LANDSHIPPING. Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. 14th. February, 1844.

The colliery was the property of Colonel Owen. The colliery had been worked for many years and the workings were carried under the River Dunleddy but for some time this area had not been worked for three years. When these workings were reopened the water broke in when about fifty men and boys were at work. there was a violent rush of water into the workings and they ran for their lives but about and forty lives were lost.

Immediately after the accident, it was found that the ground underneath the mud on the river bed, a little above low water mark and directly above the level, had given way and eyewitness stated that the water rushed down into the workings with great force. A contemporary writer observed:

It is possible, that, on the minds of many who read the account, an impression may be left, that as the calamity was occasioned by the sudden bursting of a mass of water, which, rushing at once through all the levels, penetrated directly to the exterior shaft. It may be supposed that a permanent communication would thus be opened between the pit and the river, in which case the probability of the bodies of the unfortunate men being sooner or later found, might be reasonably inferred. But this must go on the supposition that the level of the water now in the pit is the same as that of the river in all circumstances, in which case the aperture, through which the water rushed, must lie considerably lower than any part of the river’s bed left dry by the ebbing of the waters. The case, however, is known to be very different. At the time the alarm was given, the attention of some bystanders was directed to the appearance of the river at such short a distance from the quay as could easily be known with general accuracy. In this place the waters were seen eddying and rolling in the most violent agitation, a certain proof that the part where the ground has given way, lay directly underneath. This spot, with a considerable space outside it, was left bare by the retiring river but not the most distant sign was exhibited form any such occurrence having taken place! The only conclusion is that an immense body of mud, earth and stones was forced into the opening, completely choking up the passage through which the flood had previously entered and which, it is supposed, may n time become reconsolidated as event to allow of the working of the pits, if the water now lying between it and the shaft were drained, but of this being done, no one entertains a thought. It is, therefore, almost certain that the unhappy sufferers, so suddenly overtaken by this overwhelming destruction, will be no more seen until till the earth and sea shall yield up their dead.

Some men have descended the shaft and employed grapnels for a considerable time, but with no effect. There is something peculiarly touching in the perfect absence of every outward sign which indicate the calamitous event. With the exception of the machinery remaining idle and the appearance of the sullen water far down the pit, everything is the same in its external character, nothing whatever to tell the passenger that within a few yards of him forty individuals have found a grave.

Those who died were:

  • Thomas Gay who left a wife and six children.
  • Benjamin Hart, left a wife and three children.
  • Benjamin Harts’ son.
  • William Llewellyn who left a wife and child.
  • William Llewellyn’s son.
  • Thomas Llewellyn who had a sister dependent on him.
  • William Llewellyn who left a wife and grown-up children.
  • Benjamin Jones left a wife.
  • Joseph Picton and three sons and left a wife and three children.
  • John Cole left a mother and sisters who were dependent on him.
  • Hitchings, unmarried.
  • Bedford, unmarried.
  • Thomas, a boy.
  • Owens, a boy.
  • Two boys named Daves.
  • Two boys named John.
  • Two boys named Picton.
  • Cole, a boy.
  • A boy named Hughes.
  • A boy named Hitchings.
  • A boy, Llewellyn.
  • Jones, a boy.
  • Davies, a boy.
  • Day, a boy.
  • Two boys named Butler.
  • Two boys named Cole.
  • Jenkins, a boy
  • Two orphans of the late Jane Wilkins.

An account of the accident was related to Mr. Dunn and he was told that only four feet of rock and sixty feet of sand were between the workings and the bottom of the river. A subscription fund was set up for the dependants of the victims and £400 was raised in a very short time.

 

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway. Vol.2, p.144.
Mining Journal, Vol. xiv, p.67, 75, 83, 159.
Dunns Coal Trade, p.102.
1849 Report, p.495.
Great Pit Disasters Great Britain. 1700 to the present day. Helen and Baron Duckham.
The Cambrian.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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