The Park Slip colliery was opened for extraction of house coal in 1864, near the villages of Aberkenffig and Tondu in the vicinity of Bridgend. It is quite possible that Mr. Lewis Morgan was there on that very first day when the pit was opened, and was among the first to descend into the darkness that others might light their homes. By contrast, the parents of Mstr. Thomas Bowen themselves might not have been born when the colliery opened, and yet to help support the family, Thomas went with his father and brother, alongside Mr. Morgan, to Park Slip. All that would change on 26 August, 1892.

Despite not being considered a gaseous coal seam, the Park Slip colliery still provided its miners with locked safety lamps. A faulty lamp is though to have let a single lick of flame escape into the coal-dust filled air of the mine. That single spark was all it took. At 8:20am a colossal explosion ripped through the mine, sending a pillar of flame and smoke out of the mine entrance. In an instant, tunnels and rooves underground collapsed, constricting airflow and trapping dozens. Rescuers were quick on the scene, finding two badly-shaken men just inside the mine entrance, but that was as far as they could venture. Ventilation to the mine wasn’t restored until 6:00am the following morning, at which time the real rescue could begin. By 4:00pm, 42 miners had been brought out alive, 8 of them later succumbing to their wounds. 104 men and boys never made it out. Lewis Morgan was 68 years old on that day. Thomas Bowen was 13.

This memorial was unveiled in 1992, on the 100th anniversary of the Park Slip disaster. Each of the 112 stones on the mound you see was placed there to represent each of the brave souls who lay at rest in the mine to this day. Today, as evidenced by my Daicycle and rucksack, it provides a humble rest stop for those travelling along National Cycle Route 4 for cyclists and walkers to sit and contemplate the events of that tragic day.