Creative Midlands Heritage

Chesterton miners hall plaque
Holditch Colliery disaster memorial
Apedale heritage centre, Staffordshire
Apedale mine, Staffordshire
Underground section..
Apedale mine, Staffordshire

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 07:59 AM PDT

This plaque from the facade is saved and resides at Apedale (the building was demolished in 1977)

info on the hall etc here-

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...OdadV-qDqqx5jg

Holditch Colliery disaster memorial

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 07:46 AM PDT

Located outside the Apedale heritage centre

Quote:

At around 5:45 am on 2 July 1937, two coal cutter men (Herman Payne and William Beardmore) were working when Beardmore noticed a flame. The flame spread quickly across the coalface into a deadly wall of fire. The two men quickly fled and actually survived the disaster which was about to strike.

Of the 55 men working in the vicinity of the fire, all but two managed to escape (W.Hystead and Arthur Stanton). The two men became lost in the smoke, which eventually overcame them. The remaining 53 men attempted in vain to extinguish the fire, with the timber supports ablaze and threatening roof collapse, the overman ordered the stone dust to be dumped and spread about as near to the fire as possible. These efforts also proved futile and so the men retreated further back and took a roll call - revealing the absence of Hystead and Stanton. By now the fire had taken hold and the two men were feared lost.

Whilst the men were fighting a losing battle against the fire, day shift officials, who had been informed of the fire, arrived on the scene. One of these men, H.Bentley, ordered a night shift ripper, John Hassell, to meet him at the right hand gate. Here an exlosion occurred at around 6:50, leaving Bentley with burns and killing Hassell. Bentley recruited collier E.Beech to help him search for Hassell, but they failed to find him.
"After my examination in the morning my mind was made up that those three men were dead. I do see they could have possibly have been alive from the atmosphere I saw."
—Davies believed the three missing men to be dead, but Hystead somehow made it out alive.

Explosions occurring in the mine, a full evacuation was ordered. By around 7:10 the men met in the main crut. The manager ordered for stoppings to be put on in the cruts, and sand, stone and dust was brought in for this purpose. Ten minutes later the night-shift workers were sent home, as the day-shift workers began work on the stoppings. The management team began inspecting the mine to decide upon a further course of action. Mr. Cocks, the managing director, ordered that the location of the stoppings be changed, despite disagreement from his team. This proved to be a fatal decision, as the new location was in unsettled ground. The original plan by Mr.Davies, was to put two stopping dams in solid ground, and would allow for easy transportation of materials at a distance of less than 500 yards from the pit bottom. The revised plan Mr.Cocks ordered meant erecting three such dams in unstable ground, also providing air to the fire, and requiring a travelling distance of 1,300 yards for essential tools and equipment. The reason taken for this new plan was to save the coal seam.
"This change in the original plan of the manager was a vital matter, resulting, as it did, in the large death toll."
—Inspector Mr.F.H. Wynne finds that the change of plan was fatal to the men.

By now 9:00, two government inspectors, Mr.Finney and Mr. Bloor, arrived on the scene, joining Davies at the pit bottom. Ten minutes later a sixth explosion occurred, though the 35 men who were in the mine continued in their work, along with the three missing men believed to be lost. Shortly before 10:10 a seventh small explosion occurred, followed by an eighth, and deadly blast. The eighth explosion had sent men working 1,000 yards away to the ground, reversing the ventilation system, and killing thirty men, badly burning the remaining eight.

Holditch Colliery Disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Holditch P1

Quote:

Men who lost their lives

Adkins, H.L. (35) undermanager.
Bloor, James Alfred (51) H.M. Sub-Inspector of Mines.
Cocks, John (57) managing director.
Condliffe, Percey (35) collier.
Cooke, Josiah (37) collier.
Cooper, Albert Leslie (30) collier.
Cornes, Albert Edward (26) haulage hand.
Finney, Harold John (41) H.M. Senior Inspector of Mines.
Forrester, J.W. (40) Hanley Rescue Brigade.
Harris, Thomas Ernest (46) Hanley Rescue Brigade.
Harvey, John (39) fireman.
Hassell, John (35) ripper.
Haystead, William (45) packer.
Hodkinson, William Stanley (38) underground mechanic.
Hough, W. (37) Hanley Rescue Brigade.
Howle, Frederick John (36) collier.
Jackson, Reginald (35) collier.
Johnstone, Harry (34) overman.
Jones, Ernest (51) fireman.
Jones, Thomas Henry (28) collier.
Latham, Samuel Henry (28) Hanley Rescue Brigade.
Maiyer, Abel (39) underground mechanic.
Mitchell, Henry (44) underground mechanic.
Pepper, William (39) fireman.
Pickerill, George Thomas (30) ripper.
Price, Charles (33) collier.
Rushton, George Thomas (41) ripper.
Seaton, Albert Warwick (26) collier.
Stanton, Arthur R. (31) packer.
Turner, Frank (22) underground electrician.

Men who escaped with injuries

Bentley, Harry (47) fireman.
Birchall, Harry (34) collier.
Bloor, Percey (49) fireman.
Davies, John Owen (45) manager.
Edwards, George (29) collier.
Lightfoot, Job (33) Hanley Rescue Brigade.
Salt, Frederick Charles (39) collier.
Stanier, George (37) collier.

Apedale heritage centre, Staffordshire

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 08:50 AM PDT

Took a few pics on the heritage day... a bit wishy washy and not my usual HDR as I hadn't realised that I'd still got the iso set to 6400 and the resulting HDR's were way too grainy and full of noise :doh:

Apedale Heritage Centre

Inside

Outside

...and finally... the only successful HDR as by this time I'd realised my faux pas with the iso...

think there may be a few more on my other camera too....

:)

Apedale mine, Staffordshire

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 02:26 AM PDT

Whilst attending this-

http://www.midlandsheritage.co.uk/wh...rust-gala.html

took a trip down the mine.... it was my first time down one and probably the last too ;)

the entrance