"A permanent home is being sought to preserve a giant wheel which helped raise coal and lower men at the former Gresford Colliery."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7106220.stm  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7106220.stm 


[tweak]Thread title changed when BBC story added[/tweak]

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Why has it not been made into a colliery memorial - just like alot of them have been.

Hope they aren't ashamed of their mining heritage!!!

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Yes, it should be re-erected as a memorial to the men who died in 1934.

(Or failing that - DylanW's back garden) :lol:

There's a report on the beeb about the Gresford disaster today:

Historic documents about the 1934 Gresford Colliery disaster have come to light in the vaults of a north Wales law firm.

In all 266 men died when an explosion rocked the mine near Wrexham, a tragedy that sparked a controversial inquiry.

Seventy years on, solicitor Glen Murphy discovered an old file in the vaults of Cyril Jones and Co in the town.

The documents include the official report on the disaster to Parliament which was published in 1937.

Mr Murphy's find included a copy of Sir Henry Walker's controversial report into the disaster on 22 September, 1934 and detailed plans of the mine.

There was also a copy of the song, The Gresford Disaster, and an order of service for the third annual memorial service at Parciau, Wrexham.

"It was a tragedy on a scale almost unbelievable to those involved and one that changed the course of industrial practice in this country," Mr Murphy said.

The firm's founder, Cyril Jones, represented the families of many of the miners killed and instructed Sir Stafford Cripps, barrister and radical left Labour MP, who offered his services free to the Miners' Union.

The owners employed Hartley Shawcross, later Chief British Prosecutor at the Nuremburg Trials.

The subsequent inquiry and court case only found the mine's management guilty of inadequate record-keeping.

The likely cause was an explosion caused by a build-up of gas, chiefly methane, which was ignited, possibly simply by a spark from a metal tool in the 2,263 ft deep Dennis Shaft.

The disaster struck at a time of great depression, and many of the Gresford miners worked double shifts simply to make ends meet.

The memory of the disaster is still fresh in the mind of one man, believed to be the last survivor of the workforce.

Albert Rowlands, 87, who lives in Borras, had not long left school when his collier father got him a job in the lamp room at the colliery.

His job was to hand out the lamps to the miners as they went on shift and to issue them with a tally when they returned them. Next shift they would exchange the tally for the usual lamp.

"Us boys in the lamp room had to be there as soon as the men started arriving for work," Mr Rowlands said.

"We were cycling to work with my dad and he told us to get on or we'd be late so we went on ahead.


Crowds gathered to hear news of loved ones after the blast
"He picked up his lamp at the other window so I never saw him again. Two others of his friends were with us and they were lost as well. They're all still down there."

The bodies of the dead have never been recovered, and the catastrophe remains one of the coal industry's worst disasters.

"They only found ten and they came up covered in blankets. I saw them. But by Sunday they had given up," Mr Rowlands added.

"I was always hoping to see my dad. But he never came back and his tally was left there hanging on its hook."

Coal mines at that time were thought to be 10 times more dangerous than modern pits, and miners had a one in seven chance of injury.

"Gresford always had a bad reputation even before the disaster," Mr Rowlands said.

"I think the men were expecting something to happen there. It wasn't very nice."

In April 1937, at Wrexham Petty Sessions, 42 charges were made against the colliery company, the manager and officials. In the end most were withdrawn or dismissed.

Parliament debated a motion calling for improvements to working conditions in the mines and Sir Stafford Cripps called for the nationalisation of the industry which came about 10 years later.

Mr Rowlands has not been down a pit since, but he still remembers Cyril Jones and Co represented the miners at the inquiry and that afterwards his mother received a shilling (5p) a week for him until he was 15 and 2/6d (12.5p) a week for his sister.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7121145.stm 

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This is been a bit of a on going story with these wheels. The wheels have been sitting in a pub carpark for many years and before that the entire head frame was sat in a council yard. By some luk the wheels were bought and moved to the pub as a large peace of mining memorabilia. When the pub came up for redeveloment the wheels were offerd to the wrexham museum. Here the story gets a little grey. As they said yes but never collected them.
By a weard bit of luck after a month past the dead line for pick up, I was offerd the wheels. Being something well out my means to save I told them to go hammer back on wrexhams museum door and see what they were playing at. The builders didnt even want to weigh them in for god sake. So I guess they got there arss in gear after all.
The wheels are from the dreaded dennis shaft, and have to be one of the most famous wheels in the land. I really hope they go to a good home and survive to help remember what happend. On another note, a few months ago i'm told some documents in the vaults of the solicters that served the families of the men that died had found the only surviving copy of the report into the disaster. and detail plans of the mine.

I remember seeing a play/drama about the disaster a few years ago in a local hall, it was called "fault line". A very powerfull and emotional play it was too!

Aparantly there was two mates working on different shiffts, and one wanted to swap shift with the other in order to see an important football game at wrecsam, so they desided to toss a coin to decide if they would swap shiffts so to speak.
aparantly he won the toss and went to see the game, and his m8 was killed at the disaster... which happend on the afternoon of the game... the game if i recall was posponed/abandoned in respect of those in the disaster. True story so they said

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A photo of the wheels before being romoved

Came across this thread looking for something else. (story of my life!)
As an update these wheels have been stored safely and may now be re-errected as a monument in Wrexham.

if the mine shut in 1973,then why work down the pit with 256 dead men. twats, how can this be.god save us all. mine owners.....

whaaat???

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if the mine shut in 1973,then why work down the pit with 256 dead men. twats, how can this be.god save us all. mine owners.....

30 years of work for local Miners,and several Million tons of coal

NCB.

Listen, the point im tryin to make is its a disgrace not to retreive the bodies of miners for their loved ones, yes the mining had to continue for peoples livley hoods, im not disputing that, never i wouldn't, but you would think if the mining continued those bodies would have been recovered, those men worked very very hard, the owners should have made sure they at least got a burial.

Following the explosion in 1934 the pit was seald off. In 1935 it was reopend. During the recovery opperations the rescue teams where not allowed to go down into the Dennis district to recover the men. There is a full account on the North Wales Miners Association Trust web site, not very nice reading.

members of my family were in gresford at the time working ,and from what i was told the men,bodies were cremated .so the whole mine was best sealed .its a discrace that the land on top was built on .the memorial should be on the top of the dennis shaft not anywhere else 😠

Listen you say,?
If think it would have been a bigger disgrace,to put more rescue mens lives at risk in a Colliery that was on fire ,don`t you think,
3 Rescue men died,how many would it take,not to be a disgrace.?

There are more Colliers bodies still underground than you realise.

OK ty, point taken no ofence ment .

No problem my friend.

The fire damage was so bad in the district where the men were trapped that when the mine was re-opened the there was no access possible. The roadways were destroyed and because of the intensity of the fire there was little probability of recovering bodies.
The decision to leave the area sealed was not just taken lightly by the mine owners. Union officials, Mines rescue personell and HM Mines inspectors were involved in the consultations.

Gressford did later tunnell under the district to reach outlying reserves. The roof of the roadway did break into burnt areas but the men were withdrawn and the roadway deepened. There was no attempt to enter the district for safety reasons. [i](personal comment from Gressford ventilation officer)[i]

Read the report on the North Wales Miners Association web site for what realy went on following the disaster.
I heard many different tails in the past but what is in that report is a real supprise, nothing like the tails that some think are true.

I was browsing the web when I came across your site. I was attracted to the reference to a recent discovery of the 1937 report into the 1934 Gresford Coal Mine explosion. I have an original of the same publication. It gives a full account of events leading up to the disaster and the conclusions of the causes. The enquiry was led by Sir Henry Walker H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines and Sir Stafford Cripps represented the North Wales Miners Association. It includes underground plans of the mine showing the Dennis section (29's district) were the explosion occurred and a list of those who lost their lives. Except for a few men working near the pit bottom and 6 escaping from the 29's district, 264 men and boys, many closely related, perished. Apart from a few recovered when the mine was reopened the bodies remain in the mine. An uncle of mine was one of them and he told my father prior to the disaster that the pit was a time bomb waiting to explode because of gas. The explosion happened at 2am on Saturday morning and apparently a lot of extra men worked that night instead of the next day, to go to a football derby at Wrexham. My Aunt told me that it was common practice for the men on nights to get paid their weeks wages on Friday night and take their wages down the pit with them, which is what my uncle did. My father was a member of one of the many rescue teams which attended, although any rescue was impossible. After three rescuers lost their lives, with more explosions and high levels of carbon monoxide, the mine was sealed One person was later killed on the surface by debris when an explosion blew off the seal. The report recounts an appalling picture of neglect, failures in safety, and deliberate attempts to cover up the truth, by the owners and senior officials. The mine was eventually opened, although the district where the main explosion occurred and the bodies were remained untouched. I am 75 and worked down Gresford for a short time and my father-in-law was the underground manager at the colliery in the 1960's. He told me that obviously they were never allowed to work in that area again. Someone gave him this report which later passed to me. I am curious whether it has any value to collectors of mining memorabilia. It is complete, in fair condition, quite legible and must be very rare. Regards mickyD