Wern Tarw Colliery roof fall, 1951

At about 1 a.m. on 14 March 1951, fourteen yards of heading collapsed at Wern Tarw Colliery near Pencoed, bringing down over fifty tons and burying repairers; three died and one was seriously injured after a rescue lasting up to thirteen hours.

Cause

A fall of roof along fourteen yards of heading.

What happened

At about one in the morning of 14 March 1951 some fourteen yards of a heading at Wern Tarw collapsed and over fifty tons of debris came down on a team of repairers. Two of the men were completely buried. Rescuers worked from both sides of the fall, often without room to use shovels and scraping with their hands as more debris fell. Aaron Stephens, aged 60, trapped by the legs, talked and joked with the rescuers and was the first freed, after about ten hours; William Jones was dead when they reached him, and a younger Stephens, released unconscious after thirteen hours, died that night in Bridgend Hospital. The NMRS accident record gives the dead as Arthur G. Stevens (31), Aaron Stevens (60) and Mathew Jones (60), all buried under the fall.

Rescue & recovery

Rescuers worked from two sides of the fall for up to thirteen hours, at times scraping the debris away by hand.

What's uncertain

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

• NMRS names the dead as A. G. Stevens, Aaron Stevens and Mathew Jones; Welsh Coal Mines has William Jones and Arthur G. Stephens and describes Aaron Stephens as rescued alive. (disputed) ^1,2,3

Recorded claims

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

• A fall of roof at Wern Tarw on 14 March 1951 killed three men. ^1,2,3
• Over fifty tons fell when fourteen yards of heading collapsed at about 1 a.m. ¹
• One man was released after ten hours and another after thirteen; rescuers worked from both sides of the fall. ¹
• NMRS names the dead as A. G. Stevens, Aaron Stevens and Mathew Jones; Welsh Coal Mines has William Jones and Arthur G. Stephens and describes Aaron Stephens as rescued alive. (disputed) ^1,2,3

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: “…on 14 March 1951, fourteen yards of heading collapsed at Wern Tarw Colliery near Pencoed, bringing down over fifty tons and burying repairers;…”
• Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s cause: “A fall of roof along fourteen yards of heading.”

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: fatalities 1951 — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Aaron Stevens, Werntarw, 14 March 1951 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Mathew Jones, Werntarw, 14 March 1951 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026