Senghenydd
1897 - 1928

The history of Senghenydd is the saddest of any colliery in the British Isles.

It was 1897 when production began at Senghenydd. The mine was to close just over thirty years later with the dubious honour of being the site of the largest mining disaster in the history of the British coalfields.

Tragedy at Senghenydd struck just eight years after the mine began production.
In 1901 a disaster caused the deaths of 81 men and boys.

Unbelievably, worse was to come.

Twelve years later, on the morning of 14th October 1913 an explosion ripped through the heart of the mine.
436 miners were killed in the blast. Of the 436 who died, only 72 bodies were recovered.
No mining community has ever suffered such a loss. On that day 205 women were made widows and 542 children were left fatherless.

Senghenydd closed in 1928.

The Universal Memorial remembering the miners who died at Senghenydd can be found at:
http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/abertour/snegstuff/seng17.html