Wingate Grange Colliery Disaster Memorial
Front Street West, Wingate, TS28 5AA
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1158986
- Date first listed:
- 11-Oct-1985
- List Entry Name:
- Wingate Grange Colliery Disaster Memorial
- Statutory Address:
- Front Street West, Wingate, TS28 5AA
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-10-02
- Reference:
- IOE01/08580/33
- Rights:
- © Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1158986
- Date first listed:
- 11-Oct-1985
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 18-Jan-2021
- List Entry Name:
- Wingate Grange Colliery Disaster Memorial
- Statutory Address 1:
- Front Street West, Wingate, TS28 5AA
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Front Street West, Wingate, TS28 5AA
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- County Durham (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Wingate
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ3997937097
Summary
Colliery disaster memorial, 1907 to designs of Douglas Crawford, sculpted by Borrowdale Brothers of Sunderland.
Reasons for Designation
The Wingate Grange Colliery Disaster Memorial, of 1907 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* an attractive design in the form of an obelisk with intricate decorative detailing;
* it displays good-quality materials and craftsmanship and creates a prominent landmark at the centre of the village.
Historic interest:
* it commemorates a major Durham coalfield mining disaster in 1906 in which 26 men died, and stands as a tangible expression of the hazards inherent in England's later-C19 and early-C20 coal mining industry.
Group value:
* it benefits from a spatial group value with the adjacent Grade II-listed Holy Trinity Church.
History
An explosion at the Lady Shaft at Wingate Grange Colliery occurred at about midnight on 14 October 1906 trapping all of the men working underground. Although 119 survivors were brought to the surface by rescuers, 26 men were killed. Many were killed by the noxious gas known as afterdamp and many by the force of the explosion itself. A subsequent inquiry found that the explosion was caused by the firing of a shot by one of the miners. The colliery disaster memorial funded by public subscription, was designed by local architect Douglas Crawford and erected by stonemasons Borrowdale Brothers at a total cost of £155. Proceeded by a procession headed by the banner and band of the Wingate Miners’ Lodge, the memorial was unveiled on 21 December 1907 by F W Lampton MP who said that ‘No-one would be able to pass it with indifference. It would bring to mind the dangers which beset a miner’s life’.
Details
Colliery disaster memorial, 1907 to designs of Douglas Crawford, sculpted by Borrowdale Brothers of Sunderland.
DESCRIPTION: the sandstone memorial stands about 4 metres high in the form of a faceted, tapering, sandstone obelisk. It stands upon a corniced base that is enriched with scroll brackets at its base. This surmounts a pedestal with squared corners framing convex panels to each face. The whole sits upon a moulded plinth and a two-stepped base. The partly-illegible front panel is inscribed: THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED/ BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION/ TO THE MEMORY OF THE/ TWENTY SIX MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES/IN THE EXPLOSION AT/ WINGATE GRANGE COLLIERY/ OCTOBER 14TH 1906. LET THEM REST FROM THEIR LABOURS. Inscribed on the east face of the pedestal is: BORROWDALE BROS./ SCULPTORS/ SUNDERLAND./ DOUGLAS CRAWFORD/ ARCHITECT. Inscribed on the other faces are the names of those who were killed in the disaster.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 109452
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Usherwood, P, Beach, J, Morris, C, Public Sculpture of North-East England, (2000), 278-9
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 27-Jun-2026 at 09:51:10.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.