WASHINGTON. “I” Pit. Washington, Durham. 20th. November, 1828.

At the time of the explosion, there were fifteen in the pit and fourteen lost their lives. The sole survivor was badly burned. Sykes reported

The report was awfully loud, and the blast so powerful that the machinery at the mouth of the pit was blown down and scattered some distance, with corves and other weighty bodies thrown from the bottom of the shaft. The colliery had been examined in the morning and was considered to be in a safe state.

A gentleman from Newcastle gave the following account of the explosion:

I was at Little Unsworth, a short distance from the pit in the company of another gentleman, about three o’clock on Thursday afternoon when our ears were assailed with a report like that of the firing of a very heavy artillery gun making the whole earth shake, as it were, beneath us. We saw an immense volume of smoke rise from the pit and stand in the air like a dense cloud. It seemed to remain for a minute or two then it broke away in a northerly direction covering all the lands as it passed with soot and giving it the appearance of an entire black surface.

Those who died were:

  • Henry Hitchinson, aged 8 years.
  • Henry Galmey, aged 9 years.
  • Charles Hall aged, 16 years.
  • Stephen Falmer, aged 63 years.
  • Peter Hall aged, 11 years.
  • Thomas Cox, aged 55 years.
  • George Dawson, aged 16 years.
  • Joseph Davison aged 16 years.
  • Edward Elliott aged 16 years.
  • John Gray aged 16 years.
  • Thomas Carter aged 7 years.
  • James Gaviston aged 17 years.
  • John Gaviston aged 15 years.

Michael Hall, the onsetter, escaped but he was severely burned. The inquest was opened on the body of John Hall by Michael Hall, Coroner. The cause was thought to be an outburst of gas, “a bag of foulness” that came from the roof which stopped the ventilation. A verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned.

 

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway, Vol.1, p.498.
Sykes’ Local Records.
The Tyne Mercury, 3rd. December 1828.

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

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