The Trimdon Grange Explosion

A ballad written by the Durham pitman poet Tommy Armstrong within days of the explosion that killed 74 men and boys at Trimdon Grange Colliery on 16 February 1882, and sung by him at the local Mechanics' Hall to raise money for the widows and orphans. It became his best-known song and, from 1962 onwards, a standard of the folk revival.

The mining history in this record

Thomas Armstrong (1848–1920), born at Shotley Bridge and working underground from boyhood, was known as 'The Pitman Poet' and 'The Bard of the Northern Coalfield'. He wrote largely in Geordie and Pitmatic, chronicling the life of the Durham coalfield and, repeatedly, its disasters, and sold his songs as broadsides to support a family of fourteen children.

He set The Trimdon Grange Explosion to the tune of the parlour song 'Go and Leave Me If You Wish It', and performed it at the Mechanics' Hall in the village within days of the disaster, the proceeds going to the bereaved. The song names three of the dead — the brothers Joseph, George and James Burnett, aged 23, 19 and 17, all of whom appear in the colliery's casualty record as killed in the explosion and buried at East End Cemetery, Trimdon.

The literary historian Martha Vicinus placed the ballad as an example of the later nineteenth-century pit disaster poem, in which the traditional tone of lament is joined by elements of straight reportage.

People

Thomas 'Tommy' Armstrong (1848–1920), pitman and songwriter, of Tanfield and Tantobie, County Durham — the author. Joseph, George and James Burnett, brothers aged 23, 19 and 17, named in the song's second verse and recorded among the dead in the colliery's own casualty list. Louis Killen and Martin Carthy, who carried the song into the folk revival.

Legacy today

A. L. Lloyd collected a verse of the song from R. Sewell of Newcastle in June 1951, taking the remainder of the text from J. Jefferson of Trimdon Grange, and printed it in Come All Ye Bold Miners; it carries Roud number 3189. From 1962, when Louis Killen recorded it for Topic's EP The Collier's Rant, it has been recorded many times, by Martin Carthy and Bob Davenport among others, and appeared on Topic's 1965 album Tommy Armstrong of Tyneside. It is now the piece by which Armstrong is most widely known, and one of the few nineteenth-century Durham pit songs in continuous performance.

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.

• The ballad was written by Tommy Armstrong to the tune of the parlour song 'Go and Leave Me If You Wish It', and sung by him at the Mechanics' Hall in Trimdon Grange within days of the explosion. (documented fact) ^1,2
• Armstrong composed and performed the song to raise money for the widows and orphans of those killed. (contemporary account) ¹
• The song's second verse names Joseph, George and James — the Burnett brothers, aged 23, 19 and 17, all recorded in the colliery's casualty list as killed in the explosion and buried at East End Cemetery, Trimdon. (documented fact) ^3,2
• A. L. Lloyd collected one verse from R. Sewell of Newcastle in June 1951 and took the rest of the text from J. Jefferson of Trimdon Grange; the song carries Roud number 3189. (documented fact) ^1,4
• From Louis Killen's 1962 recording on Topic's The Collier's Rant onwards the song has been recorded many times, including by Martin Carthy and Bob Davenport. (documented fact) ^1,2

Mines

• Trimdon Grange Colliery — County Durham
  The song is about the explosion at this colliery, and names three of its dead.

Disasters

• Trimdon Grange Colliery Explosion, 1882 — 16 February 1882
  Written within days of the disaster and performed locally to raise money for the widows and orphans.

Real-world mining concepts used here

Colliery

Sources

1. (secondary) The Trimdon Grange Explosion (Roud 3189) — Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
2. (secondary) Tommy Armstrong (singer-songwriter) — Wikipedia
3. (primary) Trimdon Grange Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Trimdon Grange Explosion — Folk Song and Music Hall

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026