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1.On 27th March 1912 the sparks from an electric bell caused an explosion underground which killed 3 miners and seriously injured 9 others.

2.In 1936, 45 Bedwas miners went on a stay-in strike underground, where they remained for 54 hours in sympathy with colleagues at Nine Mile Point Colliery in the Sirhowy Valley, who were undertaking a similar protest over 'scab' labour. Note that in one of the photographs above, a locker has been defaced with the word 'scab' - an accusation of non-solidarity which could lead to the social disgrace of whole families.

3.Between the census years of 1911 and 1921 the local population increased by an estimated 2,297 as a result of the sinking of the Colliery, most of whom lived in the purpose-built village of Trethomas.

4.Private Robert Phillips, a Bedwas miner of Ystrad Mynach, , received a hero's welcome on Christmas Day 1916 having escaped captivity as a German POW. He returned to mine at Bedwas but was fatally injured in a fall of stone at the pit in 1934.

5.The headgear was painted black until The Queen's Silver Jubillee in 1977 . Her visit to nearby Caerphilly Castle prompted a rare outing for NCB blue paint.

6.In a riot in Bedwas on 17th March 1933, two women were arrested for shouting 'blacklegs' at non-union (scab) labour.

7.Following closure in 1985 the winding engines were sold to a gold mine in the South African Republic.

8.My Grandfather, John Edmund 'Jack' Harris of White Hart, Machen worked at Bedwas Colliery. At the end of the second week he complained that his pay packet had been below the minimum wage for both weeks. After being told to wait, the Wages Manager came back and said 'There's your minimum wage - and here are your cards'.