Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	23rd April 1852
Colliery:	Ludworth
Cause:	Cage fell down shaft
Lives Lost:	4

On 23 March, four men were killed while ascending in the cage at North Pit, Ludworth Colliery. The rope broke and the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft killing the men instantly. An inquest was held on the following day in the ‘Standish Arms’, Ludworth. Thomas Greenwell, an onsetter, testified :

I heard a rumble in the shaft like a tub of coals being tumbled down, and I went to see what was the matter; when I found that the scaffold over the sump at the bottom of the shaft had been completely broken through one half, where the cage came down upon it, which satisfied me that the cage had fallen.

The job of removing the one ton cage from the sump, which was 60 feet below the scaffold, was only achieved after a jack had been brought from bank. Greenwell said he had seen the victims when they were brought to the surface, and ‘they all seemed sore smashed up.’ Peter Hopper, a graither and changer, said :

At the end of the rope hanging in the shaft I found the principal part of the spring which is attached to the cage chains, the eye and the portion through which the bolt passes were gone, and that portion I found attached to the chain of the cage at the bottom of the sump and covered with water to the height of about 12 feet.

The master blacksmith, William Liddle, had examined the spring after the accident, and found that the iron was ‘of a very bad quality.’ He commented :

I have no doubt that the breaking of the spring has been caused by the hardness of the iron of which the sides were formed.

It was also his opinion that the spring should have been made from hammered iron and not rolled iron.

After listening to all the evidence, the jury retired, and after their deliberations gave a verdict of accidental death, but added that :

... they considered Messrs. Spencer, of Newcastle, by whom the spring was supplied, and the manufacturer or manufacturers thereof, extremely culpable in making the same of such inferior quality and strength, thereby endangering the lives of pitmen descending and ascending the various pits where the same springs are applied.

Source:

Text kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle).

	Gibson, George, aged 35, in cage which fell down the North Pit shaft [The Durham Chronicle - 02/04/1852], Buried: St. Cuthbert's Churchyard, Shadforth
	Hedley, Thomas, aged 20, in cage which fell down the North Pit shaft [The Durham Chronicle - 02/04/1852], Buried: St. Cuthbert's Churchyard, Shadforth
	Hedley, William, aged 24, in cage which fell down the North Pit shaft [The Durham Chronicle - 02/04/1852], Buried: St. Cuthbert's Churchyard, Shadforth
	Watson, William, aged 11, in cage which fell down the North Pit shaft [The Durham Chronicle - 02/04/1852], Buried: Thornley
	All names found
	Some of the names of mining fatalities on this web site have been kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle) and are marked with .

 

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