August 1849) — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) The Aberdare Valley Colliery Disasters 1845-1861 — People's Collection Wales
3. (secondary) Lletty Shenkin Colliery, Cwmbach — Welsh Coal Mines
4. (secondary) Lletty Shenkin Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Cwmbach — Wikipedia

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