Bigge Pit explosion, 1829

In December 1829 an explosion at Willington Colliery, North Tyneside, accompanied by a rush of water from old workings, killed four men.

Cause

An explosion, accompanied by a rush of water from old workings.

What happened

Willington Colliery, whose Bigge Pit stood at Willington on the north bank of the Tyne, was owned by the Bell and Brown partnership, a mining venture begun in the eighteenth century by the draper Matthew Bell and William Brown. In December 1829 an explosion in the colliery, accompanied by a rush of water from old workings, killed four men. The contemporary register enters it under 3 December; the county's historic environment record gives 31 December. Two years later the colliery fired again when the Bensham seam was broken into, and in 1841 an explosion at the Bigge Pit killed thirty-two.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The explosion took place on 31 December 1829. (disputed) ¹
• The accident is entered under 3 December 1829. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• In December 1829 an explosion at Willington Colliery killed four men. ^1,2
• The explosion was accompanied by a rush of water from old workings. ²
• The explosion took place on 31 December 1829. (disputed) ¹
• The accident is entered under 3 December 1829. (disputed) ²
• The colliery was owned by the partnership of Bell and Brown. ¹

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “In December 1829 an explosion at Willington Colliery, North Tyneside, accompanied by a rush of water from old workings,…”

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) Willington Colliery, Bigge Pit — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
2. (primary) Local Records; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events, vol. 2 (J. Sykes, 1866 edition) — Internet Archive

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026