Harraton Colliery Row Pit Explosion – Harraton – 1817

HARRATON. Row Pit.  Harraton. Durham. 30th. June, 1817.

A violent explosion killed thirty-eight men and boys. Corves, trams and objects from the shaft bottom, which was 492 feet deep, were blown into the air together with the bodies of two unfortunate workmen, one of whom had his head blown off and was cut in two. Mr. Buddle was an eyewitness to the disaster and reported his experiences in evidence to the Lords Committee in 1829. The disaster was caused by a miner willfully unscrewing his lamp which was against the Colliery Rules. Mr Buddle commented:

This is a marked instance of men’s willfulness causing the destruction of large numbers of his fellow workmen.

Mr. Buddle gave the following account of the disaster:

There was a very decent man. a comrade working in the same place as him the overman went in with the mine the morning and showed them the danger for although there was no gas in the place they were working in, at about 12 yards from them, in what they called the return from the place, which was the way the current of air was going. He actually took them in and showed them it was explosive. He cautioned them by no means to expose a naked light, inasmuch as they were subject to the operation of what we call backing of the foulness, against the current of the air upon their lights. He gave them this caution and then went about his business. When this headstrong fellow told his comrade that he could not see with that thing, meaning the Davy, would insist on screwing off the gauze cylinder and taking his candle. He then remonstrated with him, told him he was aware of the danger and he really durst not stop if he persisted in unscrewing the Davy. However, after what I stated, after two or three attempts at the lamp, he obstinately took off the top of it. I am not quite certain whether he lighted a candle, but he worked with a naked light. The other man was so sensible of the danger that he immediately went away, and in going out-bye, he saw the overman and requested him to go immediately to Moody, as he was quite sure he would do a mischief. He then came to the surface and in a very few minutes, the explosion occurred. I happened to be in the vicinity where I saw the explosion it was rather like an eruption than an explosion. It was a most curious phenomenon it continued for above five minutes to vomit a column of black smoke, which ascended an immense height into the air, like a water spout. It was a very fine day, there was only a gentle breeze of wind from the west and I saw it feeding till the mass of black smoke and coal dust formed an immense cloud immediately over the pit, with a narrow stalk to it, the diameter of the shaft. A kind of took place at length, which cut off the stalk from the top of the pit and then this immense cloud was carried away by the gentle breeze, and deposited its contents over the country for perhaps two or three miles. I made the best of my way to the pit, and when I arrived there, everything was blown away from its mouth the metal pulleys that the ropes go over were carried to a distance, the shaft framing was totally blown away, the ropes were blown out and there were two mangled carcasses lying within a little distance of the mouth of the shaft. There was a body cut in two, the trunk and arms without the head were lying in one place and the legs and thighs lying four or five yards from it. At about twelve yards from the pit, there was a body lying without a head.

“What was the depth of the shaft?”

”Eighty Fathoms.” (480 feet.)

“How far do you conceive those workmen were from the bottom of the shaft when the explosion took place?”

”We ascertained that accurately afterwards, for one of them was the body of boy whose father was the onsetter at the bottom of the pit and it shows how a little shelter in some cases on those occasions will protect a man. The onsetter always has a little recess in which he keeps what we call a chalking board, on which he chalks down the quantity of work done by each colliery and this little boy (it was his first day of being at work) was at a door very near the shaft, and frequently came to his father in the course of the day. He had just come to him at the instant the explosion happened, the man held the boy’s hand with one of his, while the other was chalking on his board, his body being within the recess of the niche. The boy was carried up the shaft in what I have described and the man was not in the least injured. The other man, whose name was Allen, I believe, was standing at the bottom of the shaft, leaning on his elbows on a corfe, talking to the onsetter. He disappeared in an instant and was blown from the top of the pit. It was clear from the appearance after we got down the pit to seek for bodies, that the fire had taken place from where Moody was working, as the very first stroke of the fire had been there, for his body was almost burnt to a cinder and the poor unfortunate overman was found within about 400 yards from him. He never reached him.”

Those who died were:

• John Hills and three sons.
• Michael Hills, sen.
• One son of William Hills.
• Three sons of Alexander Short.
• Two sons of Job Royley.
• Two sons of George Galley.
• Three sons of James Allen.
• One son of Thomas Cowey.
• One son of George Emmery.
• One son of Robert Dickinson.
• Two sons of Isabella Brown.
• Two sons of Alexander Stevenson.
• One son of William Jackson.
• Two sons of Edward Baker.
• One son of Mary Jobling.
• John Wardle.
• John Parson.
• Thomas Ghisholme.
• Thomas Grundy.
• John Taylor.
• John Moody.
• William Hardy.
• John Whitey.

Seven were brought out alive but there were only three survivors, William Jackson, William Watson and George Fenwick.

The jury at the inquest brought in a verdict that:

The deceased came to their deaths in consequence of firedamp occasioned by the using of candles instead of the safety lamps, contrary to the orders given.

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway, Vol.2, p.143.
Report from the Select Committee on Accidents in Mines. 4th September 1835. 2,955-87.
The Lords Committee Report. p.49.
Sykes’ Local Records.
Sykes’ Account of the Wallsend Explosion. p.33.

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