Vandals target memorial to Llanerch Colliery mining disaster

Boys as young as 12 are known to have died in the explosion at Llanerch Colliery outside Abersychan on February 6, 1890.

The Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund raised around £16,000 from 2015, and the oak carvings depicting miners at the pit, and a statue of a miner and a young boy, were unveiled in October 2020.

The memorial to those who died in the explosion at Llanerch Colliery outside Abersychan. Picture: The Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund. (Image: The Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund.)

A plinth with the names of those killed - plus the names of the five who died at the nearby Glyn Pits explosion 10 days earlier - in front of the former shaft at the pit, was installed in September 2019.

However, vandals have now targeted the oak sculpture, with fundraisers finding a number of “pellets” embedded in the wooden figures.

Carol Watkins, secretary of the Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund, said she found the damage while visiting the memorial ahead of an autumn tidy-up of the site.

“I have identified six pellets embedded in the main sculpture,” she said.

“The ear of the miner appears to have been knocked off.

“The lamp carried by the miner has been previously repaired five times, and has been broken once more.

“People catch hold of the rods in the lamp - they are only as thin as pencils.

The damage to a sculpture in memorial to those who died in the explosion at Llanerch Colliery outside Abersychan. Pictures: The Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund. (Image: The Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund.)

“On previous damage to the lamp, judging by muddy marks on the back of the miner, the damage has been caused by someone climbing onto the miners back.

“I was upset and angry. But then you think that it was only a matter of time before some idiot did something like this.

“I have contacted Chris Wood, the sculptor, to come and do repairs and maintenance in October, but we only have a little money left to cover such things.

“We also have to maintain the surrounding area and we are trying to develop a wild flower area to benefit the wildlife.

“We have donated copies of our book about the disaster to most local schools to help them teach pupils about the disaster and how difficult life was then, to hopefully avoid this type of vandalism.

“It's a way of keeping it in people's consciousness so it doesn't get forgotten as it was before.”

You can find out more about the Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund or their book - which is available for £5 - by searching 'Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund' on Facebook.