Published September 2020
£10
Morfa Colliery, Port Talbot, was operational between 1849 and 1913 and at its peak was one of the largest collieries in South Wales with around 800 miners working six to seven hundred tons of coal a day. These years were punctuated by cruel multiple losses of life in the explosions of 1858, 1863, 1870 and 1890, as well as individual deaths on a day to day basis. Whilst it is true that no single disaster occurred to compare to the heart and soul-breaking tragedy at Senghenydd in 1913 that killed 439 miners and one rescuer, Morfa’s record is still a shocking one. The repeated misery, grief and hardship, experienced by the people in the local community of Taibach over the decades is probably unparalleled in the history of any mining community. (See foot of page for list of chapters.)
This wonderful book is a tribute to the courage and compassion of those who toiled for a better life, and who built the foundations upon which our community and country now stand.
Stephen Kinnock
Member of Parliament for Aberavon
Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific
TO BUY DIRECT at £12.50 inc p&p within the UK
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Remembering Morfa: Coal, Catastrophe & Courage by Allen Blethyn & Lynne Rees
Published by Mynydd & Môr, Offham, Kent ME19 5PH (2020)
pp.168, ISBN 978-1-5272-6752-7