Lundhill Colliery

Overview

One of the largest and deepest pits in Yorkshire when firedamp exploded in it on 19 February 1857 and killed 189 of the 200 men and boys underground. The fire that followed had to be put out by diverting a stream into the mine, and the last body came out in July.

History

Wombwell was farming country with a small population before Lundhill was sunk, and the colliery quickly became the hub of the place. It was among the largest and deepest pits in Yorkshire, employing roughly 290 men and boys, two thirds of them on the day shift, cutting five to six hundred tons a day over a six-day week. Some of them were ten years old. Most lived in or near Wombwell, some within sight of the headgear. It was known to be a dangerous pit. Five or six of the sinkers had already been killed in August 1854, when naked candles set off an explosion during the sinking. On 19 February 1857 firedamp exploded and killed 189 of the 200 men and boys who were underground (see Disasters, below). It was the first disaster to reach the front page of the Illustrated London News. The pit went back to work and was still returning coal in the 1890s under the Wombwell Main Coal Company, employing 384 in 1894. The company then closed it, finding it more convenient to wind Lundhill's coal from the neighbouring Wombwell Main shafts.

Geology

The South Yorkshire Coalfield around Wombwell, the same ground the Barnsley seam runs through and that made the district one of the richest and gassiest in the country.

Workings

Three shafts. The first went down 230 feet and was used for pumping water and as a downcast; the second, 650 feet, was a downcast and the coal-drawing shaft; the third, 640 feet, was a downcast and the furnace shaft. Men went down in a cage with safety boots that mostly did not fit, a helmet and a wax candle. Ventilation was poor enough that firedamp could gather through a day without anyone noticing.

Closure

Work went on at Lundhill until the 1890s, when the Wombwell Main Coal Company closed it, finding it more practicable and convenient to wind the coal from Wombwell Main next door.

What remains

The shafts lie under the greens of Hillies golf course at Wombwell, and nothing of the colliery stands. The memorial to the 1857 dead is in the churchyard of All Saints, Darfield, over the grave where the unidentified were buried.

None of the pit above ground. The memorial and the mass grave at Darfield, and the line of the colliery railway to the Dearne and Dove Canal at Lundhill Bridge.

Nearby mines

• Elsecar Colliery — 2.4 km SW
• Houghton Main Colliery — 2.5 km N
• Manvers Main Colliery — 3.0 km E
• Cortonwood Colliery — 3.3 km S
• Wath Main Colliery — 3.9 km E

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Disasters & major incidents

• Lundhill Colliery explosion
  19 February 1857 · Explosion · 189 fatalities
  Firedamp exploded twenty minutes after the men had eaten their dinner underground, killing 189 of the 200 below. The pit then caught fire, and the only way to put it out was to divert a stream into the workings, which left the bodies where they lay for months.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery employed roughly 290 men and boys, two thirds of them working days, raising five to six hundred tons of coal a day over a six-day week. Some were as young as ten, though most were eighteen or older, and they went down with safety boots that were mostly too big, a helmet and a little wax candle. ¹
• The first shaft went down 230 feet and was used to pump water and as a downcast; the second went down 650 feet and served as downcast and coal-drawing shaft; the third went down 640 feet and was the furnace shaft, also downcast. ¹
• Firedamp had exploded at Lundhill once before, on 22 August 1854, killing six. ²
• The Engineer reported in July 1857 that the proprietors, in spite of their own losses, had charged no rent on the men's houses since the explosion. ³
• Work continued at Lundhill until the 1890s, when the owners, the Wombwell Main company, closed it, finding it more practicable and convenient to wind the coal from the nearby Wombwell Main Colliery. ¹
• Lundhill Colliery was established in March 1853 by William Taylor junior and Company, who took a lease on the coal under land belonging to Samuel Swift of Hemingfield. The sinking was done by the contractor John Jebson and took about two years, going down over two hundred yards. ⁴
• The colliery was simply Lund Hill at first. For a while it traded as Low Elsecar and Lund Hill Colliery, to tie itself to the Elsecar coal trade and its reputation — not to be confused with Earl Fitzwilliam's own Low Elsecar Colliery over the hill at Hemingfield. After 1856 the firm became the Lund Hill Coal Company, following a rearrangement of the partnership: William Taylor junior, a linen manufacturer, had run into financial difficulties, and his partner Thomas Spicer Galland, a London barrister, brought in Edward Thornhill Simpson of Walton near Wakefield and William Stewart of Wakefield. The disaster of 1857 came just as the new firm got going, and eventually bankrupted Taylor. ⁴
• The shafts lie beneath the greens of Hillies golf course at Wombwell. The colliery railway skirted what is now the Hillies View housing development and crossed the Dearne and Dove Canal at Lundhill Bridge; the Greenland shaft stood on what is now Greenlands farmland. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lundhill Colliery explosion — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Lundhill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Lundhill Colliery — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
4. (secondary) Lundhill Colliery Disaster, 19th February 1857 — Friends of Hemingfield Colliery

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026