Hayes Wood Colliery Inrush – Somerset – 1845

HAYES WOOD. Somerset. February, 1845.

The pit was the property of Messrs. S.S.P. Samborne and Company of Timsbury when men were working about one mile from the mouth of the pit when water rushed in. There were fourteen in the mine and only four escaped and ten were reported to have been lost.

The men were approaching old workings for which there were no plans. The shaft was 164 fathoms deep and there was a pumping shaft parallel to this, 190 yards deep. The wagonways ran for another 400 yards with many branches.

About 2 a.m. on the day of the accident one of the overseers found that they were approaching water. The day shift of 100 men and boys came into the mine and the overseer on that shift, Mr. Evans went to the place and noticed that it was very damp. He went to another place in the mine that was also wet and had not gone far before the water broke in and the wind blew out his candle. The pumps worked at eight strokes per minute and it took many days before the mine was cleared and the bodies recovered.

Those who died were:

• John Flower aged about 55 years who left a wife and seven children.
• George Palmer aged 43 years, single.
• Joseph Gillick who left three children and a wife who was expecting their fourth.
• John Carter, a widower with two children.
• Daniel Pickford who left a wife and two children.
• William Cleaves who left a wife and six children, two of whom worked in the mine.
• James Evans who left a wife and two children.
• Mark Brice, a lad.
• George Lewis, a lad.
• John Collins, a lad.
• William Walter, a lad.

William Walter gave warning of the impending disaster by running through the workings and saved the lives of three individuals.

A contemporary account of the disaster said:

The overseer of the works, Mr. Evans, entered the mine about five o’clock and his attention was at once drawn to the unusual appearance of damp. It was known that the Hayeswood mines adjoined some closed and flooded workings. Having examined the spot where the supposed danger existed, Mr. Evans proceeded to another part of the mine but had not gone far before the candle which he carried was nearly blown out by a current of air and almost immediately he met a boy running without any light, his candle having, as he said, been extinguished by a rush of air. The danger was now clearly very imminent and as the fearful information reached the various labourers, the means of escape were eagerly sought. The rush of impure air speedily extinguished most of their lights and many of the men were left in darkness to grope their way to the main road which led to the entrance of the shaft. On their way from the several spots at which they had been labouring, various consultations were held as to the best roads to reach the point of safety and as they paused for consideration, they found the air becoming more and more impure and in some spots it was almost suffocating. Mr. Evans calculated that from the time he became aware of the existence of danger, to his reaching the bottom of the shaft, half an hour must have elapsed an he was then in an almost exhausted and fainting state. Eleven men were missing, only the faintest hopes being entertained in their reservation in some remote part of the works which the water might not have reached.

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway. Vol.2, p.145.
Mining Journal. Vol. xvi, p.47.
Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal, p7.

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