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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
This year, 2013, is the centenary of the Senghenydd Mining Disaster, a tragedy that claimed the lives of 436 men. It was the largest - I hesitate to say "greatest" - mining disaster to ever occur in this country. But mining was always a hazardous occupation and the history of Wales is littered with events of almost similar magnitude.The Gresford Disaster of 22 September 1934 was one such case. The Gresford Colliery sat just north of Wrexham, the original shaft being sunk in 1908. By 1911 the pit, owned and run by the Westminster and United Collieries Group, was ready to be opened.There were two shafts: the Dennis, named after the mine owners, who were the principal landowners in the area; and the Martin. The Dennis shaft reached a depth of approximately 2,264 feet, while the Martin was just a few feet shorter. Together, they were the deepest mining shafts in the whole of Denbighshire. It was unfortunate that the Dennis shaft was very prone to fire damp. Working conditions in the Dennis were always poor, the air being constantly hot and humid. Ventilation was also bad and while there had been a degree of mechanisation, because of the conditions underground some of the coal was still mined by hand.By September 1934 the Gresford Colliery was employing around 2,200 miners. The previous year the colliery had made a loss and manager William Bonsall was under considerable pressure from the Dennis family to ensure that it did not happen again. That September the colliery was working around the clock in an effort to increase profits and on 22 September 500 men were working the night shift.At 2.08am a huge explosion rocked the mine. The explosion occurred about 1.3 miles from the bottom of the Dennis shaft and fires immediately broke out. The fires not only killed 266 men, they also blocked access and trapped miners behind the flames.Six men managed to escape, all of them enjoying a mid-shift break when the explosion took place. Soon volunteer rescue teams, from Gresford itself and from Llay Main Colliery, arrived but they, too, encountered disaster.Three members of the Llay team were overcome by gas; John Charles Williams, the team leader, was the only survivor. It was later rumoured that Williams was the author of the anonymous ballad The Gresford Disaster, a poem that was openly critical of the managers and management of the mine.All
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