Sherwood Colliery roof fall, 1912

A fall of about a hundred tons covered a newly widened passbye 150 yards from the pit bottom at Sherwood Colliery, Mansfield, on 12 December 1912, killing two stallmen.

Cause

A fall of about 100 tons on a newly widened road, which ran out the new bars.

What happened

On 12 December 1912 two stallmen, Walter Allsop, 40, and William Henry Wattam, 38, were widening a main road at a passbye, 150 yards from the pit bottom of Sherwood Colliery, Mansfield. The road was closely and substantially timbered and covered over, but a fall of about 100 tons came down over the whole newly widened length, 32 feet long and 13 feet 6 inches wide, running out all eight newly set bars without breaking them. It took four hours to recover the first body.

Rescue & recovery

Recovery of the first body took four hours.

Recorded claims

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

• On 12 December 1912 a fall killed two stallmen widening a main road at Sherwood Colliery. ^1,2
• The dead were Walter Allsop, 40, and William Henry Wattam, 38. ¹
• About 100 tons fell over the widened road, 32 feet by 13 feet 6 inches, running out all eight new bars. ^1,2
• The colliery was owned by the Sherwood Colliery Co. Ltd. ²

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: “…a newly widened passbye 150 yards from the pit bottom at Sherwood Colliery, Mansfield, on 12 December 1912, killing two stallmen.”

Sources

1. (primary) Sherwood Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Walter Allsop, Sherwood, 1912 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 18 October 2026 · Last researched: 18 October 2026