Blackwell Colliery roof fall, 1878

A stallman, Isaac Jones, and his loader, James Priestman, were killed by a fall of roof at Blackwell A Winning on 31 October 1878; the inspector found the stallman had not set timber as he took away the coal.

Date	31 October 1878
Mine	Blackwell Colliery
Region	Derbyshire
Type	Collapse / Roof Fall
Fatalities	2 (Two: Isaac Jones, 37, stallman, and James Priestman, 20, loader.)
Context	During active mining

Half of a spoked colliery winding wheel set in the ground on a grass verge, with a sign in front of it. — A winding wheel from the colliery, set up as a memorial to those who worked at A Winning, 1871-1969 Graham Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

Cause

A fall of roof where the stallman had neglected to set timber as he took away the coal.

What happened

On 31 October 1878 a fall of roof at Blackwell A pit, worked by the Blackwell Colliery Company, killed the stallman Isaac Jones, 37, and his loader, James Priestman, 20. The inspector's finding was that Jones had neglected to set the timber as he took away the coals.

Investigation & inquiry

Thomas Evans, inspector for the Midland district, recorded the accident in his report for 1878 (C 2321) and put it down to the stallman's failure to set timber.

Recorded claims

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

A fall of roof at Blackwell A on 31 October 1878 killed Isaac Jones and James Priestman. ^1,2,3,4
The stallman had neglected to set the timber as he took away the coals. ^1,2,3,4
Jones, 37, was a stallman and Priestman, 20, a loader. ^2,3,4
The pit was worked by the Blackwell Colliery Company. ^2,3

Related terminology

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

Coal (contextual relationship)
Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…inspector found the stallman had not set timber as he took away the coal.”
Filler (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “A stallman, Isaac Jones, and his loader, James Priestman, were killed by a fall of roof at Blackwell A…”
Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…Isaac Jones, and his loader, James Priestman, were killed by a fall of roof at Blackwell A Winning on 31 October 1878; the inspector found the…”

Sources

(primary) Blackwell Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) Durham Mining Museum: Colliery Accident 1878 (Blackwell A) — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) 1870s J2: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero
(secondary) 1870s P2: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026