MineArchiveHarraton Colliery explosion, 1794
| Date | 11 June 1794 |
|---|---|
| Mine | Harraton Colliery |
| Region | Tyne and Wear |
| Type | Explosion |
| Fatalities | 28 (Durham Mining Museum gives 28 lives lost, matching the 28 individually named burials the Northern Mine Research Society transcribes from the Chester-le-Street parish register (23 buried 12 June, 1 on 13 June, 2 on 14 June, 2 on 26 June). NMRS's own prose summary says 'the loss of twenty lives', an internal inconsistency with its own list; the 28-name burial register and DMM's figure are treated as the reliable count.) |
| Context | During active mining |
An explosion at Harraton Colliery on 11 June 1794 killed 28 men and boys, recorded in the Chester-le-Street parish burial register rather than in any surviving inquest or inspector's account — one of the earliest well-documented mass-fatality colliery explosions in the Durham coalfield.
Cause
Neither source read for this pass states a specific cause beyond 'explosion'; no inquest or inspector's account has been located (mine inspection did not yet exist in 1794).
What happened
Harraton Colliery, on the west side of the River Wear, had been profitable since the Commonwealth period; in 1647 the London leather-seller Josiah Primat spent £2,000 reopening the Five Quarter and Nine Quarter seams, flooded since Cromwell's army inundated them in 1642. An explosion at the colliery on 11 June 1794 killed 28 men and boys. No inquest, newspaper account or inspector's report has been found — mine inspection in Britain did not begin until 1850 — and the fullest surviving record is the Chester-le-Street parish burial register, which lists the dead by name and, for some, their family relationships and home village (Harraton New Row, Lambton, Rickleton, Birtley Lane, Picktree and Pit Hill), across burials on 12, 13, 14 and 26 June 1794.
Investigation & inquiry
No inquest or contemporary official investigation has been found; formal mine inspection did not exist in Britain until 1850.
Memorials & commemoration
No memorial has been found for this disaster.
Recorded claims
Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.
- 28 lives lost on 11 June 1794 (Durham Mining Museum, citing John Sykes's Local Records, 1833). 1
- 28 individuals named in the Chester-le-Street parish burial register, buried 12-26 June 1794, though NMRS's own prose summary of the same page says 'the loss of twenty lives' (Northern Mine Research Society, citing Galloway's Annals of Coal Mining, Vol. 1, p.312). 2
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: “An explosion at Harraton Colliery on 11 June 1794 killed 28 men and boys, recorded in the…”
Sources
- (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Harraton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
- (secondary) Harraton Colliery Explosion - Harraton - 1794 — Northern Mine Research Society
Record created: 4 September 2026 · Last researched: 14 September 2026