roof of the coal". Mostyn Coal and Iron Company When an ironworks was opened to produce iron using coal from the colliery in 1802, the company was renamed the 'Mostyn Coal and Iron Company'. It was prosperous from the start. In 1806, two explosions occurred causing the deaths of 36 men. In April 1807 a fire resulted in 26 deaths. Several families lost more than one member in the tragedy. Another explosion on 10 March 1809 caused the deaths of 22 men. The 1807 and 1809 explosions killed 50 men, created 26 widows, and left 66 children fatherless. The average price of coal was documented by Mr Robert Anderson, in his 1839 pamphlet The Present State of the Coal Trade. He gave the average price per ton of Mostyn's 'Best Coals' as 8s 6d, with 'Second Coals' at a shilling less, showing Mostyn coal to be amongst the cheapest available in Britain. By the 1840s, the approach to the quayside by boat had been improved and was able to take vessels of 300 tons that moved between 50,000 and 60,000 tons of coal each year. Work started in 1843 on an embankment known locally as the 'cob' that had the dual purpose of reclaiming land from the River Dee, and providing a flood defence. The project known as the Bychan Embankment was funded by the colliery owner Lord Mostyn, and J. P. Eyton. The embankment was long—around . The cost was around £4,500 and about 70 acres of land were reclaimed. What was, at the time, believed to be one of the largest steam engine cylinders in the world was manufactured for John Lancaster in November 1848 by Haigh Foundry, in Lancashire, for installation in a direct action pumping engine at Mostyn Colliery. It was long, eight feet four inches in diameter, and weighed 22 tons. It was said to have used 30 tons of molten metal in its manufacture, and a sizable crowd of interested observers went to view the casting. Mostyn is also notable in that in 1852, it became one of the first collieries to fit an experimental 'air pump'. Railway With the opening of the Chester and Holyhead Railway in 1847, it was only a matter of time before the coal and iron companies took advantage, with the railway passing literally within feet of the site. In 1855, sidings were constructed with access to both the