SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Morley Main Colliery was one of many collieries in Morley. It was situated just of Albert Road overlooking the Valley. It was the deepest and the largest of the Morley pits at the time. On October 7th 1872 an explosion occurred and 33 people were killed. Most of the bodies were taken to to Royal Hotel in Morley Bottoms. At the inquest it was discovered that due to inadequate supervision, miners had been taking tobacco underground. Some of the dead were found to have matches in their pockets whilst others had lamp keys, presumably in order to open the lamps and light their pipes.The explosion appeared on the front page of the Illustrated London News. More herehttp://www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk/morleyfhg/Morle ... ter.htmAnd "Coal Mining in Morley" from the Northern Mine Research Society has more details. It's a fascinating book. It details 47 known pits in and around Morley, Churwell, Gildersome, Drighlington and East and West Ardsley.There are also details of Topcliffe Pit which stood where the former Tingley Gas Works stood. According to the book there are still fifty years of top quality coking coal beneath what is now an industrial estate. I hope my Morley obsession doesn't bore the Loiners on here but I felt the urge to record what I've been reading over the past few days. the book is available from Morley Library, so presumably your local branch could obtain if if anyone's interested.

Interesting stuff, I'll shall borrow the said book in due course.

HiJust read this old thread.My great great grandfather, George Bell was one of the miners killed in this explosion. I've read the inquest and from what I've heard via the family, many of the miner's helmets had 'open' lamps anyway - so it seemed quite convenient the mine owners were able to find evidence of tobacco smoking!Is anyone able to tell me anything more about this incident. Did it lead to improved safety in the mines? Did the families receive any compensation? Was the disaster fund well managed? etcMany thanks

Have you heard the song? It's on Spotify, by Cockersdale, on the "Doin' The Manch" album.

The song was written by Keith Marsden who was one of the three members of Cockersdale. Sadly he died permaturely in 1991 just three years after the release of the "Doin' The Manch" albumThe group carry on to this day and their albums are available through their website http://www.cockersdale.com/The lyrics go:Morley Main - Keith MarsdenThey came to call for me last Monday MorningWhen I was hanging washing on the lineThey looked down at their feet a lot and wouldn't meet me eye,And only said "you're wanted at the mine".I know that he was dead but funny, I could only thinkHow fresh the clothes would smell if it stayed fineAnd they say it wasn't such a big disasterIt only made the papers for a dayI'm sure the wives who're weeping will find comfort in your news,So tell them that and then see what they sayAnd ask them who's to feed the children, where they'll find the rent.And ask how much the owners mean to pay.They carried all the bodies to the RoyalAll laid in rows as neatly as can beSome were burnt, some were crushed and some had only chokedBut none of them was very nice to seeAnd it was only by the belt he always used to wearThat I could tell which one belonged to me..They'll find some lying weasel for the inquest Or some poor lad who's frightened for his placeWho'll claim he smelled tobacco just an hour or two beforeAnd swear the men were smoking at the faceFor it only takes a single match to shift the owner's blameAnd some dead miner bears the whole disgrace.There'll be enough insurance for the funeralA proper place to rest at least he's dueSome money from the Parish or perhaps they'll start a fundBut after that I don't know what we'll doFor I don't suppose at twenty nine I'll find another manFor younger widows they'll be looking too.

tippi wrote: HiJust read this old thread.My great great grandfather, George Bell was one of the miners killed in this explosion. I've read the inquest and from what I've heard via the family, many of the miner's helmets had 'open' lamps anyway - so it seemed quite convenient the mine owners were able to find evidence of tobacco smoking!Is anyone able to tell me anything more about this incident. Did it lead to improved safety in the mines? Did the families receive any compensation? Was the disaster fund well managed? etcMany thanks If you go into Morley Library and request use of the reference library upstairs,there is excellent coverage on microfiche of the disaster,subsequent inquest and findings.All are taken from the Morley Observer archive and make for hours of fascinating reading..........Good Luck

Looking at that date they were probably still on the pick and shovel and wooden props. Safer working evolved through accidents like this and the unions played their part in getting safer ways to work. I doubt that the knowledge was there at that time to understand gases and how to control them. Ventilation wasn't good and any spark could have caused an explosion.In the 1970s we were not allowed to take glass bottles, silver paper or anything that could cause a spark underground. Chocolate and sweets like polo,s, kit kats were wrapped in a type of grease proof paper by the manufacturers specifically for sale to the miners.    

book wrote: Looking at that date they were probably still on the pick and shovel and wooden props. Safer working evolved through accidents like this and the unions played their part in getting safer ways to work. I doubt that the knowledge was there at that time to understand gases and how to control them. Ventilation wasn't good and any spark could have caused an explosion.In the 1970s we were not allowed to take glass bottles, silver paper or anything that could cause a spark underground. Chocolate and sweets like polo,s, kit kats were wrapped in a type of grease proof paper by the manufacturers specifically for sale to the miners.     Finding was that methane from an old goaf had been the blast source as was too often the case back then.................there had been a report of it "hanging around" in the workings but wasn't unfortunately picked up until it was too late.In trying to approximate where the actual blast took place,it would seem it was near to the junction of south queen street,fountain street and queen st proper....oddly enough Morley tunnel passes very close by this spot also with one of 2 large stone air shafts in Morley, located in the car park behind what was the old white horse pub(now a italian/spanish type restaurant )....nearby just off fountain street on Hunger Hill was located a smaller colliery in days of yore.

I lived in Morley from the seventies til the 90s and mining in Morley - as with a few other areas in Leeds had been gone for many decades. I do remember there were people in Morley who'd had relatives who'd worked as coal miners in Morley's pits and I remember in St Peters churchyard there were graves for victims of the Morley Main colliery disaster. Also during the miners strike we had people come from pit villages collecting money for the miners, although that probably happened all over the place. I've mentioned this on here before, but I do remember when I was a kid we were told not to play in the area right opposite the Arkle public house on Springfield Avenue as apparently there was the entrance to an old mine shaft and some years before a man walking his dog had fallen down it. The area was fenced off but only by 4 foot high wooden fencing and we used to regularly jump over the fence and try and stomp through the ground into the mine shaft... I looked on google maps and there are houses built right on top of it now, so it cant have been that dangerous. Its strange to think that the ground beneath us is riddled with a rabbits warren of old mine workings. I know there are a few people on the forum have explored some. I wonder what its like down there now. Are there any places in Leeds where you can get into mine workings like that? Not that I would do, I've heard it can be highly dangerous. Its just fascinating to think about.

jonleeds wrote: I've mentioned this on here before, but I do remember when I was a kid we were told not to play in the area right opposite the Arkle public house on Springfield Avenue as apparently there was the entrance to an old mine shaft and some years before a man walking his dog had fallen down it. The area was fenced off but only by 4 foot high wooden fencing and we used to regularly jump over the fence and try and stomp through the ground into the mine shaft... I looked on google maps and there are houses built right on top of it now, so it cant have been that dangerous. Its strange to think that the ground beneath us is riddled with a rabbits warren of old mine workings. I know there are a few people on the forum have explored some. I wonder what its like down there now. Are there any places in Leeds where you can get into mine workings like that? Not that I would do, I've heard it can be highly dangerous. Its just fascinating to think about. Old Dean Hall colliery was around this site so entirely reasonable to think this area riddled with old workings........would say that all old workings around the area would have been properly"capped off" to prevent anybody falling hundreds of feet into the abyss.There are vents around of course that helps disperse the mine gases from these old collieries.......I wouldn't have a naked flame nearby though !Needless to say there well be many unmapped old workings going back over the centuries(before proper registration was kept) that could conceivably pose a potential problem...............your story was interesting-i'm sure others have similar recollections.