Service for two mining tragedies

The 1913 disaster was the worst in the UK in the 20th Century

Two mining disasters at the same pit, which between them claimed the lives of more than 500 men and boys, are being remembered at a service.

The accidents at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, Caerphilly county, in 1901 and 1913 made international news.

The second explosion was the UK's worst pit disaster of the 20th Century, when 439 miners lost their lives when they were trapped in three mines.

The service is being held at the memorial site in Senghenydd.

It was said the explosion at the 1913 disaster on 14 October was heard 11 miles away in Cardiff. It ripped through the underground tunnels just after 8am, two hours into the morning shift.

The funerals were held until the middle of November.

In 2006, newsreel film of the 1913 Senghenydd tragedy was donated to the National Screen and Sound Archive in Aberystwyth.

It contains images of people milling around the Senghenndd pithead in the wake of the disaster.

Carnage

The film's opening title reads "A terrible calamity in Wales: scenes of the burning pit". A pall of smoke over the mine can be seen.

Rare archives of the 1913 disaster will be shown at Senghenydd Community Centre's newly refurbished Heritage Room.

Following the service, a book launch is also being held at the community centre for the re-publication of Valley of the Shadow by John H Brown.

This book tells the story of Senghenydd from the discovery of coal, the carnage of both disasters at the Universal Colliery and how the valley faced what followed.