No.1 Main, Bryncoch, 4th August 1896

The colliery was about 3 miles from Neath and was the property of the Main Colliery Company Limited. This company succeeded to the Dynevor Colliery Company who had worked in the same neighbourhood for many years before 1889.  Mr. H.T.Wales, mining engineer, was the managing director and agent for the company and Mr. Richard Thomas was the certificated manager with Mr. William Williams the certificated under manager

The colliery consisted of two shafts, No.1 the downcast, 18feet in diameter which was used for winding and pumping and the No.2, 16 feet in diameter which was the up cast and was used for temporary pumping and the winding of water by barrel. The sinking of the No.1 shaft was started by the Main Colliery Company in May 1891 and the Graigola seam was reached in January 1893 at a depth of 435 yards. The No.2 shaft was sunk about the same time and was 412 yards deep to the same seam. The No.2 shaft was 670 yards to the south of the No.1 shaft.

Ventilation was produced by a Capell fan placed 8 yards from the mouth of the No.2 shaft. The fan was 15 feet in diameter, 6'6" wide and was driven by an engine which made 25 r.pm. while the fan ran at 80r.p.m. It produced 53,999 cubic feet of air per minute at a water gauge of 0.5 inches.

The site of the No.1 Pit was close to the old Bryncoch Colliery which had been recently working a seam known locally as the Wernfraith, which was bituminous coal at a depth of 179 yards. The new pit passed through this seam and then the Three Feet Seam at 141 yards, 28 yards of shale and rashes, the Victoria or Tir Edmund Seam, black shall, cliff and rock before reaching the Graigola Seam which was made up of 1 foot of coal, 1 foot of clod, 2'6" of coal and another 10inches of clod. Neither the Tir Edmund nor the Three Feet Seams had been worked here.

At Court Herbert Colliery, which belonged to the same owners, the Tir Edmund Seam had been worked to a limited extent and the Graigola extensively worked to the dip and with in a short time of the sinking of the new pits, a connection was made in this seam between these pits and the Court Herbert Pit which was 3,322 yards south of Bryncoch. Both seams were considered by the management to be 'fiery' and were worked with safety lamps. Gas had occasionally been encountered in the workings. To the west on the rise side of the up throw fault, the same seams were regarded as 'non-fiery' and were worked with open lights.

Particular attention had been taken in laying out the workings. The regularity and straightness of the roads, pillar and stall workings was a feature that was all too frequently absent in these kinds of workings in South Wales. For the most part, the pillars had been made about 80 yards long and 30 yards wide while the stalls were generally double-roaded stalls, about 14 yards apart.

Up to 3 months before the explosion, no pillar working had taken place. About that time, management decided to work away some pillars in a part of the mine 300 yards north east of the shaft, at the date of the disaster one pillar had been finished and 3 others were in the course of being removed. The roof was a strong hard rock and had not fallen to any extent before that date, even in the largest area which was that which was formed by working the pillar between two large stalls. No gas had be observed in the pillar working and the air current which passed through the exhausted area was expected to dilute any gas which might have been given off when the roof fell.

There were two ventilation currents, one passing into the west heading and the other into the east. That to the west split on No.2 North Heading, one portion returning through the workings on the west side of the shaft to the south heading and from there, up that heading to the up cast shaft. The other portion of this current was joined by the current which entered the east heading from the shaft and the combined current ventilated all the workings on the north and east sides of the shaft where most of the work was carried out,

Firedamp had been reported on very few occasions, the last being 25th June when a fireman found a little in No.4 South East. On January 16th a slight explosion occurred when a shot of gunpowder was fired in a stall which resulted in injury to 2 colliers who were working there. The fireman who examined the place before the shot was fired said it was clear but it was possible that he had not detected a small accumulation which was fired by the flame of the shot.

The seam was slightly inclined, not more than 2" per yard and the roof was remarkably strong. There had been no falls on the roadways or in old stalls with the exception of where pillars had been removed and there was adequate ventilation of the whole workings which was rather damp with the floor being quite wet in places. There was no accumulated dry coal dust in the roadways, roof, sides or floor and very few timbers stood in the headings. The only places where there was any dust was in the rubbish which formed the gobs.

About 230 men and boys were employed underground, mostly on the day shift. The day before the explosion had been a holiday and on the fateful day there were less than the usual number in the mine. They were to work between 6 & 7 am. after the morning inspection. The inspection was made partly by the night fireman and partly by the day fireman. Nothing had been discovered and each fireman made his report to that effect in the log book.

Mr. Williams, the under manager, had been away for a week's holiday and had returned the previous day. He descended the pit shortly before 6 am and saw Elion Rowen, the night fireman, who reported to him that all was clear on the South and East sides, he also saw James Jones, one of the day firemen who told him that all was clear on the North and West sides. The night fireman left the pit and David Meyrick  came on duty.

Up to 10am work proceeded normally and nothing happened for any of the officials to suspect there was any danger. The first unusual event was noticed by two repairers, David Harris and William D. Jones when they hear the top 'working', a noise as if the roof was cracking and likely to fall, at the place where the pillar had been removed. Harris went to the place but found nothing wrong.  A little latter he heard what he described as a small fall and about 10am a larger fall. Harris was just about to examine the place when he saw some colliers coming out of the working places which were a little further in where they were working out pillars. These men said the places were filing with gas and at least one of the lights had been put out by the gas. Harris acted promptly, hurried with the men out and sent a haulier to warn the officials and workmen in other parts of the pit.

In a short time 176 men and boys were out of the pit which left 20 still down but at that time it was not known exactly how many were actually in the workings. it was believed that they were all out except for those in No.2 South East and those who were in charge and assisting men to get out.

During the time between the alarm being given and about 11am a labourer William Jones, working in the No.2 South East, and who was still down the pit when the explosion occurred, stated that he met Lewis Jones at No.2 South East coming out for a light, and they went towards the face together. On reaching a point 230 yards from the south header, his lamp went out in the gas. Lewis Jones had left his father and brother near the face and he told William Jones that all their lamps were out. They called to the men inside but got no answer. They went together to get fresh lights and seeing colliers going out of the South heading, borrowed two lamps and returned with collier Evans Jones. They returned but their lamps again went out at the same place. They called again and received no answer so they went back to be met by David Meyrick, William D. Jones and James Jones, each of whom had a lamp. William Jones took up the story:-

' I told them to take care and not to take the lamps too high, and call on Lewis Jones, Evan Jones and Lewis Jones (jnr), turned back with three others. I went slowly to the pit in the dark and the explosion occurred when I was at the lamp station. I went to the lamp station and there, James Bowen, Thomas Phillips, Lewis Williams and Isiah Jones came after and we went up after the explosion.'

Mr. Williams, the under manager was in the No.1 North West when a boy came to him a little before 11am and told him there was gas in the East. Williams sent the men out from that district and went towards the shaft where he met David Harris at No.1 North East. Harris told him there was gas in No.1 North East coming from where the fall was-between No.1 and No.3 in a stall. The gas was working out against the air. While watching the effect of opening the doors, they saw no flame but felt a puff of wind. Williams said:-

'I went as far towards it as I could, until I met the gas in the heading, inside the fault near the mouth of the stall. The air was fresh, I had a Clanny lamp with a shield on. I heard the explosion and Harris and myself went back into the pit. The lamp station was full of smoke. We met Williams James calling out "Is there anyone alive there?" He was by the stables. We went to No.2 South East, Harris and I. Some more men came soon after. In 10 to 15 minutes we were able to go into No.2 South East.'

About 27 yards further on, Williams found William D. Jones, the repairer who had been working with Harris and who had remained underground to help the men out, with a fractured skull. Between him and on a further 100 yards up the heading, they met Evan Jones, James Jones sitting on the side of the road and David Meyrick lying on the road. All three were badly burnt. A further 150 yards in they found the body of Lewis Jones (Jnr.)

Mr. Robson, H.M. Inspector of Mines arrived at the colliery at 4pm and immediately descended the pit. The men's lamps were recovered and all the gauzes were found to be in good order but he thought that the explosion had been caused by one of these lamps being taken too far into the explosive mixture.

See Inquest Report