Universal Colliery was a coal mine located in Senghenydd in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly . It was in the county borough of Caerphilly , traditionally in the county of Glamorgan , Wales.
8-586: Started in 1891, it became a ventilation facility for the Windsor Colliery in 1928 before complete closure in 1988. Senghenydd, and neighbouring Abertridwr , in the Aber Valley became urbanised in the 1890s, when Universal (1891) and Windsor Collieries were sunk and the Rhymney Railway 's Senghenydd extension branch opened in 1891. The colliery was developed by William Thomas Lewis . As he pressed for
16-427: A second gas explosion occurred, resulting in the loss of 439 lives. Many of the surviving miners went back to help their workmates who were either trapped or buried alive. 51°36′41″N 3°16′53″W / 51.6114°N 3.2813°W / 51.6114; -3.2813 Windsor Colliery Windsor Colliery was a coal mine in the village of Abertridwr, Caerphilly . Opened in 1895, it amalgamated with
24-723: The Nantgarw Colliery in 1974, and closed in 1986. Ty'n y Parc ( Welsh for "house on the park") housing estate now occupies the site. The sinking of two shafts of the Windsor Colliery commenced in 1895 by the Windsor Colliery Co. Ltd, to a depth of around 2,018 feet. The first coal was raised in 1902, with the workings connected underground to the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd for ventilation purposes. The mine
32-569: The National Coal Board in 1946. During 1976, it became linked underground to the Nantgarw Colliery , and both collieries were worked as one unit, with coal winding and processing via Nantgarw. The majority of the Windsor work force transferred to Nantgarw on the last shift before the miners' summer holidays in 1976, but coal was still being raised in Windsor until the Christmas holiday. Production
40-418: The colliery to access deeper and thicker seams of steam coal, in 1901 an explosion at the colliery killed 81 men. The Mines Inspectorate were highly critical of Thomas-Lewis for not improving safety. In 1911, Thomas Lewis was created 1st Baron Merthyr . The Mines Inspectorate gave him an extended deadline of September 1913 to complete the safety plan implementation, but the deadline was missed. Windsor Colliery
48-505: The death as follows - Fall of Roof on Horse Road Along Which He Was Passing With A Horse and Train. Several Settings of Timber Were Discharged By the Fall. The colliery suffered from the 1920s economic downturn, as manpower slipped from 2,550 men in 1925 (the same year as maximum output of 2,550 tons of coal) to 860 ten years later. As a result, the colliery was taken over in the early 1930s by Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company. Ownership passed to
56-501: Was closed in November 1986. Universal Colliery suffered the first of two major gas and coal dust explosions on 24 May 1901. Damage was sustained to both shafts, resulting in a restricted rescue attempt, and 81 of the 82 men working in the mine were killed. On the 14 October 1913 Senghenydd suffered the worst mining disaster and the single worst industrial accident in Britain's history, when
64-556: Was serviced by the Senghenydd branch line of the Rhymney Railway . On 1 June 1902, a platform collapsed in the mine, tipping nine men into 25 feet of water, which had gathered in the sump . Three managed to escape drowning by clinging onto floating debris, but the other six lost their lives. On the 8th April 1910 Thomas Isaac a Haulier at the mine was suffocated - Death certificate says Suffocation due to fall of rubble. The UK, Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index, 1878-1951 explains
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