Morley Main Colliery

Overview

The Ackroyd family's colliery on Albert Road, Morley, sunk in the mid-1850s as the town's most modern pit, where an explosion in the fiery Middleton Main seam in 1872 killed 34 men and boys; it closed in 1909.

History

In the mid-1850s the Ackroyds of Birkenshaw, who already had mining interests in Birkenshaw, Drighlington and Birstall, sank a coal mine on ten acres of land in Albert Road, Morley, leased from the Earl of Dartmouth. Morley Main Colliery was the most up-to-date colliery in the town, and its fifty-five-year life made it tragically famous. The deep pit worked the Middleton Main or Deep Coal at 156 yards by pillar and stall, from an upcast and a downcast shaft, ventilated by two furnaces. The seams were known to be fiery near the many faults that crossed the workings, yet the manager, Jonathan Simpkin, allowed the men to fire their own shots.

On the morning of 7 October 1872, with about 150 men below and 50 to 60 in the district called Andrews Road, an explosion killed 32 men and boys in the pit; two more died later in Leeds Infirmary, and eleven horses were also killed (see Disasters, below). At the inquest pipes, matches, lamp keys and nails were found in the victims' clothing, and a deputy had smelt tobacco at the far end of the workings that morning. The inspector recommended ending naked lights, restricting shotfiring and replacing the furnaces with a fan. The Middleton Main and other seams were abandoned in December 1907, and the colliery closed in 1909.

Geology

The Middleton Main (Deep Coal), Middleton Little, Adwalton Black Bed, Churwell Thick and Thin and cannel seams of the West Yorkshire coalfield, cut by many faults with throws of up to 35 yards, near which the roof was poor and gas was given off.

Workings

An upcast and a downcast shaft, with a further shaft for the stone coal delivering air to the Deep Coal; pillar and stall working, ventilated by two furnaces near the upcast in 1872.

Closure

The Middleton Main and associated seams were abandoned in December 1907 and the colliery closed in 1909.

Disasters & major incidents

• Morley Main Colliery explosion, 1865
  26 January 1865 · Explosion · 3 fatalities

  An explosion of firedamp at the Ackroyds' Morley Main Colliery, near Leeds, killed three on 26 January 1865, one of them a boy.

  On 26 January 1865 firedamp exploded at Morley Main Colliery, worked by Messrs Ackroyd near Leeds, killing John Clayton, a boy, and the miners Samuel Jessop and George Priestly. It was a Thursday morning, and the colliery was Ackroyd Brothers'. The three were working with naked lights, at which the gas fired, and were killed on the spot; their bodies were dreadfully mutilated, the boy's skull nearly blown off and his skin burnt everywhere but where his belt, garters and clogs had shielded it.

• Morley Main Colliery explosion, 1872
  7 October 1872 · Explosion · 34 fatalities

  An explosion of firedamp at Morley Main Colliery, between Dewsbury and Leeds, on 7 October 1872 killed thirty-four people. The Durham Mining Museum records the ignition as caused by a naked light and names the dead; Morley's own histories note that the town's worst mining disaster went publicly unmarked for 140 years.

  Morley, a coal-mining town as well as a woollen one, lost thirty-four people on 7 October 1872 when Morley Main Colliery exploded. The Durham Mining Museum, which lists the dead, records the cause as firedamp ignited by a naked light.

Recorded claims

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

• The Ackroyds of Birkenshaw sank Morley Main on ten acres in Albert Road leased from the Earl of Dartmouth; it was the most modern colliery in Morley and worked for 55 years. ¹
• On 7 October 1872 an explosion in the Middleton Main seam at 156 yards killed 32 in the pit and two more who died later, with eleven horses. ²
• The manager allowed men to fire their own shots, and pipes, matches, lamp keys and nails were found in the victims' clothing. ²
• Morley Main Colliery closed in 1909. ¹
• The Middleton Main, Middleton Little, Adwalton Black Bed, Churwell Thick and Thin and cannel seams at Morley Main were abandoned in December 1907. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Coal Mining in Morley, by Jim Thorp (British Mining No. 87, look-inside extract) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Morley Main Colleriey Explosion – Leeds – 1872 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Morley Main (Middleton Main and other seams, abandoned December 1907) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026