Murton Colliery roof fall, 1892

Two timber drawers recovering props from a worked-out jud at Murton Colliery were killed by a heavy roof fall in the early hours of 24 November 1892.

Cause

A heavy fall of roof while timber was being drawn from a broken jud.

What happened

In the sixth hour of the night shift, at 3.45 a.m. on 24 November 1892, two timber drawers at Murton Colliery, Samuel Gilroy and Robert Kennedy, were drawing the timber out of a broken jud when a heavy fall of roof came down and killed them both where they stood. Both were buried at Holy Trinity, Murton.

Recorded claims

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

• At 3.45 a.m. on 24 November 1892 two timber drawers, Samuel Gilroy and Robert Kennedy, were killed by a fall of roof at Murton Colliery. ^1,2,3
• They were drawing timber out of a broken jud when a heavy fall of roof came down and killed them both on the spot. ^1,2,3
• The colliery belonged to the South Hetton Coal Company Ltd. ^2,3

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “Two timber drawers recovering props from a worked-out jud at Murton Colliery were killed by a heavy roof fall in the early hours of 24 November…”
• Putter (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “Two timber drawers recovering props from a worked-out jud at Murton Colliery were…”
• Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…from a worked-out jud at Murton Colliery were killed by a heavy roof fall in the early hours of 24 November 1892.”

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Murton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) 1890s K: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)
3. (secondary) Mining deaths 1890-1899, surnames G part 2 (Ian Winstanley) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's mining deaths lists)

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026