Nixon's Navigation Colliery roof fall, 1900

At midnight on Tuesday 8 May 1900 two repairers in the Six-feet seam of Nixon's Navigation Colliery, Mountain Ash, were buried by a large fall of roof. It took several hours to dig out the bodies of John Evans, a timberman from Carmarthen, and Patsy Deneahy, a labourer from Cork.

Date	8 May 1900
Mine	Nixon's Navigation Colliery
Region	Rhondda Cynon Taf
Type	Collapse / Roof Fall
Fatalities	2 (John Evans, 27, timberman, of Carmarthen; Patsy (Patrick) Deneahy, 20, labourer, of Cork; both single, of Victoria Street, Miskin.)
Context	During active mining

Cause

A large fall of roof in the Six-feet seam while the men were repairing.

What happened

Evans and Deneahy were at work repairing in the Six-feet seam when a large fall of roof came down and buried them both. Several hours passed before enough of the rubbish had been cleared to reach them, and their bodies were badly mutilated. The pit stood idle in consequence.

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 Welsh Coal Mines list gives the date as 8 June 1900. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

At midnight on Tuesday 8 May 1900 a large fall of roof in the Six-feet seam of Nixon's Navigation Colliery, Mountain Ash, killed the timberman John Evans and the labourer Patsy Deneahy. ^1,2
Both men were completely buried, and several hours passed before enough rubbish was cleared to recover their bodies. ²
Evans, 27, came from Carmarthen and Deneahy, 20, from Cork; both were single and lodged in Victoria Street, Miskin. ^1,2
The Welsh Coal Mines list gives the date as 8 June 1900. (disputed) ¹

Related terminology

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

Colliery (contextual relationship)
Named in this record’s summary: “…8 May 1900 two repairers in the Six-feet seam of Nixon's Navigation Colliery, Mountain Ash, were buried by a large fall of roof. It took several…”
Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…of Nixon's Navigation Colliery, Mountain Ash, were buried by a large fall of roof. It took several hours to dig out the bodies of John Evans, a…”
Timberman (contextual relationship)
Named in this record’s summary: “…roof. It took several hours to dig out the bodies of John Evans, a timberman from Carmarthen, and Patsy Deneahy, a labourer from Cork.”

Sources

(secondary) Fatalities 1900 — Welsh Coal Mines
(primary) Weekly Mail, 12 May 1900: Colliery accident at Mountain Ash: two men killed by a fall of earth — Weekly Mail (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026