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Whitehaven Accommodation
Memorial Plaque for Pit Losses in Whitehaven Colliery DisastersCoal Mining History Lake District UK Coast Mining Disasters
Would you indeed remember me, My walk in nature's dark, My lowly birth, my poverty, My perils in earth's crust, With injustice, oh so stark? (Remembrance, from 'Poems of the Pits', reflections by John W. Skelly)
John W. Skelly was born in 1913, and from the age of 14 began working at Wellington Pit on the Whitehaven coast first working on tubs at the pit bottom, than as a trapper opening ventilation doors for drivers, trailers and miners passing through passages.
Whitehaven Pits and Tragic Mining Disasters
For such a small town Whitehaven has a long-suffering history. The mines in and around Whitehaven were notorious for their high levels of methane in their deep workings. William Pit particularly was known as the most dangerous pit in the country.
Within a two mile radius of the town more than 1200 men, women and children are known to have died in the pits, and this is only recorded deaths. Most died as the result of explosions. New health and safety measures pushed forward slowly, usually on the backs of horrendous disasters.
Take the worst pit disaster in Cumbria at Wellington Pit on May 11th 1910, where an explosion followed by a fire resulted in the death of 136 miners. The explosion was the result of only one intake airway into the workings existing. The rules changed after the accident and regulation demanded pits have two air intakes.
Nationalisation in 1947 was the real turning point for health and safety improvement, as the premise for ruthless competition which facilitated cost cutting by colliery owners was removed.
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