June 10. — Fifteen men and a boy were suffocated in a coal pit, near Ravensworth, by a gust of foul air which took fire and burnt up to the pit’s mouth. [LHTB]

June 10. — An explosion took place in a colliery at Ravensworth, by which sixteen persons lost their lives. [LRS]

November. — As some colliers were sinking a new pit on Gateshead Fell, they found the entire skeleton of a man of gigantic size, in a bed of stiff clay, about seven feet from the surface. Near the skeleton were found three small pieces of very ancient coin. The person, when living, must have been near eight feet high ; the bones lay compact, measuring seven feet eight inches, and must have lain there many centuries. [LRS]

November 18. — At noon a melancholy accident happened at Longbenton colliery, by foul air, which killed Mr. George Rawling, borer, and Adam Hunter, sinker, who were down the pit ; and the explosion was so great, that it killed Mr. Ralph Unthank, viewer, who was upon the bank, and looking down the pit. [LHTB]

 

 

• LHTB — Local Historian's Table Book of Remarkable Occurrences Connected with the Counties of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland and Durham by M.A. Richardson. Published in five volumes in 1844.
• LRS — Local Records or Historical Register of Remarkable Events by John Sykes, Published in 1833 in two volumes