Photograph courtesy of National Museum of Wales
This photograph shows the cage (Bond) coming to rest at the pit head (Coming to Bank) after leaving pit bottom. The cage contained the men at the end of their shift, but coal would also have been raised in this same cage. Note the drinking vessel in the man's hand on the left, this was a 'Jack', a drinking water container made from tin plate with a cork. These could be obtained from a tin smith who made many utensils, among them the tin box called a snap box, for keeping the food for underground workers safe from mice and beetles.
Twenty years before this photograph was taken In February of 1890, a terrible disaster happened here at the Llanerch Colliery just a few miles from the Glyn Pits. It started in the Meadow Vein seam at a place called 'Cooks slope'. Oblivious to a build up of gas, the miners descended the shaft to their work places. Shortly after the day shift began, a massive explosion occurred ripping through the mine killing 176 men and boys, making it one of the worst disasters in South Wales. This disaster could have been averted if safety lamps had been in use. In a letter dated 5th December, 1889, Mr. Edward Jones, Managing Director, stated: 'At present, we think the colliery is well ventilated and safe to work with naked lights'. This was said two months before the explosion occurred. The explosion left one row of ten cottages with eleven fatalities, while another, longer row had eighteen dead. Both of these rows of houses were in the village of Abersychan, near Pontypool, in Gwent.
This sort of disaster was happening right across the British coal fields, because it was not known at the time what was causing these terrible explosions to travel so fast, killing everyone in its path. The cause was due to an initial explosion of gas, the blast from this would lift any fine coal dust into the air. This dust was very fine, and once in the air each particle exposed a large surface area to the oxygen of the air. Once ignited, one particle set off another causing more blast, and the consequent lifting of more coal dust into the air, setting off what was, in effect, a chain reaction, ripping right through the district of the mine. When this phenomenon was finally realised, stone dust was dusted around the work areas and roadways, this had the effect of breaking the chain reaction, reducing the chances of any potential massive explosions caused by coal dust.
