This is just opposite Taffs Well and no doubt some of its workers came from the village. Below is an extract from the BBC News website.
A
memorial to 16 men and boys who died in Cardiff's only mining disaster has been
unveiled after a campaign for them to be remembered. Norma Procter
became inspired by the story of workers at Llan Colliery in Gwaelod-y-Garth who
were killed in an explosion on 6 December 1875. She lives
in the house of one of the victims and researched the disaster's effects on the
men's families.
Around
300 men and boys worked at the Llan drift mine, which supplied coal to the
neighbouring Pentyrch iron works and brick works on the outskirts of Cardiff. On a
snowy December morning 137 years ago, half of them were on shift when an
explosion ripped through a coal seam 500ft (152m) down.
Villagers
from surrounding areas congregated at the surface as word spread, along with
two doctors from nearby Taffs Well.
The dead
and injured were carried out of the mine on planks and taken to local houses
where their wives and mothers tended to them.
Twelve
men and boys died that day, including one aged 12 and an 11-year-old who had
been playing hide and seek underground. Another
four died afterwards from the effects of the explosion.
The
72-year-old learnt that one of the victims of Llan once lived in her house with
his wife and six children.
"His
name was Abraham Phillips and my grandson did research and discovered he was
the overman [who inspected the state of the mine every morning] and he was
killed at the colliery on 6 December," she said.
"By 1
January his wife and family had left the house - that's how hard life was in
Victorian times.
What an interesting story and so very sad. Mining was such a hard life, so many tragedies and deaths. In fact, I'm reading John Grisham's newest novel, "Grey Mountain" and it takes place in West Virginia in the coal mines where the big companies strip mine the mountains and ruin the land and the water. I'm only on chapter 5, but already it sounds like your story in a modern form.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a heartbreaking story.
How sad. And mine accidents still happen. I guess the only thing that's changed is life insurance so at least the family's not out on the street.
ReplyDeleteSo many mine accidents even in our day and age still goes on, so sad to of read this post here at what had happen back in them times.
ReplyDelete