Black Vein Colliery

Overview

The colliery at Waunfawr near Risca that gave the Black Vein seam its evil name. Opened in the 1840s by John Russell of the Risca Iron and Coal Company to work a seam ten feet thick and gassy enough that pits taking it were called fiery, it had killed men in 1842, 1846, 1849, 1850 and 1853 before the explosion of 1 December 1860 killed over 140 and bankrupted the company. It was known locally as the death pit. It closed for a time when Risca New Pit opened in 1875, was revived, and shut for good in 1921.

History

Two shafts were sunk in 1840 and the colliery was at work by 1842 with 315 employed, opened by John Russell of the Risca Iron and Coal Company to take the Black Vein at 186 yards — a seam averaging ten feet and reaching fourteen or more in places, and gaseous enough that the pits working it across the district were known as fiery pits.

It was accident-prone from the start. Explosions of firedamp killed two colliers in November 1842 and three more in December (see Disasters, below). In January 1846 a naked candle flame fired a pocket of gas and killed 35 (see Disasters, below). Two men died in 1849, three in an explosion in 1850 and ten in another in 1853 (see Disasters, below). The colliery became known as the death pit. Mechanical ventilation replaced the furnace in 1858, but naked lights were still in use underground.

On 1 December 1860 an explosion killed more than 140 men and boys, the worst mining disaster recorded to that date (see Disasters, below).

The colliery passed to T. W. Rhodes, and in 1872 to Watts, Ward & Co., which eventually merged into the London and South Wales Coal Company. Two men were killed by a fall of coal in May 1871 (see Disasters, below). Blackvein closed for a while after Risca New Mine opened in 1875 but was later revived; by 1908 the owners were United National Collieries Ltd with 352 men employed. A serious gob fire broke out in 1918, the miners being praised for their bravery in tackling it, and by that year Blackvein and the New Mine together employed 2,084. The colliery closed in 1921.

Geology

The Black Vein seam of the Monmouthshire coalfield, taken here at 186 yards. It averaged ten feet thick and reached fourteen or more in places, which is what made it worth working, and it gave off gas freely enough that any pit taking it was called a fiery pit. Most of the district's explosions happened in collieries working this seam. The main roadway from the pit bottom followed the natural dip of the seam into the coal basin, with the working districts driven off it — the layout that turned the 1860 explosion into a disaster when a fall in one district cut the ventilation.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts sunk in 1840, working the Black Vein at 186 yards. From the pit bottom the main roadway followed the dip of the seam into the basin, with districts driven off it. Ventilation was by furnace until 1858, when mechanical means were installed; after the 1860 disaster the arbitrator ordered a return to the furnace. Naked lights were still in use underground in 1860 despite the earlier explosions.

Closure

The colliery closed for a period after Risca New Mine opened in 1875 and was later revived, working on under United National Collieries into the twentieth century before closing in 1921.

What remains

The South Blackvein Industrial Estate now occupies the site. The twelve unidentified dead of 1860 lie in a communal grave on the mountainside above Risca, and plaques commemorate the miners buried at Cwm Byr.

Nothing survives; the South Blackvein Industrial Estate occupies the site.

Related mines

• Risca New Pit — Both worked the Black Vein at Risca and were owned together in the twentieth century: Blackvein closed for a time when the New Mine opened in 1875, was revived, and by 1918 the two employed 2,084 men between them.

Disasters & major incidents

• Black Vein Colliery explosion, November 1842
  5 November 1842 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  In the early hours of 5 November 1842 firedamp exploded in the Black Vein pit at Risca, then three years old, killing two colliers, John Thomas and Joseph Smedley, and badly burning others. Another explosion followed there within four weeks.
• Black Vein Colliery explosion, December 1842
  1 December 1842 · Explosion · 3 fatalities
  Less than four weeks after the explosion of 5 November 1842, gas fired again in the Black Vein pit at Risca on 1 December while the watchmen were clearing it. The watchman William Walker, trusted by the men above all others, and two colliers, Jennings Phillips and Rees Jones, died of their burns.
• Black Vein Colliery explosion, 1846
  14 January 1846 · Explosion · 35 fatalities
  On 14 January 1846 the naked flame of a candle fired a pocket of firedamp in one district of the Black Vein Pit at Risca, killing 35 men and boys, most of them suffocated by the afterdamp. Men working elsewhere in the pit felt only a strong current of air. It was the first of the explosions that earned the colliery its name as the death pit.
• Black Vein Colliery explosion, 1850
  14 or 15 November 1850 · Explosion · 3 fatalities
  In mid-November 1850, just after the shift had gone down, firedamp exploded again in the Black Vein pit at Risca. Two young colliers, James Strickland and Thomas Edmunds, were killed and nine men badly hurt; one of them, George Perry, a father of four, died of his burns a week later.
• Black Vein Colliery explosion, 1853
  March 1853 · Explosion · 10 fatalities
  In March 1853 firedamp exploded at the entrance to No. 13 in the Black Vein Pit at Risca, about half a mile from the pit bottom. Seven were killed at once, among them boys of twelve and thirteen, and three more men died later of their injuries, ten in all. The inquest blamed one of the injured men for using a naked candle, and a ventilation door left open. It was one of the explosions that made the colliery known as the death pit.
• Black Vein Colliery explosion, 1860
  1 December 1860 · Explosion · 146 fatalities
  At about 9.30 a.m. on Saturday 1 December 1860 firedamp exploded in the fourth east level of the Black Vein Pit at Risca. The blast brought down great falls that cut off the ventilation, and most of the victims were killed by the afterdamp trapped behind them. More than 140 men and boys died, the worst British mining disaster recorded to that date, and the last body was not brought out until February 1861. The inquest jury found the gas had been given off suddenly in a group of stalls but could not say how it was fired; the company was wound up.
• Black Vein Colliery haulage accident, 1866
  7 September 1866 · Haulage / Transport · 2 fatalities
  Two colliers riding against the rules on trams being hauled up the long engine slope at the Black Vein pit, Risca, were killed on 7 September 1866 when the trams left the plates.
• Black Vein Colliery fall of coal, 1869
  27 February 1869 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  A fall of coal at Black Vein Colliery, Risca, on 27 February 1869 injured two colliers, a young man and one of 65; both died of their injuries within six weeks.
• Black Vein Colliery fall of coal, 1871
  26 May 1871 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  On the morning of Friday 26 May 1871 a fall of coal buried the collier John Wilkins in his stall at the Black Vein Pit, Risca, and a second fall killed John Phillips, one of the two colliers who had run to dig him out.

What's uncertain

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

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Black Vein' (catalogue SWT2914, Spoil Tip, dated 1984); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• Two shafts were sunk in 1840 and the colliery was at work by 1842 with 315 employed, opened by John Russell of the Risca Iron and Coal Company to work the Black Vein seam at 186 yards. ^1,2
• The Black Vein averaged ten feet thick and reached fourteen feet or more in places; it gave off gas so freely that pits working it were known as fiery pits, and many of the district's explosions happened in collieries on this seam. ²
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Black Vein' (catalogue SWT2914, Spoil Tip, dated 1984); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Risca colliery disasters — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Black Vein Colliery, Risca — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: BLACK VEIN — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026