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Felling
Colliery, also known as the John Pit, was certainly
established well before the 19th century and before the first
Ordnance Survey maps appeared in 1858. The pit closed in arch 1931
and is shown on the 1939 O.S. map as ‘disused’. The Low Main was a
depth of 612 feet, one of the deepest in the area at the time. |
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On 25th
May 1812 there occurred the first great colliery explosion for which
we have anything approaching really accurate records. It was,
moreover, a disaster of historic importance, for its aftermath
marked the earliest attempt of any properly co-ordinated movement to
enlist public opinion in the service of mine safety and to arouse
scientific interest in the cause of accident prevention.The key
figure in this was the Reverent John Hodgson (1779-1845), then the
incumbent of the parish of Jarrow and Heworth, to whom fell the task
of comforting the bereaved and burying the dead.Felling Colliery,
situated between Gateshead and Jarrow, was the property of John and
William Brandling. Two shafts were in use: the William Pit standing
on a small hill, and some 550 yards away, the John pit. It was here
that the explosion first made itself known at about 11.30 am. A fire
broke forth with two heavy discharges from the John pit, which was
almost instantaneously followed by one from the William pit. A
slight trembling, as from an earthquake, was felt for about half a
mile around the workings; and the noise of the explosion, though
dull, was heard to three or four miles away. Immense quantities of
dust and small coal accompanied these blasts, and rose high into the
air in the form of an inverted cone. Around the colliery itself a
shower of wrecked corves, pieces of timber and small coal fell in
all directions. The tops of the headgear of both shafts were
destroyed; the pulleys at the William pit were completely blown out.
The wooden frames were set on fire, though luckily the winding
pulleys of the John pit – which were slung on a crane outside of the
blast – remained intact. It was up this shaft that those who
survived were wound to safety about half an hour after the
explosion. Altogether thirty-two men and boys were brought to bank.
A fresh westerly wind gradually dispersed the huge cloud of coal
dust, which for a time had caused in Heworth ‘a darkness like that
of early twilight’. It fell as a black snow, covering the roads so
rapidly ‘that footsteps were strongly imprinted in it’.Anxious
relatives and friends rushed towards the colliery, the pitmen’s
wives, as ever on such tragic occasions, experiencing a deepening
foreboding that many of their number were already widows. By noon
all the known survivors had been drawn from the pit and volunteers
stood by to descend. The accident had occurred during the relief of
the fore shift by the back shift and therefore the death toll it was
realised only too well, was likely to be abnormally high. In fact
the explosion already the most devastating which had yet blighted
any British coalfield, though the rescuers were still ignorant of
its terrible extent.
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At
12.15 nine miners bravely descended the John pit. Unfortunately the
men were able to make very little headway. The workings were foul
with afterdamp and reluctantly the explorers had to retreat to the
pit bottom to ascend. Five had reached the bank safely and two were
in the shaft when the mine exploded a second time. The men on the
rope felt unusual heat serge past them, but the blast lacked enough
force to dislodge them. Their comrades below ‘threw themselves on
their faces and kept firm hold of a strong prop’ and also escaped
without serious injury. One or two further attempts at rescue were
made, but no one doubted any longer the utter hopelessness of the
situation. There was simply no question of being able to penetrate
those fiery workings to any distance. Nor was it likely that anyone
else could have survived the poisonous gases produced by the
explosion.