Lee, Watson and Company's East Ardsley Pits

Overview

Two early coal pits of Lee, Watson and Company at East Ardsley, near Wakefield, flooded from old workings on 30 June 1809; ten men and boys drowned, and four were brought up alive after three days and nights, a rescue that inspired a play and gave a row of miners' cottages the name Who Could Have Thought It.

History

Lee, Watson and Company worked two coal pits at East Ardsley, near Wakefield, in the early nineteenth century. On Friday 30 June 1809 the colliers were driving through a fault when they broke into exhausted old pits nearby, and water rushed through with irresistible force, flooding the pit where they were working. Three lads near the shaft got into the bucket and were drawn up unhurt, but eleven men and three boys were shut in.

Two engines were set to drain the pit, and colliers from the works of Brandling, Smithson, Fenton, Wood and Walker joined the effort. On the Monday voices were heard from below, and two men and two boys, John Hudson, Robert Kendrew, William Broad and Joseph Goodyear, were drawn up alive after three days and nights without food except a little bread that Kendrew shared. Ten others died, among them the brothers John and Aaron Haigh, who drowned trying to get out; they were buried at Woodkirk and East Ardsley on 4 and 5 July. The cottages at Spring Bottom where the miners lived became known as Who Could Have Thought It, a name on Ordnance Survey maps until about 1930, and in 1818 the Rev. James Plumptre wrote a play about the survivors, Kendrew; or, The Coal Mine.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

Two pits, worked from shafts with a bucket; the workings were driving through a fault towards older, abandoned pits.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The first newspaper report gave ten men and four boys drowned, then six men. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• On 30 June 1809 water from old workings flooded two pits of Lee, Watson and Company at East Ardsley; ten men and boys drowned. ^1,2
• Four of those trapped were brought up alive after three days and nights underground. ^1,2
• The rescued were John Hudson, Robert Kendrew, William Broad and Joseph Goodyear. ²
• The Rev. James Plumptre's play Kendrew; or, The Coal Mine (1818) was based on the survivors. ²
• The first newspaper report gave ten men and four boys drowned, then six men. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) East Ardsley Flooding, 1809 (NMRS accidents and disasters) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Who Could Have Thought It: an unexpected lead to my 5x great grandfather? (Past To Present Genealogy, 2021) — Past To Present Genealogy

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026