The Dean Lane Pit disaster of 1886 and its repercussions

In September 1886, an explosion deep underground at the Dean Lane Colliery led to the deaths of 10 miners and life changing injuries to many others. Tony Dyer will explain the mistakes that led up to the disaster, how and why the explosion happened, the repercussions both for the miners and the local mining industry, and how it impacted safety regulations in the Bedminster mines immediately following the explosion. A descendent of Bedminster coalminers himself, Tony will look at how the miners were forced into playing a game of change with their lives in order to earn enough to make a living for them and their families, and how almost all trace of the mining industry in South Bristol, from Brislington to Bedminster and on to Ashton Vale has disappeared.