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

Colliery disaster memorial, 1907 to designs of Douglas Crawford, sculpted by Borrowdale Brothers of Sunderland. Read the official list entry to find out more.

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

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places. Almost 350,000 photos and stories have been added so far.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2002-10-02
Reference:: IOE01/08580/33
Rights:: © Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official 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

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.