Pretoria

[TANGODANCER]

102 years today since the Pretoria pit disaster in Westhoughton killed 345 men and boys. Spare a quiet prayer and a thought for the families.. One descendant said today that there were four coffins in one room of his family home on Christmas Eve, one of them a thirteen year old lad. It was his first day at work. Awful. R.I.P.

[Montreal Wanderer]

102 years today since the Pretoria pit disaster in Westhoughton killed 345 men and boys. Spare a quite prayer. One descendant said today that there were four coffins in one room of his family on Christmas Eve, one of them a thirteen year old lad. It was his first day at work. Awful. R.I.P.

[ron]

Also a new memorial unveiled this week. RIP
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ma ... r-20808678" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Difficult to imagine how there could be 13 unidentified bodies?

[Bruce Rioja]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

[Wandering Willy]

Those photos are very moving. I wanted to say "great" but somehow it didn't seem appropriate.

[clapton is god]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

I'm pretty sure its Hart Common out towards Hindley town centre, just before what used to be Hart Common school on the right. There's a memorial there on a patch of land by the last cottage.

[Bruce Rioja]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

I'm pretty sure its Hart Common out towards Hindley town centre, just before what used to be Hart Common school on the right. There's a memorial there on a patch of land by the last cottage.

Cheers, Clapton.

[jaffka]

Difficult to imagine how there could be 13 unidentified bodies?

Sometimes it was used for when there wasnt a body recovered.

Also used when bodies are that mangled that no identity can take place.

No DNA profiling in those days.

[Harry Genshaw]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

I'm pretty sure its Hart Common out towards Hindley town centre, just before what used to be Hart Common school on the right. There's a memorial there on a patch of land by the last cottage.

Have to say I dont know either, but that would surprise me -I always thought it was in the area between Chequerbent & Atherton -round Platt Lane

[Montreal Wanderer]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

I'm pretty sure its Hart Common out towards Hindley town centre, just before what used to be Hart Common school on the right. There's a memorial there on a patch of land by the last cottage.

Cheers, Clapton.

Long story in the B(E)N, Bruce which appears to give locations.

Hulton Colliery Bank Pit numbers one and two shafts were sunk in 1897 and were locally known as Klondike Pit.

They were about three quarters of a mile to the west, south of Chequerbent, and not connected underground to Pretoria.

Bank Pit numbers three and four were sunk in 1900 to 1901 on the northern border of Atherton and Over Hulton.

More commonly known as Pretoria Pit, the colliery lay underneath the south edge of Hulton Park on the lands of Sir William Hulton. (Number one on the map) The shafts were 18ft wide and about 75 yards apart, with number four as the downcast shaft and three as the upcast.

It was given its name because when the shafts were sunk the British had recently captured the South African city of Pretoria during the Boer War.

The shafts led to six coal seams where miners in their hundreds worked in cramped conditions.

[clapton is god]

^ I stand corrected. In fact, further research (not that I did any in the first place) shows the memoriam I have seen at Hart Common Colliery to be a war memorial. Knew I'd seen something out there.

[TANGODANCER]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

I always thought it was on the Hulton land on the left as you drive from Four Lane Ends towards Howfen. Despite living there for ten years I never really knew as there's apparently nothing left to show apart from a small memorial in a field. My kids were all Christened in Howfen Parish Church and most of the deceased are buried there. My mate would know exactly, he's lived there all his life, but he's on holiday right now. I'll try to find out for sure.

[ron]

there's a map in this article
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Westhoughton/ ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Difficult to imagine how there could be 13 unidentified bodies?

Sometimes it was used for when there wasnt a body recovered.

Also used when bodies are that mangled that no identity can take place.

No DNA profiling in those days.

Yes, I suppose it must be one of those two things.

My first thought was that it was very sad that there were 13 bodies that were known as missing and had no friends or family to 'claim' them.

[Sponge]

From Wikipedia:

"That day 345 workers descended the No 3 pit shaft to work in the Plodder, Yard and Three Quarters mines. Of those, only four survived to be brought to the surface. One died immediately and one the next day. [...] Many of the fatalities were from the same family. The worst affected was the Tyldesley family in which Mrs Miriam Tyldesley lost her husband, four sons and two brothers."

[Bruce Rioja]

there's a map in this article
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Westhoughton/ ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks, Ron. That's a mind-clearing if ultimately heart-breaking piece. Thanks, Fella.

[Dujon]

Seconded, ron. My paternal grandfather died as a result of his mining activities - sclerosis of the lungs or heart attack, depending on which story you believe - when my father was just a lad. That has always left a vague interest in the subject of mines 'back then'. He and my grandmother lived in Leigh and I've always assumed that he worked in a local colliery, but that is really an assumption.

What a price to pay!

[TANGODANCER]

I've never actually known where this colliery was. Was it off of Chequerbent?

I always thought it was on the Hulton land on the left as you drive from Four Lane Ends towards Howfen. .

For what it's worth: Used an old map and a new one ( not to scale) because the woods etc are still there with the land apparently un-built on. Pretty much where I thought it was.

[ron]

Seconded, ron. My paternal grandfather died as a result of his mining activities - sclerosis of the lungs or heart attack, depending on which story you believe - when my father was just a lad. That has always left a vague interest in the subject of mines 'back then'. He and my grandmother lived in Leigh and I've always assumed that he worked in a local colliery, but that is really an assumption.

What a price to pay!

My Great Granddad was part of the recovery operation(which went right through Christmas and for weeks after). He died a few years later aged 40 and his widow told my Dad that he never recovered from the shock of it all. Indeed the family lost a cousin, Ralph Shaw, in the accident - he left a wife and four kids(with another on the way). An almost unthinkable situation to be in, but so many widows were left in a similar position.