Cwmbach Colliery

CWMBACH COLLIERY

Near Aberdare, Cynon Valley

This mine was sunk in 1837 at a cost of £4,900 by Matthew Wayne and was worked in 1860 by the Aberdare Coal Company and in 1865 and the 1870s by the Aberdare Plymouth Company Limited. In 1870 it employed 493 men. In 1884 it was managed by David Hughes. In 1894 it produced 34,150 tons of coal. In 1884/96 it was owned by the Aberdare Works and Collieries Company which employed 238 men underground and 22 men on the surface with the manager being John Evans.

At 11 a.m. on the 1st of August 1845, an explosion ripped through this Pit and claimed the lives of 28 miners and three horses. Although the explosion was confined to one District the damage was so extensive that it took three days to recover all the bodies. Amongst the dead were David Thomas, aged 10 years, and his father, James Thomas, aged 42 years. Another fatality was of David Evans, who was only 9 years of age, while Thomas Davies was 78 years of age. At the Inquest a verdict of accidental death was given.

Those that died were:

• Howell David aged 20
• Thomas Davies aged 78
• John Edwards aged 35 and the father of William Edwards
• Thomas Evans
• David Evans aged 9
• John Evans aged 22
• William Evans aged 31
• James James aged 23
• David Jenkins aged 37
• David Jones aged 32
• David Jones aged 27
• John Jones aged 17
• John Jones aged 17
• Evan Lewis aged 19
• William Llewellyn 18
• David Morgan aged 20
• Richard Morris aged 30
• Joseph Phillips aged 19
• Thomas Rees aged 23
• Thomas Smith aged 19
• George Thomas aged 33
• James Thomas aged 42 father of David Thomas aged 10
• Evan Thomas aged 14
• Rees Williams aged 24
• Howell Williams aged 28

Some of the others to die at this mine:

• 8/10/1852 William Griffith, aged 27, collier, explosion of firedamp
• 12/9/1853, John Evans, aged 11, explosion of firedamp
• 17/2/1855 David Meredith, aged 17, collier, explosion of firedamp
• 17/2/1855 Thomas Morgan, aged 11, collier, explosion of firedamp
• 25/4/1855 James Lewis, aged 11, door boy, fall of the roof
• 16/5/1855 David Griffiths, aged 31, collier, fall of the roof
• 16/5/1855 David Webb, aged 31, collier, fall of coal
• 23/1/1863 Charles Redford, aged 15, haulier, run over by trams 1
• 4/2/1872 D. Evans, aged 12, Doorboy, fall of the roof
• 20/4/1872 John Prothero, aged 45, collier, crushed by trams
• 10/12/1872 H. Griffiths, aged 44, collier, run over by trams
• 11/12/1873 David Davies, aged 20, haulier, fell down the shaft
• 10/11/1874 J. Phillips, aged 50, collier, explosion of gas
• 20/4/1877 John Lewis, aged 35, timberman, fall of the roof
• 15/8/1877 J. Thomas, timberman, run over by trams
• 30/6/1879 Henry Williams, aged 39, collier, fall of the roof
• 26/12/1879 David Price, aged 12, Doorboy, run over by trams
• 10/2/1880 David Evans, aged 25, collier, fall of the roof
• 21/2/1880 David Twigg, aged 67, labourer, fell down the shaft
• 22/10/1883 J. Jones, aged 56, labourer, run over by trucks
• 19/1/1884, John Callaway, aged 39, collier, fall of the roof
• 5/6/1884 Henry Davies, aged 57, airway man, fall of the roof
• 15/8/1896 Thomas Davies, aged 25, collier, crushed by a surface train
• 4/6/1897 John Jones, aged 29, collier, fall of the roof

Information supplied by Ray Lawrence and used here with his permission.