TRIBUTES have been paid to the hundreds of people who lost their lives in what has become known as the 'worst disaster in British mining' history. 

The Senghenydd colliery disaster of October 1913 saw 439 miners  killed after an explosion tore through the Universal Colliery.

A spark from an electric bell had ignited a deadly mix of methane gas and coal dust, known to miners as “firedamp”.

The blast on October 14, 1913, killed 439 men and boys, with another dying during rescue operations. It was, and remains, the worst coal mining disaster in British history and also the sixth worst in the world.

Everyone in Senghenydd lost family or friends in the 1913 disaster. It left 542 children fatherless and made widows of more than 200 women.

Ninety boys and young men aged 20 or less were killed, with the youngest victims being just 14 years old. One chapel in the village reportedly lost 60% of its male members.

Although Senghenydd bore the brunt of the tragedy, its deadly effects were also felt further afield.

A sizeable minority of the miners who were killed lived in the neighbouring village of Abertridwr and other nearby villages, while ten lived as comparatively far away as Cardiff.

Numerous key figures throughout Gwent have been paying tribute to those who were lost in the disaster. 

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent Eleri Thomas posted on X on Monday: "Today I was proud to lay a wreath and commemorate those men and boys from Senghenydd and all those who lost their lives in mining incidents across Wales at the National Mining Disaster Memorial.

"Thank you for the powerful contributions by the children and young people."

 Tributes were also paid from across the Welsh political divide, with the Welsh Government, Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru all posting on Monday to mark the anniversary. 

 Earlier this year in March, a memorial garden in Senghenydd, which commemorates those who died in the worst disaster in the history of British mining, was given the “recognition it deserves” and formally acknowledged by the Welsh Government as the National Mining Disaster Memorial Garden of Wales.

The village’s garden of remembrance was officially opened on the 100th anniversary of the 1913 disaster.