A Quiet Town: The Senghenydd 1901 Disaster | Documentary Film

Not many people outside the South Wales valley's especially the Aber Valley knows much about the 1901 disaster at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd. In this documentary I will explore that disaster and find how it happened and how it affected the future 1913 disaster.
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[@jnryt98]

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[@johnreed8336]

Thanking you for remembering this disaster . My paternal grandfather ( Clifford Reed ) worked for decades down the 'pit ' and later in his career worked in the mines rescue unit . He lived in Cwm . I am immensely proud of my grandfather's achievements in life as he also had a mention in dispatches for being the first ambulance driver to enter Tobruk during WWII and also had many years of service in the St John's Ambulance Brigade . A life well lived . Rest in peace . From your grandson .

[@0ldw3lshm4n]

Couple of comments for you from a young old miner lol. The 1901 explosion was very powerful, especially the third one, much worse than the 1913. it was fortunate only 83 men were underground as there would have been way more fatalities as the explosion ripped through the entire mine. This explosion saw many huge and long roof falls, this would have been caused by the force ripping out road supports. Like the 1913 explosion, the source of the explosion was not discovered. It was thought to be caused by a lamp, and also a blown out shot, both were ruled out.As you mentioned , the mine was vary dry and dusty with lots of airbourne dust but that dust would need an ignition to cause explosion, it would not just explode on its own, this would be from a spark or flame for example.The reason it spread through entire mine is because once you get the first ignition and fireball, a pressure wave travels fast infront of the first ignition which causes even more dust to be raised into the air from the floor, so when the fireball reaches it you get another explosion. With respect to the fan reversal, it did become a requirement to be able to revers air flow, but, no one knows if it would have saved lives in 1913, in fact it could possibly have caused more for 2 reasons. 1) Miners are trained to move to the intake roads during a fire or event, this is where the fresh air is, if you then reverse the air, those men would then be in the worst possible place as the intake becomes the return airway carrying high concentrations of deadly carbon monoxide following an explosion. 2) In 1913, most deaths were on the west side of the mine, and there were many survivors on the east side. So is the air was reversed immediately, not only would you possibly kill the miners who moved to the intake roads but possibly many more on the other side of the pit. Reversing an air direction can possibly help but timing and planning required. CO can be fatal ion seconds. There were many who died from burns but also many died purely from CO poisoning. The photo showing the universal site derelict was from about 1950 I think, not 1979. The site was derelict soon after closure and Senghenydd sawmills occupied the site for many years including 1979. It might have been 1979 ( I thought closer to 1982) that the shafts were filled in. I can remember seeing hundreds of trucks passing through village daily during the summer, most carrying just one huge limestone rock, and it sounded like thunder when these were dumped down the shafts lol. Once the shaft was full to about 20m from the top, we had to cap the shafts using gypsum hardstop pumped into shaft to provide an airtight seal to prevent gas coming out. Universal was an extremely gassy mine, for some reason seemed lot gassier than others. Universal was connected to windsor because Universal reserves were later worked from windsor colliery. There was a 12£ pip in the roadway to collect gas and I used to monitor this gas 3 times a day and there was a lot of gas when the barometer pressure dropped and not only in the pipe, the main airwai from the old road, to windsor pit bottom, I measured dangerous levels of gas on a few occasions. We had to seal the roadway walls for couple of hundred metres using hardstop, to reduce this.

[@tldavies19]

Thanks for making this. Members of my family were a part of the Mine Rescue Group in the 1913 disaster. I don't know if they came to the 901 disaster.

[@jnryt98]

Can I ask who was your members of you're family who is in the 1913 rescue group and thank you!!

[@tldavies19]

@@jnryt98 Daniel Lewis (my maternal grandfather) and Daniel Morgan (Great Uncle). Both were employed by the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company. Daniel Lewis was an under manager at Markham Colliery and Daniel Morgan was at the management level and ended up as the General Manager of the Tredegar ICC and was the first Commercial Director of the NCB in Wales when the pits were nationalised.

[@neilhansen5663]

The terrible price of coal RIP brothers. 33 years coal miner from NSW Aust.

[@davedean4150]

When I was a boy living with my Welsh parents in London my father told me how his father, Archibald Dean, barely escaped death in a horrible disaster in a mine near 😅 when several hundred men were killed. Archibald was rescued, my father said, in a final attempt to bring out any survivors, after spending an endless time in the pit. Archie never recovered from his ordeal and was known afterwards to be a heavy drinker and bully who terrorized his family. He was basically shunned for his trauma symptoms and spent his last days being marginalized by a society that had yet to recognize and learn to identify and treat traumatic stress symptoms. It’s so ironic that I’m an 85 year old Viet Nam veteran retired with 45 years of clinical experience in Americas clinics and military hospitals. I hope one day to meet Archie and tell him that I understand. Those men were tough as nails.

[@bazza945]

It's always about 'saving money'.

[@osco4311]

In some countries, it's about money. In others, it's about politics, and being worried that you'll be blamed for missing production levels and your family sent to the gulag.

[@riveness]

Thanks for this mate. Local history that educate me.

[@TheSilmarillian]

Great piece of research my mum and dad brought us out to Australia when my brother and I where young tuckers we came from Wales and I noticed in the memories my family name came up three times bizarre indeed. Maybe mining is in the blood am an opal miner here and you explained the dangers of mining well especially as it was way back then

[@intimespast]

Great documentary, thanks for bringing the story of Senghenydd to us.

[@Louis-kk3to]

Never heard of this ,thank you for your education .

[@plunder1956]

I used to visit Caerphilly decades ago to shoot video at the Catnic plant for promotional projects A very interesting video, I especially like the music chosen. I did visit big pit big Pit at Blaenavon some years later.

[@markevans7269]

To all the miners and horses who lost there lives gone to heaven .gone but you'll never be forgotten ❤🙏🌹💐

[@neilwilliams2409]

Nice tribute to the memories of those who lost their lives. Da iawn

[@jnryt98]

Thank you!

[@neilwilliams2409]

@@jnryt98 croeso.

[@andrewking5647]

Great documentary

[@kellylouisebrown4954]

Remembering my ancestor William Ross who was killed that day.

[@gb5uq]

Great documentary, diolch yn fawr iawn.

[@jnryt98]

diolch yn fawr iawn i'ch sylw hyfryd

[@grantk6435]

🤗 P r o m o s m

[@keithdrower9120]

In 1902 the Mount Kembla disaster (New South Wales), happened due to the exact same circumstance. 98 men and boys were lost. Three of my former family lie in unmarked graves at Windy Gully cemetery. My Great Grand Pa was the senior undermanager at the time, and his brother and his nephew were all killed by a coal gas explosion that was heard and felt 20 miles away. The coal mines regulation act of 1913, NSW was an exact copy of the Brittish Coal Mines Act. Many other explosions fires and water inrushes and outbursts have resulted in many deaths since then. Some, just 10 years ago.

[@geoffadams5537]

All about saving money and getting a knighthood and becoming lord splendid chap