Collieries
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The name of this page is "Collieries." This is deliberate naming, because although most local people are aware that a pit existed here, several pits actually existed over the years.
Catherine Pit
Fatfield Pit
1763: 15 killed in explosion
1767, 27 March: 39 killed in explosion
Hall Pit
1808, August 31: 3 killed in explosion
1813, September 28: 32 killed in explosion
From: The Annals of Philosophy, Vol II, Thomas Thomson, 1814:
An account of the explosion of Inflammable Air which very lately occurred at in the Hall Pit at Fatfield. Drawn up for the "Annals of Philosophy."
…. On Tuesday, the 28th September, at half-past twelve p.m., the inflammable air of the hall Pit Colliery at Fatfield, distant nine miles from Sunderland, exploded, by which thirty-two pitmen were instantly killed and four wounded. The overman, Mr Joseph Noble, reports to the writer of this article “that the same morning on which this accident happened, he considered himself as safe in this colliery as he was at that moment in his own house.” At the same time it is proper to remark that three explosions of inflammable air had taken place at different periods in this colliery, by which three men were killed each time.
This explosion is supposed to have been occasioned by the falling of a stone from the roof of the mine, which carried the inflammable air with it, so as to bring it into contact with the pitmen’s candles. All the men who were in the workings were killed; and of the four young men who were at the shaft, one was killed upon the spot and three escaped with life. George Noble, son to Mr Noble, the overman, informs me that he was one of the people employed at the shaft and had the good fortune to escape, with the exception of a considerable swelling over the whole body, which continued for a few hours and then gradually subsided. This swelling was supposed by his friends to the occasioned by the carbonic acid gas of the mine. This young man also mentions that he heard three distinct reports, which suddenly followed each other; and that he was rapidly driven to the distance of four yards by the violence of the explosion; and about this time he was deprived of sensation, for the first circumstance which he remembers was his difficulty breathing and at the same time he was seized with pains in different parts of the body. He is now (Sept. 30) perfectly recovered, though still very weakly. All the unfortunate men are now got out of the colliery with the exception of an old man, David Redley, who held the appointment of deputy overman.
This coal mine was understood to be as carefully worked and as free from danger, as any mine in the kingdom; so much so that many of the pitmen, who happened to be at their own houses at the time when the explosion happened in the Hall Pit Colliery could not believe that such an accident had occurred; and all persons who knew the Hall Pit Colliery were impressed with the same favourable opinion. No blame whatever is attachable to any person concerned in this colliery, as far as I can ascertain. What person in his sober senses will believe that the present mode of management of coal mines is the best that can be devised for the prevention of such accidents? Against such melancholy facts, what arguments can interested persons bring? How dreadful must be the situation of those honest and industrious people, who know not how soon they may be “gathered to their forefathers” by a sudden and violent death! How long are such frequent catastrophes to be permitted? The Slave Trade, when at its acme, did not carry such horror to the feeling mind as these shocking explosions.
A treatise on the coal mines of Durham and Northumberland, J.H.H. Holmes, 1816
Explosion at Fatfield
Several minor explosions had occurred at different periods in the mines at Fatfield, a small village pleasantly situate on the banks of the Wear about nine miles from Sunderland by which a number of men were killed.
Nothwithstanding these repeated accidents, and although Dr Clanny’s lamp was then invented, the facility with which other workmen were found caused the old course to be pursued and the system which so fatally demonstrated its insufficiency still to go uncorrected.
Thus on 28th September, 1813, prejudice was presented with another sacrifice of human life, by the destruction of thirty-two men at this explosion; thus was England deprived of a portion of her subjects and the surrounding society again involved in distress by the calamity, by the misery and want of families and by the wretchedness which every where presented itself.
In other respects, no care or caution was wanting in the working of the mine: the old workings were well secured and the ventilation comparatively good; but a stone falling from the roof carried along with it a quantity of fire-damp which, coming in contact with the candles of the miners, immediately exploded and communicated through the whole region. What further proof can be necessary that many lives would be saved if the lights were secured from such contacts; and as the means of such security is discovered, society ought not to rest until they are adopted.
Imagination, when unassisted by scenery, cannot sufficiently impress upon the mind the effect of these occurrences. I will therefore repeat the description of this explosion as given by a lady who took an airing in the vicinity of the mine shortly after it took place.
Having proceeded within about a mile and a half of the mine, she alighted from her carriage and walked the remaining distance: in a short time the painful sense of wretchedness presented itself and on approaching nearer she beheld several houses having their doors open and filled with mourners, but just returned from following some poor sufferer to the grave. They appeared neatly clad in the sable tributaries of death and were sitting around their tables silently cherishing the anguish of their hearts. Being at a loss to find the mine, she anxiously sought some habitation which misery had not altogether occupied, in order to be directed in her way; but the work of destruction had been too extensive and if expectation for a moment gained hope from the appearance of a closed door, it was soon converted to horror, to see it open and let out other processions of death.
At length, a young woman came up and inquired whether the lady wanted any thing; on being told that she wanted to find her way to the mine, but was fearful of asking on account of their melancholy engagements, the girl pointed to the road and immediately burst into tears. Can the human mind contemplate this and see in it only a small portion of the misery these calamities have occasioned, without feeling how imperiously every individual is called upon, as a Christian and a fellow creature, to step forward and avert the danger which still impends over the miners.
Judith Pit
1825: Fatfield Judith pit, 11 killed in explosion
Leafield Pit
1814, 9 September: 4 killed in explosion
North Biddick
1772, December: 12 killed in explosion
South Biddick
1766: 16 April: 27 killed in explosion