Shankhouse Colliery Inrush – Cramlington – 1866

SHANKHOUSE. Cramlington, Northumberland. November, 1866.

The colliery was the property of Messrs. Taylor and Lamb. The first reports were that there was a very great loss of life and these reports appeared in papers as far distant as the “Yorkshire Post” and the “Manchester Courier”.  There were two shifts down the pit when water entered and rose very quickly to flood the mine to a few feet from the top of the shaft.

Four Cornishmen were brought in during some industrial unrest and they were working towards old workings on Wellington Flat and the water rushed in with terrible force. One man tried to make an effort to save others fell, from the scaffold in the shaft and was drowned.

Under the direction of Mr. Telford, the viewer and Mr. Maughan the engineer erected a temporary pulley. Most of the men got out of the pit.

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