The Senghenydd Explosion

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Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons is a historical novel written by Sharon Kay Penman published in 1985. The novel is the first in a trilogy known as the Welsh Princes series set in medieval England, Wales and France that feature the Plantagenet kings. Penman is known for providing accurate descriptions of historical events and creating strong characterisations. more »

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On the fourteenth day of October
In the year 1913
At the Lancaster pit Senghenydd
Hundreds worked the black seam
Harry Wedlock was starting his first day at work
A young lad just fourteen years old
He heard a sound from under the ground
And the blood in his body ran cold

A mighty explosion deep in the mine
Spat the pit-cage out into the air
Young Harry started to cry
Confused, frightened and scared
One of the miners stopped him from crying
Told him to be brave and be strong
He said be tonight it'll all be alright
He couldn't have been more wrong

 Say four hundred and thirty nine prayers for the dead
 Or there won't be enough to go round
 For fathers and brothers and husbands and sons
 Claimed by the cold dark ground

A terrible fire swept through the mine
Spreading fear and panic and death
If fire underground doesn't burn you
It may still steal your last breath
The desperate one the families and friends
Prayed their husbands and sons and dads weren't among
The four hundred and thirty nine dead

 Say four hundred and thirty nine prayers for the dead
 Or there won't be enough to go round
 For fathers and brothers and husbands and sons
 Claimed by the cold dark ground

Forty five died from Commercial Street
From High Street thirty five
Mrs Benjamin Priest lost her husband
She's had two sons, neither survived
Mrs Twinings' three were among the young men
Killed that day at the black seam
Sixty all told less than twenty years old
Eight of them only fourteen

 Say four hundred and thirty nine prayers for the dead
 Or there won't be enough to go round
 For fathers and brothers and husbands and sons
 Claimed by the cold dark ground

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