The "Drowning" of the Bryncoch Colliery

April 6th 1859 at 11:00 am

On the 6th April the colliers and other were engaged in their daily routine. After a few hours water from a large acreage of old workings broke into the mine and in a very short time filled the shaft for many yards. Most of the men had enough warning to get to the shaft bottom and leave the pit safely but 26 others did not.  It was thought that the pressure of the water prevented them opening doors. On the night before the accident, the foreman. James Edwards, received instructions from John Dorman to see that there was no gas in the workings before the men went down and to look at the borings to see that they had gone the full distance.

The manager John Graham, heard of the accident at 11a.m and went to the colliery to find that there was already water in the shaft to a depth of seven feet.  This was about half an hour after the water first entered the mine. He ordered water to be drawn from the shaft as he though the men were on the rise side of the workings. But they found that the water continued to rise up the shaft despite these efforts, it reached 96 feet in the shaft by 4 pm.

John Dorman, the overman was down the pit at the time. On hearing the onrush of water, he ran round the pit to get the men out but before he could get to the shaft the water had risen to the roof and he made several attempts to get through and he was washed away and was not seen alive again. The Inspector, Mr. Evans commented:-

'The courageous and manly conduct of this poor man cannot be spoken of in too high terms; he preferred risking , indeed I may almost say sacrificing, his own life in attempting to save those of his unfortunate workmen, although opportunity was offered him of getting out uninjured.'

Some of the men, boys and horses who were saved had lucky escapes.  One horse reached the shaft and instinctively jumped into a tub as it reached the bottom. Another horse did the same and a boy saved himself by clinging onto its tail. A man named William Taylor saved 3 boys while they were scrambling about at the bottom of the shaft and another man was seized just as he was about to sink below the water.

 For many weeks the water remained at the same height and a stoppage was necessary to mend the boilers since due to dry weather the water from the shaft had to be used and this damaged the boilers.  It took 6 months to clear the water from the shaft and when the pit was entered, it was found that roads at the pit bottom were filled with rubbish which took a long time to clear before the bodies could be retrieved.

The first body was recovered from the mine on 23rd September and they all were recovered except for 4. They were found close to the shaft on the east side about 800 yards from the point where the water was supposed to have broken through;

See Inquest Report