Friday 12th December

Today marks the 142nd anniversary of England’s worse mining disaster. On December 12th 1866 the Yorkshire village of Ardsley (now part of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley) experienced the largest loss of life ever in an English mining disaster.

The Ardsley Oaks Pit Disaster resulted in the deaths of 361 local men and boys during two separate explosions. For nearly half a century this was the worst pit disaster in British history, this unwanted title eventually being claimed by a Welsh pit – the Universal Senghenydd Colliery - in 1913.

The records show that the first explosion took place at about 1:20 pm on Wednesday 12th December. A loud explosion was heard throughout the village and for a distance of up to 3 miles around.

Rescue attempts were hampered by dense smoke and the fact that both pit cages had been destroyed in the huge blast. Miners quickly installed a new cage and descended to the foot of the shaft, where around some two-dozen survivors had assembled. Rescue teams reported that the pit resembled “a battlefield with bodies strewn everywhere”.

Rescue attempts continued throughout the night of the 12th/13th but matters took a turn for the worse the following morning when experienced miners detected a dangerous build up of coal dust and gas. An estimated 90 rescuers heeded the warning and managed to escape from the pit before it exploded for a second time “with great violence” at 09.00am.

Unfortunately, some 27 rescuers were caught up in the second blast and lost their lives.

At 7.30 that evening a third explosion ripped through the mine and it quickly became apparent that the pit was on fire. With all hope for survivors now gone no one expected the event that occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.

At about 4.30 am on the 14th the signal bell on No. 1 shaft was heard to ring. Rescuers tried calling down the shaft but could not elicit any response. Then a water bottle filled with brandy was lowered down to see what happened. When the rope was recovered the bottle was gone. Miners quickly erected a temporary headgear and two volunteers were lowered down the shaft to investigate. After a perilous descent down into the still burning pit they discovered a sole survivor, Samuel Brown.

By 4:45 am on Saturday 15th December no fewer than 14 fresh explosions were recorded in the mine and operations to stop up the shafts to extinguish the fires were commenced with haste.

As no record of who was working in the mine on the 12th was kept, it was left to the miner’s union to compile a list of the missing. The tally was shocking. Of the 340 local men and boys who were in the pit on the Wednesday, only six ultimately survived. To that must be added those who lost their lives on the following day whilst attempting to find survivors - 27 were killed - 23 of them volunteers from adjacent collieries.

Although Ardsley’s Oaks Colliery was eventually re-opened following the digging of new shafts and workings, the bodies of some 80 men and boys remained unaccounted for.

In Memorium. The Roll of the Dead may be found: here .