Lofthouse Colliery Disaster Memorial

The Lofthouse Colliery disaster memorial is a seven-sided obelisk on Batley Road at Wrenthorpe, near Wakefield, standing above the place where seven miners were trapped when water burst into Lofthouse Colliery on 21 March 1973. It names the seven, only one of whom was ever brought out, and is ringed by seven small trees; a service is held there each anniversary.

The mining history in this record

In the early hours of 21 March 1973 a new face in district South 9B of Lofthouse Colliery broke into the long-abandoned, flooded workings of Old Low Laithes Colliery, whose existence the mine surveyors had not known of. Some three million gallons of water rushed in. Most of the men nearby escaped through another district, but seven were trapped about 750 feet below ground. A six-day rescue effort recovered only the body of Charles Cotton.

The other six are believed to lie entombed beneath the ground at Batley Road, and a seven-sided stone obelisk bearing the names of all seven was erected there, above the point where they were trapped.

People

The seven dead: Frederick Armitage (41), Colin Barnaby (36), Frank Billingham (48), Sydney Brown (36), Charles Cotton (49), Edward Finnegan (40) and Alan Haigh (30).

Legacy today

The obelisk stands in a small memorial garden on the south side of Batley Road, opposite Wrenthorpe Lane, ringed by seven small trees. A service is usually held there on 21 March, and former miners still come to lay flowers; services and reunions in Wakefield and Wrenthorpe marked the fortieth anniversary in 2013.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• A seven-sided stone obelisk listing the seven miners who died was erected at Wrenthorpe above the point where they were trapped. (documented fact) ^1,2
• The memorial on Batley Road, just off the M1 near Wakefield, is surrounded by seven small trees. (documented fact) ^1,3
• An anniversary service is usually held at the monument on 21 March. (contemporary account) ³
• The seven were Frederick Armitage, Colin Barnaby, Frank Billingham, Sydney Brown, Charles Cotton, Edward Finnegan and Alan Haigh; only Cotton's body was recovered. (documented fact) ¹
• Services and reunions in Wakefield and Wrenthorpe marked the 40th anniversary in March 2013. (documented fact) ¹

Mines

• Lofthouse Colliery — West Yorkshire
  The memorial stands at Wrenthorpe over the place where seven Lofthouse Colliery men were trapped by the inrush of 21 March 1973, and names them.

Disasters

• Lofthouse Colliery disaster, 1973 — 21 March 1973

Real-world mining concepts used here

Colliery

Sources

1. (secondary) Lofthouse Colliery disaster — Wikipedia
2. (observational) Lofthouse Colliery Disaster Memorial - Batley Road (Geograph 993615) — Geograph
3. (secondary) 'It shouldn't be forgotten' - the tragedy of the Lofthouse Colliery Disaster — Yorkshire Live (Huddersfield Examiner)

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026