Washington Glebe Colliery explosion, 1908

The Glebe Pit at Washington was four years old when it exploded on 20 February 1908, killing fourteen people and five ponies. Its shafts had been sunk through the surface deposits by the freezing process to the Low Main seam at 114 fathoms, and it was in the Low Main, where whole working had begun only sixteen months before, that the explosion started and stayed. The inspector's report set out the shotfiring with permitted explosives fired by battery, and noted that the air had not been measured since five days before the explosion.

Cause

An explosion originating in the Low Main seam. The inspector's report describes the shotfiring practice and the recent change to the ventilation, after which no measurement of the air was taken.

What happened

Washington Glebe, usually called the Glebe Pit, had been established only four years when it exploded, its shafts sunk through the surface deposits by the freezing process. Both shafts went down to the Low Main seam at 114 fathoms, passing through the Main Coal at 94 fathoms and the Maudlin at 104, and a road in the Maudlin connected the Glebe underground with the older F Pit. Four or five days before the explosion a stone drift driven up from the Low Main to the Maudlin had made a third connection between the two seams. The Hutton seam, ten fathoms below the Low Main, had been worked many years before from an abandoned colliery at Oxclose, and those old workings extended under the Glebe. The explosion of 20 February 1908 began in the Low Main and was confined to it. Whole working there, under the bord and pillar system, had started only in October 1906. Fourteen people were killed, and the five ponies that drew the wooden ten-hundredweight tubs died with them.

Rescue & recovery

Unknown.

Investigation & inquiry

HM Inspectors of Mines reported on the explosion at length, describing the shafts, seams and ventilation, the shotfiring with permitted explosives fired by electric battery, and a change made to the ventilation shortly before the explosion after which no measurement of the air was taken; the last recorded measurement was on 15 February 1908. The overman told the inquest that he had examined the workings after the change was made.

Memorials & commemoration

A memorial to the 1908 Washington Glebe disaster is recorded by the Durham Mining Museum.

Recorded claims

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

• The Glebe Pit had been established only four years when it exploded: its shafts were sunk through the surface deposits by the freezing process, and both went down to the Low Main seam at 114 fathoms, passing the Main Coal at 94 and the Maudlin at 104. ¹
• The explosion of 20 February 1908 originated in and was confined to the Low Main seam, where whole working under the bord and pillar system had begun only in October 1906; fourteen people and five ponies were killed. ^1,2
• Mark Ford was certificated manager of both the Glebe and the older F Pit, and John Cockburn, holder of a first-class certificate, was under-manager of the Glebe; the inspector found both careful and efficient in their conduct of the collieries. ¹
• Shots were fired with permitted explosives -- Bellite No. 3 in the working places and Bellite No. 1 on the main roads -- by electric battery, about sixteen inches of bottom stone being shot up at night in the ordinary working places to make height for the ponies and tubs. ¹
• No measurement of the air was made after a change to the ventilation shortly before the explosion; the last recorded measurement in the ventilation book was on 15 February 1908, five days before. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Washington Glebe Colliery Disaster Report (1908) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Memorials: 1908 Washington Glebe Colliery Disaster (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 20 September 2026