Werfa Colliery shaft accident, 1851

Cause

The four iron rods hanging the descending bucket from its cross broke in the thread of their screws, and the bucket fell; the chain itself was found whole.

What happened

The men were being wound in the balance pit, one bucket descending with eleven aboard and the other ascending, when the gear gave way. News reached the neighbourhood at once, and a crowd gathered at the pit, but it was quickly passed out that all were dead, killed instantly by the 180-foot fall.

The men rode in buckets hung from a chain over a sheave, the pit being worked by a water balance. Early reports said the chain had snapped, but the links were found whole. The colliery agent, Matthew Mills, had held back some of the men who were crowding onto the bucket's platform, telling them they would push one another down the pit some day; one of those he pulled back, David Lewis, went down and was killed. He watched the bucket go slowly down for three yards, heard something break, and saw the chain swing; it recoiled, the cross struck the spring beam over the pit, and the chain flew up over the sheave, broke the spring beam on the far side and fell down the shaft. The four rods holding the bucket to its cross had all snapped in the screw, about nine inches from the top. Rees Morgan and John Rogers, in the ascending bucket, had been working all night. The bodies were all brought up by about eleven, and the fifty or sixty men below were raised before two.

The colliery, begun in 1846 and at work for about four years, belonged to John Nixon, the managing partner, with James Evans, Thomas Edwards Heath and David Williams. The oval pit, 13 feet by 20, was about 66 yards deep to the bottom of the sump and raised about 35,000 tons a year.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquest was held before the coroner, George Overton, at the Boot Inn, Aberdare, opening the day after the accident and resuming on the following Tuesday. No government inspector attended: Mr Blackwell had resigned and no successor had been appointed. Nixon said the pit was fitted up as strongly as any balance pit in the district, the rods were of the best iron, and the chain had been proved to 37 tons. John Evans, the Dowlais Company's pit carpenter who had fitted the pit, thought one of the rods must have broken perhaps a week before; the Merthyr smith who made them found no flaw worth noticing. The jury returned accidental death, caused by the breaking of the iron rods which connected the cross and the bucket.

Changes to practice & legislation

The jury added its disapproval of letting workmen go down to their work in the same way as materials were raised, and recommended that drifts be made in all such workings so that the men could reach their work without danger.

What's uncertain

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

• Welsh Coal Mines gives fourteen killed and names fourteen, though its colliery page also says eleven miners including three boys and puts three in the ascending cage while its 1851 list says two; NMRS says sixteen. (disputed) ^1,3,2

Recorded claims

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

• At about 7 a.m. on 4 September 1851 the gear of the balance pit at Werfa Colliery gave way and the men fell 180 feet down the shaft; eleven of the dead were in the descending bucket and the rest in the ascending one. ^1,2
• Welsh Coal Mines gives fourteen killed and names fourteen, though its colliery page also says eleven miners including three boys and puts three in the ascending cage while its 1851 list says two; NMRS says sixteen. (disputed) ^1,3,2
• The four rods holding the descending bucket to its cross broke in the screw about nine inches from the top; the chain was found unbroken. ^4,5,6
• The agent, Matthew Mills, held back men crowding onto the bucket, among them David Lewis, who went down and was killed. ⁵
• The colliery, begun in 1846, belonged to John Nixon, James Evans, Thomas Edwards Heath and David Williams, Nixon being the managing partner. ^4,7,5
• The jury returned accidental death, caused by the breaking of the iron rods which connected the cross and the bucket. ⁵
• The jury disapproved of men going down the pit the same way as materials were raised and recommended drifts so they could reach their work in safety. ⁵
• The inquest list names fourteen dead, eleven descending and three ascending. ^7,5

Related terminology

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

• Cage (direct cause)
  Both cages fell when the chain broke.
• Drift (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s changes to practice: “…work in the same way as materials were raised, and recommended that drifts be made in all such workings so that the men could reach their work…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…pit at Werfa Colliery above Aberdare, and both cages fell down the shaft, 180 feet. Eleven men and boys were in the descending cage and two…”
• Sump (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…pit, 13 feet by 20, was about 66 yards deep to the bottom of the sump and raised about 35,000 tons a year.”
• Water Balance (relevant method/equipment)
  The men rode water-balance cages.

Sources

1. (secondary) Werfa — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1851 — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) Werfa Dare Colliery (The Werfa Pits) — Northern Mine Research Society (information supplied by Ray Lawrence)
4. (primary) The fatal accident at the Werfa Colliery, near Aberdare (the inquest), 12 September 1851 — Monmouthshire Merlin (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
5. (primary) The late fatal colliery accident near Aberdare (inquest and verdict), 19 September 1851 — The Welshman (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
6. (primary) Aberdare: dreadful fatal accident, 12 September 1851 — The Welshman (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
7. (primary) The late deplorable accident at the Wyrfa Colliery, Aberdare, 13 September 1851 — The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)

Record created: 14 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 November 2026