Altofts Colliery explosion, 1886

The explosion in the Silkstone seam at Altofts Colliery near Normanton on 2 October 1886 killed twenty-two men in a pit that had worked for more than twenty years without a life lost to explosion. HM Inspector Frank Wardell traced it to a shot-hole drilled in a most unskilful way, which brought down little stone but threw a great deal of flame into a roadway where coal dust lay everywhere. Recovery took ten weeks of careful work, the inquest waiting until the last body was out, and the disaster became one of the foundations of British research into coal dust.

Cause

A shot fired in the Silkstone seam from a badly drilled hole, which did its work only partially and diffused flame into a roadway coated with coal dust.

What happened

Altofts Collieries, the property of Pope and Pearson Limited, embraced several shafts near Normanton and worked three seams. The explosion of 2 October 1886 occurred in the Silkstone seam, worked there at a depth of 430 yards. The colliery had been worked for more than twenty years and had never before lost a life to an explosion. Until a few months earlier it had been lit entirely by naked lights; safety lamps had been introduced by degrees and were in use throughout the mine by October, except at the shaft bottoms and for prescribed distances along the main intake roads, with gas piped from the surface lighting the pit porch, an underground engine house and the roads near the shafts.

Rescue & recovery

The falls in the mine were very extensive and, beyond a small radius of the shaft bottoms where the undercasts had been blown out, ventilation was entirely at a standstill, so that gas accumulated through the workings. Recovery and the restoration of the ventilation were carried out slowly and with the greatest caution, for fear that air reaching any smouldering fire might fan it into flame and cause a second explosion. The work took some ten weeks and was accomplished without further disaster or loss of life.

Investigation & inquiry

Frank N. Wardell, HM Inspector of Mines, reported finally on the explosion to the Home Secretary, and his report was presented to both Houses of Parliament in 1887, together with a printed account of the inquest proceedings. He concluded that a third shot-hole had been drilled in a most unskilful way and that, though not exactly a blown-out shot, it had brought down very little material while diffusing a great deal of flame into a roadway heavy with coal dust.

Memorials & commemoration

Unknown.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Altofts Collieries near Normanton, the property of Pope and Pearson Limited, embraced several shafts and worked three seams; the explosion of 2 October 1886 was in the Silkstone seam at 430 yards, and the colliery had been worked for more than twenty years without any loss of life from explosion. ¹
• Until a few months before the explosion the mine had been lit by naked lights exclusively; safety lamps had been brought in by degrees and were in use throughout by October 1886, except at the shaft bottoms and for prescribed distances along the main intakes, while the pit porch, an underground engine house and the roads near the shafts were lit by gas piped from the surface. ¹
• The inspector found that a third shot-hole had been drilled in a most unskilful way; although not exactly a blown-out shot, it did its work only partially, bringing down very little material and diffusing a great deal of flame into a roadway where coal dust lay on the roof, the sides and the floor. ¹
• The inquest could not be held until all the bodies had been recovered some ten weeks after the explosion, the falls being very extensive and ventilation at a standstill beyond a small radius of the shafts; the work was done slowly and with great caution, for fear that air reaching a smouldering fire might cause another explosion, and was completed without further loss of life. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Report, Altofts Colliery Explosion, 1886 (pitwork pages) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) West Riding and Silkstone Collieries (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 20 September 2026