![]() ![]() ![]() A slight trembling, as from an earthquake, was felt for half a mile around the workings and the noise of the explosion, though dull, was heard to three or four miles distance’. The subterraneous fire broke forth with two heavy discharges from the John Pit, which were, almost instantaneously, followed by one from the William Pit. ‘About half past eleven o’clock on the morning of the 25th May, 1812, the neighbouring villages were alarmed by a tremendous explosion in this colliery. Felling Colliery had two deep shafts, called John Pit and William Pit: Here is Hodgson’s description of the explosion at Felling on. ‘The whole mine is instantly illuminated with the most brilliant lightning – the drives before it a roaring whirlwind of flaming air, which tears up every thing in its progress, scorching some of the miners to a cinder, burying others under enormous heaps of ruins shaken from the roof, and, thundering to the shafts, wastes its volcanic fury in a discharge of thick clouds of coal dust, stones, timber, and not unfrequently limbs of men and horses’. Here is Hodgson’s description of a fire-damp explosion: He wrote an account of the Felling Colliery Disaster, containing the list above, which was published in 1813. The Reverend John Hodgson (1779-1845) was the rector (priest) of the parish of Jarrow-with-Heworth, where Felling Colliery (coal mine) was located. Here is a list of all of the men and boys who were killed: This explosion, which happened on, caused the deaths of 92 miners. One of the worst explosions took place in Felling, near Gateshead in the north-east of England, in 1812. Fire-damp caused many explosions in coal mines, and these explosions caused many deaths of miners. If a miner came into contact with fire-damp underground, the flame of his candle would sometimes cause the gas to explode. It was mainly composed of methane, like the natural gas that we use for cooking and heating today. The most dangerous gas in coal mines was called fire-damp. The miners sometimes came into contact with dangerous gases that existed naturally underground. The tunnels, which were sometimes propped up with wood, sometimes collapsed. ![]() As the tunnel is so cramped, he has to work on his knees.Ĭoal mining was a very dangerous job. Because it is dark, he is working by candlelight, and because it is hot, he is not wearing many clothes. He is hewing (cutting) coal with a pick axe. Here is a picture of a miner working underground. Deep tunnels were dug underground, where the conditions were dark, hot, and cramped. Animals, such as the horse in the background, were still being put to work, but the new machines were much more powerful.Īs the demand for coal increased, miners were forced to go deeper underground to find new coal. In the background, there is a steam-powered locomotive, used to transport the coal in waggons along rails, and steam-powered mine machinery, designed to help the miners bring the coal to the surface and to pump out water from the mine. Here is a picture of a coal miner from 1814, when the Industrial Revolution was gathering pace. By 1850, it was producing 62.5 million tons per year – more than ten times greater than in 1750. In 1750, Britain was producing 5.2 million tons of coal per year. The Industrial Revolution created a huge demand for coal, to power new machines such as the steam-engine. The steam-engine was invented, which could do more work than men or animals, and canals and railways were built, to transport goods and materials for manufacturing. It was a very important period in British history.ĭuring this time, factories were built, to produce goods such as textiles, iron, and chemicals on a large scale. From around 1750 to 1850, the Industrial Revolution changed life in Britain. ![]()
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