Homer Hill Colliery

Overview

Samuel Evers and Sons' Thick Coal pit at Cradley, in the Black Country, sunk in the mid-1860s, where an explosion of gas released by a heavy roof fall killed twelve men in November 1867; it later worked coal and fireclay with a few dozen men until March 1928.

History

Homer Hill Colliery at Cradley belonged to Samuel Evers and Sons. It was a new pit in the mid-1860s, opened by a pair of seven-foot shafts; one account has the shaft sunk in 1865 to 270 yards, and the inspector recorded the Thick or Ten Yard Coal reached at 150 yards. From the shafts two broad parallel gate roads, about 50 yards apart, ran some 500 yards to the boundary, and the pit was ventilated by a small fire grate in the upcast shaft about 40 yards from the surface.

On 12 November 1867 an explosion of gas released by a heavy roof fall killed twelve men (see Disasters, below).

A fall of coal killed a man on 1 February 1871, recorded as S. Cartwright in one account and S. Morgan in another, and falls and bumps in the Thick Coal took a steady toll through the 1870s and 1880s. In 1894 the colliery employed 193 people raising coal, ironstone and fireclay; from 1896 it was a small working of under fifty, getting manufacturing coal and fireclay from the Thick Coal, Old Mine and fireclay seams, with 66 men in 1923. It closed in March 1928.

Geology

Coal Measures of the South Staffordshire coalfield: the Thick or Ten Yard Coal, with the Old Mine and fireclay; ironstone was also raised. The seam gave off gas from soft, fissured ground.

Workings

A pair of seven-foot shafts; two parallel gate roads about 50 yards apart driven some 500 yards to the boundary; pillar-and-stall working in the Thick Coal; furnace ventilation from a fire grate in the upcast shaft.

Closure

Closed in March 1928.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Homer Hill Colliery explosion, 1867
  12 November 1867 · Explosion · 12 fatalities
  A fall of two to three hundred tons of roof in a stall at Samuel Evers and Sons' Homer Hill Colliery, Cradley, released gas that exploded in the Thick Coal workings on 12 November 1867, killing twelve men over the following fortnight.

What's uncertain

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

• It was a new pit, its shaft sunk in 1865 to 270 yards. (uncertain) ⁴
• A man was killed by a fall of coal at Homer Hill on 1 February 1871, recorded as S. Cartwright. (disputed) ³
• S. Morgan was killed by a fall of coal in the Thick Coal pit on 1 February 1871. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Homer Hill Colliery belonged to Samuel Evers and Sons. ^1,2,3
• It was opened by a pair of seven-foot shafts, reaching the Thick or Ten Yard Coal at 150 yards. ²
• It was a new pit, its shaft sunk in 1865 to 270 yards. (uncertain) ⁴
• A man was killed by a fall of coal at Homer Hill on 1 February 1871, recorded as S. Cartwright. (disputed) ³
• S. Morgan was killed by a fall of coal in the Thick Coal pit on 1 February 1871. (disputed) ¹
• The colliery employed 66 people in 1923 and closed in March 1928. ¹

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Homer Hill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Homer Hill Colliery Explosion - Stourbridge - 1867 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Alfred Westwood - An Early Cradley Radical — Cradley Links
4. (secondary) Homer Hill Colliery Explosion - Cradley - 1866 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Homer Hill explosion, 12 November 1867 — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026