MineArchiveTroutbeck Park Fall of Rock, 1887
| Date | 21 February 1887 |
|---|---|
| Mine | Troutbeck Park Green Slate Works |
| Region | Cumbria |
| Type | Collapse / Roof Fall |
| Fatalities | 2 (John Rowlandson, 29, and Joseph Woodcock, 30, both miners.) |
| Injuries | None recorded beyond the two deaths. |
| Context | During active mining |
Two miners at the Troutbeck Park green slate works, John Rowlandson and Joseph Woodcock, were killed on 21 February 1887 by a large piece of rock which fell on them while they were preparing to put a shot into it. The works had employed thirteen people four years earlier.
Cause
A large piece of rock fell on the two men while they were preparing to put a shot into it — that is, while drilling the hole to charge it.
Contributing factors
Nothing further is recorded in the sources read. The men were working at the rock they were about to blast, which is the moment at which a loosened mass is most likely to come away.
What happened
The two miners were working together at a piece of rock, drilling it to take a shot, when it fell on them. Both were killed. Rowlandson was twenty-nine and Woodcock thirty; the Durham Mining Museum gives the same account against both names, and its accident page for the day records two lives lost from the one fall, with the company named as the Troutbeck Park Green Slate Co Ltd.
Rescue & recovery
Nothing is recorded of the recovery in the sources read.
Investigation & inquiry
The accident appears in the Durham Mining Museum's index of accidents for 1887 with the cause given as fall of rock and two lives lost. No inquest report has been found.
Legal & regulatory aftermath
No proceedings are recorded in the sources read.
Changes to practice & legislation
Nothing recorded in the sources read.
Memorials & commemoration
No memorial specific to the accident has been identified.
Recorded claims
Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.
- John Rowlandson, 29, and Joseph Woodcock, 30, both miners, were killed on 21 February 1887; the museum's accident page gives two lives lost. 1,2
- A large piece of rock fell on the two men while they were preparing to put a shot into it. 2
Sources
- (secondary) Troutbeck Park Green Slate Works — Durham Mining Museum
- (secondary) Colliery accident, Troutbeck, 21 February 1887: two miners killed by a fall of rock — Durham Mining Museum, from the mines inspectors' records
Record created: 4 September 2026 · Last researched: 4 September 2026