Mostyn Colliery Fire, 1807

Twenty-six men died at Mostyn Colliery, Flintshire, in April 1807. Wikipedia's account of the colliery, citing a period notice, calls it a fire; the Durham Mining Museum's disaster record gives the cause as an explosion. Several families lost more than one member. Taken with the explosion of March 1809, the two killed fifty men between them, made twenty-six widows and left sixty-six children fatherless.

Cause

Recorded as a fire by Wikipedia's account of the colliery and as an explosion by the Durham Mining Museum. Nothing more specific has been traced.

Contributing factors

Unknown. Mostyn's coal had been worked since the thirteenth century and its gas was notorious: Sir Roger Mostyn's account of the firedamp explosion of 3 February 1675 — the blast heard fifteen miles off, men 'singed as if they had been whipped with rods' and thrown fifteen or sixteen yards against the roof — is one of the earliest descriptions of a colliery explosion in Britain. Two explosions in 1806 had killed thirty-six men the year before.

What happened

Coal has been mined at Mostyn on the Dee estuary since 1261. A serious explosion is recorded in 1673 and another, described in detail by Sir Roger Mostyn, in 1675. In 1806 two explosions killed thirty-six men. The following April came this disaster, in which twenty-six died and several families lost more than one member — and less than two years after that, on 10 March 1809, a further explosion killed twenty-two. What happened underground in April 1807 has not been traced in the sources read. The figure that survives is the human one: the 1807 and 1809 disasters together killed fifty men, created twenty-six widows and left sixty-six children fatherless in a small Flintshire parish.

Rescue & recovery

Unknown.

Investigation & inquiry

Unknown.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

Unknown.

Changes to practice & legislation

Unknown.

Memorials & commemoration

The Durham Mining Museum carries a memorial entry for the 1807 Mostyn disaster.

What's uncertain

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

• Wikipedia's account of the colliery describes the April 1807 disaster as a fire; the Durham Mining Museum's disaster record gives the cause as an explosion. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• Twenty-six men died. The 1807 and 1809 disasters together killed fifty men, created twenty-six widows and left sixty-six children fatherless; several families lost more than one member in 1807. ^1,2
• Wikipedia's account of the colliery describes the April 1807 disaster as a fire; the Durham Mining Museum's disaster record gives the cause as an explosion. (disputed) ^1,2
• Mostyn's gas was long notorious: two explosions in 1806 killed thirty-six men, and eleven died in a further explosion in 1840. ^1,3

Related terminology

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

• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the contributing factors: “Unknown. Mostyn's coal had been worked since the thirteenth century and its gas was…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “Twenty-six men died at Mostyn Colliery, Flintshire, in April 1807. Wikipedia's account of the colliery,…”
• Firedamp (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s contributing factors: “…century and its gas was notorious: Sir Roger Mostyn's account of the firedamp explosion of 3 February 1675 — the blast heard fifteen miles off,…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Mostyn Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Colliery Disaster: Mostyn, April 1807 — explosion, 26 lives lost — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) The miners of Mostyn — Heritage Hunter

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 20 September 2026