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This post takes us back to 1863. At this time much of Gosforth as we know it today was yet to be developed. To add a little context to the timeline we will say a little about Job Bulman.
Job Bulman
Job Bulman was born in Gateshead about 1744 and is believed to have made his fortune in India. On returning to England he bought land in Coxlodge township – modern Gosforth – and built Coxlodge Hall.
During his lifetime Job Bulman sold off portions of the estate. Following Job’s death in 1818 Coxlodge Hall was let and in 1832 was sold to John Anderson, a banker. For more information about Job Bulman and Coxlodge Hall see our blog – https://househistoryresearch.uk/coxlodge-hall-gosforth/ Bulman descendants retained ownership of some of the Coxlodge estate lands. In 1862, they sold a plot of 135 acres to Matthew Clayton, gentleman, of Newcastle. This led to the formation of the Gosforth Park Estate Company. This formation in turn led to the development of much of Victorian Gosforth.
Morpeth Herald – Saturday 14 March 1863
Transcription
“DREADFUL EXPLOSION AT COXLODGE COLLIERY. It is again our painful duty to record one of those melancholy events which so often occur to spread a gloom over the district, and carrying desolation to our colliery villages. On Friday morning the 6th instant, about six o’clock, an explosion took place at Coxlodge Colliery, where by nineteen human beings met an untimely end. Coxlodge is situate about two miles from Newcastle, close to the old turnpike road leading to Morpelh. It is the property of Mr. Joshua Bower, of Leeds, the owner of Burradon Colliery, where a most disastrous explosion occurred exactly three years ago.
Coxlodge Colliery is provided with three shafts, the Prince Regent, the Jubilee, and the Fawdon. The Prince Regent and Fawdon are downcast, and the Jubilee is the upcast shaft. In fact, there is a fourth shaft, which might be rendered available in case of need. The accident occurred about a mile and a half north of the Regent Pit, at a place called Leonard’s Cross Cut. Thirteen hewers and twelve boys were working at this part of the mine. About twenty men and boys were working at a place still further north, called the Gosforth drift.
All the deaths, it is said, were in reality caused by the after-damp. Five only were burnt by the explosion. Their names are, Robert and Michael Bell (father and son). Edward Ramsay, Robert Storehouse, and William Walton, all hewers except Walton, who is a putter. The two Bells have fallen victims ; the other three were recovered before the afterdamp had taken fatal effect, and, not being severely burnt, they are likely to recover. The poor fellows who were working at the Gosforth drift were of course left, as it may be said, to the mercy of the foul air, the ventilation on which they depended being cut off by the explosion. It is in fact a marvel that any of them escaped. Seven of the men, however, managed to do so by breaking down a stopping, by means of which they got into the return air, and so to the Jubilee upcast shaft, by which they got safely to bank*.
About 70 men and boys were in the mine at the time of the explosion, but the greater portion were working at other parts of the mine, nearer the down-cast shaft, and had no difficulty in escaping by that means of egress. The only damage caused to the mine was the blowing out of a single stopping, which was at the same time the cause of the sad fatality to the lives of the workmen, by interrupting the ventilation, and so allowing the fatal choke damp or carbonic acid gas to accumulate at the shot where it occurred. These facts all go to show that the explosion must have been comparatively slight. The ventilation was restored immediately on the stopping being renewed, and the bodies of the men were all recovered within a few hours of the accident.
What caused the explosion is a point which we trust will be cleared up at the coroner’s inquest. The officials of the colliery state that there was a good current of air running through the whole of the workings. The fresh air entering by the downcast shafts, is divided into separate and independent currents; and we are informed that 11,000 cubic feet of air per minute went to that portion of the workings where the explosion occurred, the whole extent of them being 11 to 12 acres. Here the men had commenced co work the pillars or ” broken,” as it is called. Four were working with naked lights, and the rest with safety lamps. Certainly the presence of naked lights raises the presumption that there had been a want of precaution on the part of those who had charge of the mine, and this will be a point on which the fullest explanation is urgently demanded.
It would seem that the officials themselves did not apprehend danger from this source, as we are informed that George Turnbull, a deputy, was in these very workings not ten minutes before the explosion, and be was forty or fifty yards further in when it happened. Turnbull was one of those who escaped. The men who were at work were the first shift. They entered the mine about three o’clock in the morning, previous to which the deputies had made their customary examination to ascertain that all was safe. The accident is supposed to have been caused in this way. It appears that the only seam working is the high main but there is a thin seam from 10 to 18 feet above it A fall of the roof would bring down the gas from the upper seam, and the gas so brought down and the tailing ” off to the naked lights would cause an explosion.
The following is a complete list of the sufferers :Robert Bell, aged 37, hewer. Michael Bell, 17, son of the above, hewer. David Mole, 31, married, hewer. Thomas Baker, 38, married, hewer. Robert Rowell,2l, hewer. Thomas Nichol, 19, hewer. Thomas Patterson, 19, putter. Mark Simpson. putter. – ‘ Isaac Bambrougb, 18, putter. Wilson Harrison, 16, driver. Joseph Waugh, 14, driver. George Pattison, 16, driver. Robert Maugban, 13, driver. Robert Hutton, 12, driver. Robert Weallans, 15, driver. George Ramsay, driver. Mark Short, 13 driver. William Reed, 13, trapper. Robert Harm, 16. The married men have left widows end dependent children to deplore their loss.
William Kenrick, a boy, had both his legs and collar bone broken. He was blown off a tub by the force of the explosion, but was got out alive. It is worthy of remark that nearly all the sufferers were boys or young men, and those who were married were in the prime of life, viewer, Mr. William Maddison, resides at Bulman’s Village. His two sons are overmen at the colliery; and Mr. Wm. Johnson, the under viewer, resides close at hand.
The Government Inspector, Mr. M. Dunn, went down the pit about half past ten o’clock that day, and. we are informed that he has been down the pit once before, but at what period we are not very distinctly informed. Mr. Russell, the viewer of the neighbouring colliery of Gosforth, also inspected the workings in the course of the day. Mr. Crone, of Seaton Burn, and Mr. T. E. Forster, of Seaton Delaval, were on the spot to render advice and assistance if such had been required. The ventilation, however, having been so little interfered with by the explosion, the mine will soon, and without much difficulty, be restored to working order. Mr. S. Reed, coroner for the district, opened an inquest at the Brandling Arms, pro forma, and the jury having viewed the bodies, the inquest was adjourned till Wednesday, at ten o’clock. “
*unsure if bank is the correct word in this instance. The text is copied from the British Library News Archive site BNA.
More on Coxlodge Colliery
A little more on Coxlodge Colliery with depictions by Thomas Hair prior to 1839.
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