ASTLEY DEEP. Dunkirk Pit. Dukinfield, Cheshire. 4th. March, 1870.

The colliery, the Astley Deep Pit, was owned by the Dunkirk Company of which Mr. Benjamin Ashton was the proprietor and Mr. Swann the manager. Mr. Thomas Wynne, the Inspector had been warning Mr. Ashton for two years, that if he did not appoint a competent manager of the colliery, and accident would happen. Nine people were killed in the explosion and the Inspector commented, “The accident was caused by the old fault, bad management, or rather, no management at all.”

The workings were reached by a brow at 1,500 yards which was driven about 50 yards down. There was an opening 1,200 yards down and sheets were places across the intake air. There were two levels from it and the air had to pass through these. It then passed behind a brick wall into the 1,600 level. There were sheets that came to the rails on the main level but the air blew the bottom of the sheets and there was a 10-inch space at the bottom through which the air could pass. The air then passed to the north of the goaf and along No.3 Jig, down a short distance and then over to the No.2 Jig. After the event it was seen that a shot had been fired near this point. The shot was about 17 inches deep and appeared to have done its work. Mr. Wynne commented, on a previous visit to the pit that the air in the workings was very warm, about 20 degrees centigrade.

Those who died were:

  • HOLMES or HULME William Henry of Zetland Street, married with one child
  • Henry MORTON of Oxford Street, single
  • Joseph KING of Park Street, married with one child
  • Solomon CAMBRIDGE of White Street, married with three children
  • William HAMMOND of White Street.
  • William HODSON of Victoria Street, married with five children
  • Edward CARTWRIGHT married. Just come from Staffordshire
  • William LEE or LEIGH of Church Street, married with four children
  • A. BRAHAM

Mr. Wynne thought that the placing of the sheets was a mistake and in conjunction with the driving back of the airway 86 yards up the brow after the air had crossed the front jig brow and behind the brattice cloths would have inevitably led to an explosion. From the state and position of the men’s bodies, the Inspector came to the conclusion that the whole of the 1,200 yards of the brow at the far end were in an explosive state as there was a very large escape of air at the 1,600 yard brow.

Mr. Wynne did not think that Mr. Swann was a competent person to run the colliery and had told Mr. Ashton, the proprietor, so on many occasions. When he had recommended changes, he had found that Swann was always willing to carry them out to the best of his ability. The Inspector thought he was a good underground man but he did not have the scientific knowledge which Mr. Wynne thought was desirable to run a large mine and the Inspector also thought that he would not be able to cope in an emergency.

After hearing the evidence the Coroner summed up and said that the gas could have been ignited by Cambridge when he fired a shot or by Normington’s lamp. The jury returned the following verdict:

That the deceased men met their deaths accidentally from an explosion of firedamp and afterdamp, resulting from a shot fired by Solomon Cambridge. The jurors are also of the opinion that Elijah Swann is not competent to have sole management of a mine of such magnitude as the Astley Deep Pit.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1870. Mr. Thomas Wynne.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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