On Sunday 20 September 1857 a surface boiler burst at Trimdo

On Sunday 20 September 1857 a surface boiler burst at Trimdon Grange Colliery, in County Durham, killing two young workers, one of them a boy of sixteen.

Cause

The middle of five connected boilers, weakened by a plate of inferior iron that had grown brittle and crystalline with long exposure to the fire, burst under ordinary working pressure at a longitudinal seam.

What happened

John Orton, aged 17, and John Roper, a fireman of 16, were killed when the middle of five connected boilers, loaded at 35 lb per square inch and supplying a surface pumping engine and an underground hauling engine, exploded. The Inspector found the boiler had burst under ordinary pressure at a longitudinal seam on its underside, where an overlap of inferior iron had become brittle and crystalline from long exposure to the fire; the boiler was blown into three parts and the two next to it rolled out of their seats. He drew from it the lesson that fire-exposed boiler plates should be renewed within a set period rather than kept until leakage or visible wasting appeared.

Sources

1. (primary) Trimdon Grange Colliery boiler explosion, 20 September 1857 (from the 1857 Mines Inspector's Report) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Trimdon Grange Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 22 September 2026 · Last researched: 22 September 2026