In May 2026, we remember a sad connection between Yorkshire and Cumbria: the Wellington Pit Disaster, at Whitehaven which claimed 136 lives.
Remembering Whitehaven, May 1910
Disaster
Mist over the meadow
Saturday 10th July 2021 was almost a dot day. Not because of the mounting excitement ahead of the Euro 2020 final and the hopes (ultimately dashed) for England men’s football team, but rather because the weather forecast looked wet and miserable. Nevertheless the Friends and regular volunteers braved the elements.
In the event, ‘Plan B’ of indoor building recording work, followed by a swift exit proved unnecessary, and it was a very active and incredibly hot-and-humid day to be working outdoors, mostly bringing the growth of green stuff back into order.
Continue readingLundhill Colliery Disaster, 19th February 1857
On this day in 1857, a horrific underground explosion of firedamp occurred at Lundhill Colliery, between Wombwell and Hemingfield, claiming 189 lives, including 120 adults and 69 children.
The impact on families in the community was catastrophic, leaving 90 widows and a total of 220 children without a father. We remember the victims and the devastating impact on the local community, and is a reminder of the serious dangers of working gaseous coal seams underground with the rules, practices and tools available at the time.
This commemorative piece is produced as part of the research underway for our Hemingfield’s Hidden History project, enabled by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, looking into the working lives and conditions in and around Hemingfield Colliery.
Hemingfield Colliery (also know as Elsecar Low pit) was working the same Barnsley seam, and employed the neighbours of Lundhill miners, so it was a community tragedy. Hemingfield Colliery itself had only too recently (Dec 1852) experienced its own loss of life via a underground explosion.
Continue readingOn this day, 22nd December 1852
1852 – Disaster strikes at Low Elsecar Colliery
At 1.30 pm on 22nd December 1852 an explosion underground at Hemingfield Colliery (also known as Low Elsecar Colliery) claimed 10 lives and injured a further 12 miners.
150th Anniversary of the Oaks Colliery Disaster
Oaks Colliery Disaster 1866-2016
Thanks go to the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership the following logo is available to users free for non-commercial use in materials relating to the disaster.
December 2016 will mark 150 years since the Oaks Disaster in which over 360 miners died.