The tragic tale of the Bleddfa Tunnel disaster of 1896
THE explosion was heard for miles around and the residents of Knighton had feared the worst. It was midday on July 4, 1896 and deep underground five men, employees of the Birmingham Waterworks at Bleddfa, had been seriously wounded and lay deep inside a tunnel. The men had entered the tunnel at 6am, venturing deep underground into a tunnel which had spanned three quarters of a mile. The Montgomery County Times reported: ‘About noon a loud and unexpected explosion was heard, and at the farther end five men were found on the ground. ‘Two of them are reported as very seriously inju...
Source: countytimes.co.uk