The Springwell Pit Disaster
8 young men died by falling to their deaths 6th December 1872 a few minutes past 4pm.
Around the time of the Springwell Pit disaster mining and agriculture were the main industries in Britain. The mining of coal and ironstone was very important to the industrial revolution, but it was a dangerous job and there were many accidents all over the country during the 1800’s.
The Springwell mining shaft was 150yds deep; there was a chain which went up and down the shaft all day long powered by an engine at the top.
The eight men involved in the accident had attached themselves to the triple linked chain and started to rise up the shaft from the bottom after a hard day’s work. A few yards from the top of the shaft the triple links snapped suddenly precipitating the men 50yrs down the pit and cruelly crushing them with hundreds of yards of iron chain.
All the men died instantly except one who died shortly after being brought up the shaft.
Tens of Thousands of people came to Dawley Parva village (what Dawley was called in those days) to witness the funeral of the eight young men.
John Davies (19, job- filler, Brandlee)
Edward Jones (21, job-miner, Little Dawley)
Isaiah Skelton (15, job-miner, Little Dawley)
Allen Wyke (20, job-miner, Holly Hedge)
Robert Smith (18, Job-miner, Holly Hedge)
William Bailey (21, married, job-miner, the Finey)
John Parker (22, job-miner, Holly Hedge)
John Yale (21, job-miner, Dawley)
The mines inspection report on this mishap is headed ‘The Appalling Pit Accident at Dawley’ and the Wellington Journal gave it a whole page.
The funeral took place at 2.30 pm at the Holy Trinity Church Tuesday December 10th 1872.
They were all interred in one vault at the Parish Church.
The ballad of the Spring Well pit disaster was printed and sold to provide
financial assistance to the families who suffered from this tragedy.
These verses were composed by W.R. Morgan who was a travelling photographer and an Artist born in Dawley. He lived at 3 King Street, Dawley
Ballad of the Springwell Pit Disaster
What a world of care and trouble,
Daily, nightly, we bewail;
The loss of father, brother, cousin,
Or some relative,….sad`s their tale,
Pelsall calamity scarcely o`er,
When awful news come to our ears,
That eight poor colliers have departed
Out of this mournful vale of tears.
`Twas on the sixth day of December,
At Springwell Pit, Sad to relate,
In Dawley Field, in brave old Shropshire,
Eight healthy men met their sad fate,
Their work begging done, for home preparing,
And to the bottom they came,
Little thinking their days were numbered,
And that they`d never see their home.
The band has started, eight ascending,
Cheerful as the noonday sun,
When, little thinking, for a moment,
Every man his race had run.
When lo! a whirl that colliers call it,
Took its awful course, we`re told,
And dashed the eight men to the bottom,
Smashed to atoms. But their souls ….
Were wafted, quick as lightning,
To their Maker, up on high;
Who gives us colliers daily warning,
That our end is very nigh.
We who toil and bravely labour,
Hard to earn our daily bread;
We cannot tell the day nor hour,
But when we may be brought home dead.
A fearful sight was at the bottom
Men cut and bruised from head to toe;
With tons of chain and iron upon them,
Which filled the collier`s heart with woe.
But fear and danger at such a moment,
Never enters a collier`s heart;
So they toiled with anxious labour,
In hope that some hurt, may have a spark.
Of life within their mangled bodies,
To cheer them toiling down below;
But strength and hope had nearly vanished.
Only two could breath, but lo,
Their prayers to God the only giver
Of life and health, were quickly raised;
That he had spared those few below,
To repent of sin and mend their ways.
So that at every moment,
They may stand for ever blest;
And always ready to meet danger,
To be sure of eternal rest.
So may Christ the loved Redeemer,
Fit each collier for above,
And unite each one as brother,
And turn all hatred into love.
May he bless the widowed mother,
And the offspring by her side:
May he crown the sorrowing mothers, -
Fathers, sisters, and brothers guide.
And each day give them grace and glory,
To guide their feet in paths of right;
That when their journey here is ended,
He`ll take them to eternal light.
Malcom Peel of the Dawley History Group and Paul Wolfe organized a memorial service at Holy Trinity Church on the 6th December 2008
Reference Sources
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/COALMINERS/2000-03/0951925568
http://www.dbhsonline.org/?p=197
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springwell_Pit_Disaster
http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/features/2002/05/mining_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2008/11/18/telford_pit_tragedy_feature.shtml
Shropshire Mining Club Year Book 1965-66 http://www.shropshirecmc.org.uk/
Author: Christine Garner
