Seaham and Rainton Colliery Disaster Memorial

Summary

Colliery disaster memorial, about 1881 to designs of C Ryder and Son of Bishop Auckland. Eclectic style with Gothic Revival and classical details.

Reasons for Designation

The Seaham and Rainton Colliery Disaster Memorial, of about 1881, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a tall and attractive eclectic Gothic Revival and classical design with decorative detailing and a moulded cross-head;
* fashioned by a local stone mason, it displays good-quality materials and craftsmanship and forms a poignant landmark alongside the 1871 Seaham Colliery disaster memorial.

Historic interest:

* it commemorates a major Durham coalfield mining disaster in 1880 in which more than 160 men and boys died, and stands as a tangible expression of the hazards inherent in England's later-C19 coal mining industry;
* unlike the first explosion at Seaham Colliery in 1871, this disaster contributed to advances in mine safety with the inquest recommending that the firing of shots should be prohibited when a large number of men were underground.

Group value:

* it benefits from a spatial group value with the listed Christ Church and a First and Second World War memorial, and it benefits from a spatial and historic group value with the Seaham Colliery disaster memorial of 1871.

History

On the 8 September 1880 at 2.30 am there was an explosion at Seaham Colliery. More than 200 miners were working underground at the time, and as news spread, within two hours several thousand people stood at the pit mouth. By noon a party of five men with a basket of provisions had been lowered into the pit. Within two hours they brought the first survivors to the surface, and by midnight 67 men had been recovered, with others rescued during the following day and night. The remaining men were found dead or entombed, many killed by the blast and many poisoned through inhaling the gas known as afterdamp. Several poignant messages were found associated with the bodies, one leaving a message for his wife Margaret scratched into his tin water-bottle. During the following three weeks 136 bodies were recovered, and others were found when the Maudlin Seam was re-opened the following June. The exact number who died is uncertain, but was upwards of 160. Over 150 pit ponies also perished.

The disaster received national news coverage, and an engraving of the rescue appeared on the front page of the London Illustrated News. While the ensuing inquest was inconclusive, the theory that the explosion was generated by the firing of a shot was favoured. In his report, Mr R S Wright the chief Government representative of the inquiry cited the 'urgent necessity for prohibiting the firing of shots when any large number of men are underground'.

The bodies of those killed were interred together next to the grave of those killed in the previous explosion of 1871 at Seaham. The memorial was commissioned by fellow workmen and friends of those killed in the disaster, and at its unveiling about 60,000 people attended the ceremony.

Details

Colliery disaster memorial, about 1881 to designs of C Ryder and Son of Bishop Auckland. Eclectic style with Gothic Revival and classical details.

MATERIALS: sandstone with slate tablets and granite colonettes.

DESCRIPTION: situated immediately outside Christ Church within a walled Garden of Rest, along with the 1871 Seaham Colliery Disaster memorial. A two-stage monument about 5 metres high. The lower stage comprises a square pedestal with a moulded and chamfered base. The pedestal has four round-headed slate tablets that record the names of those killed and are framed at the corners by colonnettes with mid-shaft rings and Corinthian-style capitals. There is a patterned coved frieze and chamfered cap. The upper stage has a square plinth with Biblical texts and chamfered corners containing fruit and flower carved reliefs. Above is a short cylindrical stage with an octagonal moulded base, clustered shafts and a carved frieze, surmounted by a moulded and carved cross.

The inscriptions are all in black Roman letters. At the base of the East face: ERECTED BY THE WORKMEN OF/ SEAHAM AND RAINTON COLLIERIES/ AND OTHER FRIENDS/ IN MEMORY OF THE 164 ABOVE NAMED MEN AND BOYS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES/ IN AN EXPLOSION AT SEAHAM COLLIERY ON THE 8TH SEPTEMBER 1860. On the North face: HE WILL/ SWALLOW/ UP DEATH IN/ VICTORY. Incised on the West face: BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD and: WHAT MAN/ IS HE THAT/ LIVETH AND SHALL/ NOT SEE DEATH. On South face: THIS GARDEN OF REST/ WAS PROVIDED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION/ IN MEMORY OF ALL SEAHAM MINERS/ WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN THE COURSE OF THEIR DUTY/ DEDICATED 1965. Incised on south face at the base of the pedestal: C Ryder & Son BP, Auckland.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

407843

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Usherwood, P, Beach, J, Morris, C, Public Sculpture of North-East England, (2000), 270-271

Websites
Durham Mining Museum website account of the disaster, accessed 03-07-2021 from http://www.dmm.org.uk/names/n1880-01.htm

End of official list entry

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