Hartley Pit Disaster Memorial, Northumberland. Dec 08.

Hopefully this small thread is in the right place.

The Hartley Pit Disaster is probably something very few folk have heard of. It occured in my old village where I used to live. It was so obvious that I had missed it for this forum.

Officially known as Hartley Hester Pit there is very little left of what was a terrible site. The disaster which happened here changed mining law in The United Kingdom forever. Following this disaster it was ordered that every mine shall, from then on, have at least two means of escape/access.

This mine used only one shaft. This shaft was halved down the middle with wooden framework to separate ventilation and pumping from winding operations.
A huge cast iron pumping beam snapped in half above the shaft, dragging down all the shafts framework and equipment and trapped all the men and boys below. No-one survived down below. I wont go in to detail because Wiki can do that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Colliery_Disaster

Please take the time to follow the links. The reading will make you think....

Some pics. The bronzel plaque as you enter the memorial garden.



The "cap" on the rescue shaft which was dug to free the trapped miners. A frantic effort which sadly yeilded nothing.



The "cap" which sits above the old collapsed shaft. The caps were built out of old stone from the original pit buildings. The builder who made these structures left a plaque carved into the stonework. Nowadays it is illegible.



The site looking in from the entrance. Peace and quiet is all that graces this once frantic rescue attempt.



Thank you for looking.

Even after all this time, the thought of being trapped with no hope of rescue is horiffic. And I don't for one minute think that those up top really had much idea of exactly what went on down there after the accident. Presumably it could have taken an incredibly long time to die. It really is the stuff of nightmares.

Thanks for posting that, Sausage. It's good to remember things like this and spare a thought for those who died.

Is that memorial garden situated off Hastings Gardens / Melton Drive ?
I'm trying to locate it.

Crikey thats a bit grim..........According to the Durham Mining website there was over 200 dead and the youngest were 10 years old ...........horrible but fascinating al the same Cheers !

thanks for bringing this to our / my attention, I'm currently compiling a full list of the condition / history of the north east collierys.

it's a shame storys like this often go unoticed, just like most of our mining heritige

Kinda gets to you.Interesting site is W W W.dmm-pitwork.org.uk Sorry about lack of proper link but still learning

Very sad. Something that caught my interest when I first moved to New Hartley. I live just a few streets away from the Memorial.

and7barton said:

Is that memorial garden situated off Hastings Gardens / Melton Drive ?
I'm trying to locate it.

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Nah mate, Hastings and Melton are the other end of the village. It's off St Michaels near Hester Gardens - http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.084009&lon=-1.514534&z=18.2&r=0&src=msl

I'm another one who grew up in New Hartley, pit disaster was a regular subject at school as a result. Used to have the old radio broadcast when they re-told the story, quite chilling. Almost every single family lost their wager earner(s), some lost every male member of their household. Report goes that the funeral carts were still leaving the village when the first were arriving at the church in Earsdon over 4miles away.

nalski - how long have you lived in the village if you don't mind me asking? tried to PM you but for some reason it's not sending.

PM's don't work for a set time with new members mate.

Thanks for all those comments. It really is a sad story to read - there is a hardback book somewhere which goes into huge detail including the coroners reports etc. There are detailed underground roadway maps which show where everyone died - which I had overlaid onto a OS map and it turned out to be below my old allotment. Grandfathers, fathers and sons lay huddled together in family groups and simply went to sleep, never to wake up.

There are some relics from the disaster lying all over the world. Rescuers medals (one of which I have actually held), glasses made to raise funds for the widows etc. Many artifacts can be seen at The Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are tucked away in a cabinet/drawer set up somewhere quiet.

In later years it was decided to open up a new colliery in the village (hence New Hartley) to access the rich coal seams which lay beyond the old disaster workings. When the miners broke into those old workings they were terrified. Everything was left as it was from the disaster. Food containers, tools, filled coal tubs lay where they originally did. Strewn amongst all that chaos lay the skeletons of the ponies that perished that day too.
In later years it was decided that an adit was needed to help with ventilation and access to the workings. A drift was sunk at The Avenue, near Seaton Delaval. One day, a bored fitters aprentice was travelling down the steps which had been carved into the rock floor of this drift adit. He casually counted each step - we all know how many steps our house has. Upon reaching the workings below he was horrified. The total number of steps (by pure coincidence) was 204. That is exactly the amount of men and boys who had died in the earlier disaster. From that day on this adit was not used. Superstition is rife among miners and after all - who can blame them?

Sorry to all if I've upset anyone with this thread but it does make us think of those "good?" olde days when times were hard.

Been in the village for 6 or 7 yrs now. Forum member since June. Dont post much but read almost every post on here since the "other site" was taken down some time ago.

Parkus. said:

thanks for bringing this to our / my attention, I'm currently compiling a full list of the condition / history of the north east collierys.

it's a shame storys like this often go unoticed, just like most of our mining heritige

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It certainly was one of the worst. When me dad was working at the pits we'd worry every day he was down there wondering if he'd come back.

Parkus, I really recomment the Durham Mining Museum site, they have nearly every bit of info on disasters and lives lost, as well as tons of really cool stuff like info about strata,shaft sinkings, various seams worked etc etc. If you are compilig lists of stuff its an invaluable resource

Lithium said:

It certainly was one of the worst. When me dad was working at the pits we'd worry every day he was down there wondering if he'd come back.

Parkus, I really recomment the Durham Mining Museum site, they have nearly every bit of info on disasters and lives lost, as well as tons of really cool stuff like info about strata,shaft sinkings, various seams worked etc etc. If you are compilig lists of stuff its an invaluable resource

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Where was your Dad working?
Most of the men in my family have been down the mines at some point, guess I'm very lucky to not have lost any of them. My Dad was working at Eppleton Colliery in Hetton-le-Hole when it closed in the 80's, that's what started my interest.

I know of the durham mining museum website, I probably spend at least 3 hours a day going between there and looking at old maps
I'm mainly interested in the Durham coalfield for the moment, then going to go onto Tyneside, Northumberland and other inductry in the area - lead mining, iron / lead works, etc.

Parkus. said:

Where was your Dad working?
Most of the men in my family have been down the mines at some point, guess I'm very lucky to not have lost any of them. My Dad was working at Eppleton Colliery in Hetton-le-Hole when it closed in the 80's, that's what started my interest.

I know of the durham mining museum website, I probably spend at least 3 hours a day going between there and looking at old maps
I'm mainly interested in the Durham coalfield for the moment, then going to go onto Tyneside, Northumberland and other inductry in the area - lead mining, iron / lead works, etc.

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Dad was down the pit most of his working life, all in Northumberland though. Started off at Choppinton High Pit, then Bedlington old pit, then Bates Colliery in Blyth and eneded his career at Ashington.
County Durham/North Pennines lead & spar mines have a great history, theres still lots to explore too.

nalski said:

Been in the village for 6 or 7 yrs now. Forum member since June. Dont post much but read almost every post on here since the "other site" was taken down some time ago.

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nalski: Wish I could PM you! If ever you fancy a jaunt out I'd be more than willing to drag you along.

I visit this village at least once a week. There is a lot more to the area than meets the eye.

Good report here. Very sad what happened here. Thanks and well done for passing-on what happened.

Lb:jimlad:

Cheers Lightbuoy. When I was an annoying oik (kid) I attended the opening ceremony of this garden. I hadn't a clue what it was!!

Hi Mate, nice post !

I believe that there's part of the boom from the broken arm at Woodhorn if you're interested. I think it's in the winding house above the stairs that lead you up into the room.

For yet more information regarding this matter (the disaster) check out the NEIMME of which my father's on the board of directors. Handy that.

Take care bud!

the|td4 said:

Hi Mate, nice post !

I believe that there's part of the boom from the broken arm at Woodhorn if you're interested. I think it's in the winding house above the stairs that lead you up into the room.

For yet more information regarding this matter (the disaster) check out the NEIMME of which my father's on the board of directors. Handy that.

Take care bud!

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Hi mate,

I've seen and touched that piece of wood. The beam which snapped in the disaster was cast iron though. From what I can find out the wood beam is either part of the woodwork which lined or halved the disaster shaft or even part of the pumping levers which went into the shaft (though these were usually made of crude metal bars).

Talking of the Woodhorn set-up - if you have any pics of what's up those stairs you should start a thread on here. It is something special up there!

I'll see what I can do mate, I know some of the staff there very well due to their connection with NEIMME, infact I think there was an opportunity to 'see more' at the last heritage open day... I will have a dig in my many directories of photos and see if I've got anything.

Tc bud !