MineArchiveMorfa Colliery explosion
| Date | 11 December 1850 |
|---|---|
| Mine | Morfa Colliery |
| Region | Neath Port Talbot |
| Type | Explosion |
| Fatalities | 6 (A contemporary report (The Welshman, 20 December 1850) recorded two dead and about 30 injured within days of the blast; Welsh Coal Mines gives the eventual toll, once further injured men died, as six.) |
| Context | During active mining |
An explosion of gas at Vivian and Son's Morfa pit near Taibach on 11 December 1850 injured around 30 men and eventually killed six, the earliest of the four disasters recorded at Morfa Colliery.
Cause
An explosion of gas; no further detail on the specific ignition source has been found for this pass.
What happened
Vivian and Sons had opened Morfa Colliery, near Taibach, in 1849 to feed their nearby copper-smelting works. On 11 December 1850 an explosion of gas tore through the pit, injuring around 30 men. The Welshman, reporting on 20 December under the headline 'Two More Fatal Colliery Explosions' (alongside a separate, larger explosion the same day at the New Duffryn Colliery near Newport), recorded that the disaster had 'spread the greatest consternation and dismay throughout the neighbourhood' and that 'the towns of Taibach and Aberavon are plunged in grief'; at the time of writing, two men were known to have been killed outright. Further men later died of their injuries, bringing the final toll to six. This was the first of four separate explosions recorded at Morfa Colliery over its working life (the others in 1863, 1870 and 1890), each progressively worse.
Investigation & inquiry
No inquest or Inspector's report account has been traced for this pass.
Memorials & commemoration
No memorial specific to this 1850 explosion has been found; a general Morfa Colliery memorial exists for the later, larger disasters.
Recorded claims
Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.
- The Welshman's report, filed within days of the explosion, gives two dead and about 30 injured; Welsh Coal Mines' six-dead figure reflects the fuller toll once mortally injured men died over the following days or weeks -- the two accounts are complementary snapshots at different times, not a disagreement. 1,2
Related terminology
Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.
- Colliery (contextual relationship)
Named 6 times in this record, first in the summary: “…killed six, the earliest of the four disasters recorded at Morfa Colliery.”
Sources
- (secondary) Morfa Colliery Port Talbot — Welsh Coal Mines
- (primary) Two More Fatal Colliery Explosions, The Welshman, 20 December 1850 — The Welshman (National Library of Wales)
Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 14 September 2026