Bedwellty Pits

Overview

A colliery south of Tredegar, one of the pits of the Tredegar ironmasters' coal operations, which appears three times on the roll of Welsh mining disasters. An explosion in June 1865 killed twenty-seven, six of them boys under sixteen, and was reported with engravings in the Illustrated London News; a further explosion in March 1880 killed six more.

History

Bedwellty Pits lie south of Tredegar, in the Sirhowy valley where the Tredegar Iron Company — founded in 1800 by Samuel Homfray with Richard Fothergill and Matthew Monkhouse on a lease from the Tredegar Estate — developed the coal that fed its furnaces. The company ceased making iron in 1891 but went on developing coal mines and working pits until nationalisation.

On 16 June 1865 an explosion killed twenty-seven men and boys (see Disasters, below). It was reported nationally: the Illustrated London News of 1 July 1865 carried two engravings, one of the colliery as the scene of the explosion and one of the funeral of the colliers killed. Further explosions in April 1879 and on 10 March 1880 killed more men (see Disasters, below).

A winding wheel survives at Bedwellty Pits as a memorial to the colliery.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coal Measures of the Sirhowy valley, on the eastern side of the South Wales Coalfield — the coal that the Tredegar ironworks were built on and that the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company went on working long after it had stopped making iron. No seam is named for this colliery.

Workings

The colliery is recorded in the Welsh disaster rolls under the name Bedwellty Pits; no account of its shafts, seams or working arrangements is recorded.

Closure

The closure date is not known for the colliery.

What remains

A winding wheel stands at Bedwellty Pits as a memorial. The settlement of Bedwellty Pits and its railway houses survive south of Tredegar.

A preserved winding wheel; the colliery settlement and railway houses.

Disasters & major incidents

• Bedwellty Pits Explosion, 1865
  16 June 1865 · Explosion · 27 fatalities
  An explosion at the No. 1 pit of Bedwellty Pits near Tredegar on 16 June 1865 killed twenty-seven miners, six of them boys under sixteen. It was reported to the country in the Illustrated London News, which printed engravings both of the colliery and of the colliers' funeral.
• Bedwellty Pits explosion, 1879
  2 April 1879 · Explosion · 3 fatalities
  An explosion of firedamp at Bedwellty Pits, south of Tredegar, on the night of 2 April 1879 killed three men outright and burned three more, who WCM records as dying in the weeks after.
• Bedwellty Pits explosion, 1880
  10 March 1880 · Explosion · 4 fatalities
  A sudden outburst of gas fired by naked lights killed at least four men at Bedwellty Pits on the evening of 10 March 1880, less than a year after the previous explosion.
• Bedwellty Pits roof fall, 1881
  18 January 1881 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  A fall of stone killed a collier and his boy at Bedwellty Pits, Tredegar, on 18 January 1881, under roof that had been tested less than an hour before.

What's uncertain

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

• An explosion at the No. 1 pit on 16 June 1865 killed twenty-seven miners, six of them boys under the age of sixteen. (uncertain) ^1,2
• The Tredegar Iron Company was created in 1800 by Samuel Homfray with Richard Fothergill and Matthew Monkhouse on a lease from the Tredegar Estate. It ceased producing iron in 1891 but continued to develop coal mines and work pits until nationalisation in 1946. (uncertain) ³

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 No. 1 pit on 16 June 1865 killed twenty-seven miners, six of them boys under the age of sixteen. (uncertain) ^1,2
• The Illustrated London News of 1 July 1865 carried two engravings on pages 629 and 630: 'The Bedwellty Colliery, Tredegar, Monmouthshire, The Scene of the Late Fatal Explosion' and 'Funeral of the Colliers Killed by the Late Explosion at Tredegar'. ²
• The Tredegar Iron Company was created in 1800 by Samuel Homfray with Richard Fothergill and Matthew Monkhouse on a lease from the Tredegar Estate. It ceased producing iron in 1891 but continued to develop coal mines and work pits until nationalisation in 1946. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Bedwellty Pits: disaster death rolls — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (primary) Bedwellty Colliery explosion 1865, print (Illustrated London News, 1 July 1865) — Amgueddfa Cymru — Museum Wales
3. (secondary) Tredegar — Wikipedia

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