A River Never Sleeps / A Local History of Martletwqy, Minwear, Newton and
Coedcanlas by Robert Ll Davies and Jane Nelson 1999 166 pp, illus. SB
Published by SPARC, no address given. Ł8.00
I searched high and low for this book, since I saw it reviewed in the
Western Mail four years ago. I finally located a copy in the Museum at
Narbeth. Members of the Mining History List will find pp 49-55 of interest.
Entitled “A Mining Community”, this provides a good account of the
flooding of Garden Pit in 1844 when there was a loss of thirty-nine lives.
It appears that the coal miners tunnelled to close to the Eastern Cleddau
River and at 3.30 pm at the height of the Spring Tide, the river broke into
the mine. The inundation was so sudden that only 4 men and 14 boys
survived.
A quick perusal of the rest of the book provides a glimpse of who lived in
which house. Numerous families had collieries in their households, eg
William Richards is described as an “Engine Driver” and his daughter Mary as
a “Colliery Bankwoman”.
An interesting vignette of mining in West Wales a century and a half ago.
TO
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