Talwrn Colliery explosion, 1857

At nine on the morning of Friday 21 August 1857 firedamp exploded on the north side of the No. 2 pit at Talwrn Colliery, Coedpoeth, where twenty-four men were at work. The shock killed a horse in the connected No. 3 pit. Four men were found dead, suffocated some thirty yards from where they worked, and eight more were burnt. The inquest found accident, but H.M. Inspector Peter Higson told it the pit was foul with gas from bad ventilation.

Cause

Firedamp accumulated in a badly ventilated pit, fired in the Inspector's opinion by the candles of men working near the roof; the underground bailiff believed a fall in a cut-through caused it.

Contributing factors

The air roads were narrow, long and complicated, and the air grew heated travelling through them; the working plan did not match the pit. About five weeks earlier the men had left work when caps formed on their candle flames on a hot day. The fireman's duty was to examine the cut-through where the fall was found; the bailiff had not examined it the day before.

What happened

Edward Jones, a chartermaster working the south side with his brother David, heard the explosion on the north side after about three hours' work. Boys on the road said they had been blown over and scorched, and Thomas Owen came out burnt. Jones went down the brow towards the workings but was held back for half an hour by gas and smoke. Beyond, on the cross road, he found Robert Rogers face down with his hands over his face, David Jones a yard or two further on, and James Lloyd, stripped to the waist and burnt, and William Jones some eight yards beyond. They were about thirty yards from a fall in the cut-through, as if they had tried to escape and been overcome.

Rescue & recovery

Once the smoke cleared enough, Edward Jones and others carried the four bodies out; the other men on the north side had already escaped and hidden in a siding.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquest opened on the Saturday so the bodies could be viewed and buried, and resumed on Wednesday 26 August at Mr Carrington's inn, Coedpoeth, before B. H. Thelwall, with the government inspectors Peter Higson and Mr Booth attending. The injured men from the north side were too ill to give evidence. The jury returned accident, adding that they were glad the pit was to be put into better order; Higson said the foul air from defective ventilation had caused the explosion and that Mr Burton's intentions for the future had nothing to do with an inquiry into the past.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

Mr Burton was reported to be anxious to put the pit into proper order and asked Higson to recommend a viewer to draw up alterations and new plans.

Recorded claims

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

• On the morning of Friday 21 August 1857 a fearful explosion of firedamp took place at the No. 2 pit of the Talwrn Colliery Works, Coedpoeth, near Wrexham, at nine o'clock, with twenty-four men known to be working down that one pit alone. The shock was so great that it killed a horse employed in the No. 3 pit, which had a direct communication with it. Twelve of the twenty-four escaped; four were found killed on the spot, five were badly burnt and three less so. Neither the men nor the chartermasters could say how it had happened. ¹
• The adjourned inquest on Wednesday 26 August 1857 returned a verdict of accident; the government inspector Peter Higson was dissatisfied but said it was not for him to dictate to the jury. ^2,3
• Higson told the inquest the pit was badly ventilated and worked on an equally bad system, its air roads too narrow and complicated, and its plan did not represent the workings; he believed the men's candles fired foul air near the roof and the explosion brought down a fall in the cut-through, not the reverse. ³
• The underground bailiff, John Jones, thought a fall in the cut-through near No. 3 stall caused the explosion, and admitted the air roads were not what they ought to be. ³
• The badly burnt included John Rogers, 16; Samuel Jones, 13; James Kelly, 58; Enoch Jones, 18; William Williams, 33; and Thomas Owen, 58. ^2,1

Related terminology

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

• Afterdamp (hazard involved)
  The dead were found suffocated by 'sulphur' short of escape.
• Buttyman (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “Edward Jones, a chartermaster working the south side with his brother David, heard the explosion…”
• Firedamp (direct cause)
  Firedamp exploded in a badly ventilated pit.
• Naked Light (direct cause)
  The Inspector believed the candles fired the gas.
• Viewer (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s aftermath: “…to put the pit into proper order and asked Higson to recommend a viewer to draw up alterations and new plans.”

Sources

1. (primary) Dreadful and Fatal Accident at the Talwrn Colliery, near Wrexham — Four Lives Lost, 22 August 1857 — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Gatewen, Vron, Broughton and Coedpoeth collieries — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) The fatal accident at Coedpoeth Colliery: the inquest (Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser, 29 August 1857) — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 13 September 2026