Gresford Disaster - Legacy

Legacy

Despite being portrayed as a ruthless and cynical manager by Cripps and others, researchers now think Bonsall is more likely to have been a "weak man driven beyond his capabilities", whose public demeanour was reduced by the extreme exhaustion and stress of enduring over 20 hours of cross-examination at the inquiry. In contrast Williams, the under-manager, was singled out for praise because he was found to have made genuine attempts, unlike other bosses, to improve working conditions for the miners since taking the job at Gresford Colliery.

Cripps used the evidence obtained at the inquiry to call for nationalisation of the coal industry. This eventually occurred in 1947 when the pit, and others like it, were taken over by the National Coal Board. However as part of the takeover agreement, nearly all the operating records and correspondence relating to the private management of Gresford Colliery were deliberately destroyed.

Gresford Colliery finally closed on economic grounds in November 1973. In the 1980s the site was redeveloped as an industrial estate. In 1982 a memorial to the victims of the disaster was erected nearby; it was constructed from the wheel from the old pit-head winding gear.