You've heard of the Gresford Disaster,Of the terrible price that was paid;Two hundred and sixty-four colliers were lost,And three men of the rescue brigade. Relief funds, set up by the Mayor of Wrexham, the Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire and the Lord Mayor of London. In the Dennis where gas lay so thick The Gresford Disaster occurred on Saturday 22 September 1934, when 266 men died following an underground explosion. Of the terrible price that was paid House coal was produced from the Crank seam, the Brassey seam was virtually gas free whilst the Main seam was very gaseous. There were emotional scenes before the game as the crowd of 15,106 sang “Abide With Me” which was followed by a minute’s silence. The gas in the Dennis deep section Was packed there like snow in a drift, And You've heard of the Gresford Disaster Of the terrible price that was paid Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost And three of the rescue brigade It occurred in the month of September At three in the morning the pit Was racked by a violent explosion In the Dennis where gas lay so thick Now the gas in the Dennis deep section The coalmine was located on the edge of the Alyn Valley, between the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (later the GWR Birkenhead-Paddington line) and the old main road between Wrexham and Chester. The Ballad of The Gresford Disaster is about a mining accident that occurred in Gresford 22nd September 1934 in which 266 men and boys were killed due to failures in the safety and poor working conditions of the mine by the management. The Chester FC Supporters Committee also gave all their proceeds from the day to the fund and £150 was raised in total. On the 75th anniversary in 2009, various memorials took place, including Wrexham Football Club delaying their match by 15 minutes - as they would normally have done in the days when the mine was working. The court, however, found the mine’s management guilty of only inadequate record-keeping. Wrexham AFC’s players and staff will today fall silent before training as we mark the 86th anniversary of the Gresford Colliery disaster with a minute’s silence. By then, with it certain all men trapped were dead and with conditions regarding the presence of flammable gas too dangerous, it was decided to cap both mine shafts. The legal representatives of the pit's management, however, suggested that firedamp had accumulated in the main Dennis haulage road beyond the Clutch (a junction on the main drift where the underground haulage machinery was located) and which was ignited at the Clutch when a telephone was used to warn miners of the influx of gas.

At 2.08am on September 22, 1934, an explosion rocked the Dennis section of the mine, with more than 500 men underground that night – a number tragically much larger than usual as many had many doubled on shifts to watch Wrexham play Tranmere Rovers at the Racecourse Ground later that afternoon. The coal was renowned in the area as be… Before he had worked out his shift [5] Evidence was given that 95's and 24's district, at 2,600 feet deep, was uncomfortably hot. George Lerry, the Wrexham Leader sports reporter, under the pseudonym ‘XYZ’ reported: “It was only natural that people were unable to turn their minds to thoughts of football. Three seams were worked: the Crank, the Brassey (named after engineer Thomas Brassey), and the Main. ‘They had heard no sound whatever, neither of a voice nor of a knock’ The mine had two shafts the downcast, which was known as the Dennis and the upcast, which was called the Martin. The disaster shocked the whole country, and most of all the community of Wrexham, with 266 men lost in the tragedy. At the inquiry a pit deputy (whose job was to oversee the safety of the workings) admitted that he carried out shotfiring during his shifts in addition to his other duties. Only eleven bodies were ever recovered. Archive footage from the mine on the day of the underground explosion is seen. Now the fireman's reports they are missing Both sides employed barristers, Hartley Shawcross for the owners; while the MFGB were offered pro bono publico the services of Labour MP and barrister Sir Stafford Cripps. BBC radio news reports read by Stuart Hibberd from September 22nd 1934 - the day of the Gresford mining disaster in north east Wales, when 266 men died in one of Wales' worst pit disasters. Only eleven bodies were recovered, plus the surface worker killed a few days later. The first coal was produced from June 1911, with full production reached before the outbreak of the First World War.
Although coal mining records date back to the 15th century, it was not heavily exploited until the 18th century.

Now the Lord Mayor of London's collecting Wales They died for nine shillings a day; They have worked out their shift and now they must lie Now the gas in the Dennis deep sectionWas packed there like snow in a drift,And many a man had to leave the coal-faceBefore he had worked out his shift. Coordinates: 53°04′30″N 2°59′24″W / 53.075053°N 2.989998°W / 53.075053; -2.989998. All they … [2] Only six men survived the blast. Farewell, all our comrades as well
Wrexham AFC will also hold a minute's silence to remember the 266 victims of the Disaster ahead of the pre-season friendly match against AFC Telford United on Wednesday. They could find out what caused this particular disaster and look at how Gresford remembers the tragedy. 24 September 1934: For more than thirty hours now the reliefs of colliers have been struggling to get through to the four districts of Gresford Colliery in … [1], One of Britain's worst coal mining disasters occurred at the colliery. There is also a painting in All Saint's church, Gresford, depicting scenes from the disaster and rescue. With families of the miners flocking to the pithead, desperate for news of their loved ones, it was said the reports – knowing already all was lost – carried on for the sake of friends trapped further into the mine. Districts of the mine were gradually reopened, although the Dennis district, where the explosion occurred remained sealed.

To help out the children and wives; "The Gresford Colliery Disaster - The Real Price of Coal", "Gresford Colliery Disaster Relief Fund MSS", The Gresford Colliery Disaster - The Real Price of Coal, Gresford colliery at WelshCoalMines.co.uk, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gresford_Colliery&oldid=932999909, Former buildings and structures in Wrexham County Borough, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 December 2019, at 11:53. Gresford was officially closed on 10 November 1973 due to a combination of exhaustion of existing coal reserves and geological problems.

“The news of the disaster had become known on the morning of the match and at one time it was thought that the game would be postponed. [8] This interpretation sought to deny that poor working practices were the ultimate cause of the disaster. [1] The site was on the edge of the Alyn Valley, between the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (later the Great Western Railway's Birkenhead to London Paddington line), and the old main road between Wrexham and Chester. Now the Lord Mayor of London's collectingTo help out the children and wives;The owners have sent some white liliesTo pay for the poor colliers' lives. [2] The mine owners docked the men half a day's pay, as they had not completed a full day's shift. “Both teams wore black arm bands and before the start, players, officials and directors lined in the centre of the field, whilst the crowd stood bareheaded and two minutes’ silence was observed. The government passed the Coal Mines Act 1911 requiring every new colliery to have[1] two intake airways into the mine, to allow air to circulate in the workings and only one air intake be allowed for the movement of coal. They devolved power to a local administration committee, who paid monies via an honorary actuary. [3] These districts were worked by the longwall system but the 20's and 61's, which were furthest from the shaft, were worked by hand when the remaining districts were mechanised. [9], The mine remained sealed off for six months after the explosion. Now a fortnight before the explosion You've heard of the Gresford disaster, The terrible price that was paid, Two hundred and forty-two colliers were lost And three men of a rescue brigade. Two hundred and sixty-four colliers were lost Five local collieries - Westminster, Wrexham & Acton, Vauxhall and Gatewen - shut in quick succession during the 1920s and 1930s. To pay for the poor colliers' lives videos. Subsequent to the accident a number of theories were advanced in the Report as to the explosion's exact cause: Sir Stafford Cripps, the miners' legal representative, suggested that an explosion had been triggered in 95's by shotfiring (the firing of explosive charges) near a main airway. “An ironic fact was that the music to have been provided at the game should have been played by the Gresford Colliery Silver Prize band. [1], The national and local newspapers focused on stories of heroism and bereavement, with speculation about who was at fault, or what caused the disaster left alone. It was dedicated on 26 November 1982, in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the surviving relatives of those miners killed in the disaster. They'll be doomed like the sinners in hell.

The subsequent fire was reported to have caused ‘almost intolerable heat’, which rescuers tackled ‘with unexampled courage’. The records of forty-two days; All BBC radio news reports read by Stuart Hibberd from September 22nd 1934 - the day of the Gresford mining disaster in north east Wales, when 266 men died in one of Wales' worst pit disasters.

In the event, a collection was held at Chester and the home directors arranged for some of the collectors to be miners from the colliery who had taken part in the rescue efforts, and they even transported them to the ground by car. Farewell, all our dear wives and our childrenFarewell, all our comrades as well,Don't send your sons down the dark dreary mineThey'll be doomed like the sinners in hell. Read about our approach to external linking. To read a roll call of all those who perished, please click this link. Retro digging a new shaft made little commercial sense, and not much profit had ever came out of the pit, so the Dennis didn't undertake the work.

John Edward Samuels was awarded the Edward Medal - a gallantry award later replaced by the George Cross - … The collier manager had them destroyed The Dennis section was divided into six districts: the 20s, 61's, 109's, 14's and 29's districts, along with a very deep district known as "95's and 24's". It raised more than £500,00 for the dependents of the victims. To this day, Wrexham Library has the memorial book on display with a list of the poor souls still buried underground. Was racked by a violent explosion This meant there were more miners down the pit than there ordinarily would have been.[1]. The Gresford Disaster occurred on Saturday 22 September 1934, when 266 men died following an underground explosion. Over 200 rescue workers were sent down in an effort to rescue the miners.

The Gresford Colliery sat just north of Wrexham, the original shaft being sunk in 1908. Nine years after the closure of the pit, in 1982 the head gear wheel was preserved as part of the Gresford Disaster Memorial. At 2.08am on Saturday 22 September 1934 a devastating underground explosion occurred in the Gresford Colliery in North Wales, UK. Industrialist Henry Dennis of Ruabon, and his son Henry Dyke Dennis, began the colliery near Gresford in 1907. [1], The disaster left 591 widows, children, parents and other dependants.