Risca New Pit explosion, 1882

An explosion at the North Risca Colliery, Risca New Pit, at about six o'clock on Sunday morning, 15 January 1882, killed the four men left in the pit to fire a shot, and the 59 horses below. The colliery was the one where 120 men and boys had died in July 1880.

Cause

Firedamp ignited by a shot fired in the main airway, about 500 yards from the downcast shaft. The inspector thought the blast had driven gas out of the strata and goaves.

Contributing factors

The pit had gone over to Mueseler safety lamps after the 1880 explosion and was checked by the men's own monthly inspection committee. Only the four men needed for the shot were left below.

What happened

On the Saturday night 140 repairers went down after the coal-cutters finished. The overmen Charles Dixon and Richard Alsop searched the main airway for gas, found none, and decided a shot could safely be fired there. Under the rule that everyone else must leave before a shot, Alsop and the repairers came up at five on the Sunday morning, leaving Dixon, the firemen Francis Evans and John Gittings, and the labourer Evan Morgan below.

A few minutes before six the fan engineman George Drew felt the shock and heard a long rumble. The staging at the pit mouth was blown away, the brick arch over the fan was wrecked and several of its blades were broken, and the colliery offices were partly unroofed. Drew had escaped in the same way in 1880.

Rescue & recovery

The general manager, G. W. Wilkinson, repaired the fan within a few hours, and the assistant inspector Donald Bain and engineers from neighbouring collieries joined him. An exploring party was stopped about 33 yards along the main airway by a heavy fall. Relays of men cut through it by Monday morning, only to meet a second, larger fall, so the party went in through a lower stone heading, which had first to be pumped out. The bodies were reached early on the Tuesday: Evans lay in the lamp room about 100 yards from the shaft bottom, with his calico food bag over his mouth, and the other three in the roadway near by. Evans and Morgan were not burned.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquest was opened by the coroner W. H. Brewer. The inspectors Thomas E. Wales and Donald Bain gave evidence, Bain giving his opinion that the concussion of the blasting had made gas exude from the strata and goaves.

Recorded claims

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

• An explosion at the North Risca Colliery at about six o'clock on Sunday morning, 15 January 1882, killed the four men in the pit and 59 horses. ^1,2,3
• The four men had stayed below to fire a shot in the main airway after the repairers came up, and the shot was believed to have fired the gas. ^1,2,3
• Falls blocked the main airway, and the bodies were reached through a stone heading on the Tuesday morning after the explosion. ^4,3
• The colliery was the same one where 120 men and boys had been killed eighteen months before. ^1,2,3

Related terminology

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

• Coal Cutter (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “On the Saturday night 140 repairers went down after the coal-cutters finished. The overmen Charles Dixon and Richard Alsop searched the…”
• Downcast Shaft and Upcast Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s cause: “…ignited by a shot fired in the main airway, about 500 yards from the downcast shaft. The inspector thought the blast had driven gas out of the strata…”
• Goaf (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “…The inspector thought the blast had driven gas out of the strata and goaves.”
• Safety Lamp (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s contributing factors: “The pit had gone over to Mueseler safety lamps after the 1880 explosion and was checked by the men's own monthly…”
• Shot-firing (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s investigation: “…gave evidence, Bain giving his opinion that the concussion of the blasting had made gas exude from the strata and goaves.”

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh coal mining fatalities, 1882 — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) The Western Mail, 16 January 1882: Disastrous explosion at North Risca — The Western Mail (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) Monmouthshire Merlin, 20 January 1882: Fatal explosion at the North Risca Colliery — Monmouthshire Merlin (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) The Western Mail, 18 January 1882: The explosion at North Risca: recovery of the bodies — The Western Mail (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)

Record created: 19 October 2026 · Last researched: 19 October 2026