Ravenslodge Colliery

Overview

A Dewsbury colliery of G. and J. Haigh working the Black Bed at 268 yards; on 4 August 1892 cast-iron tubbing burst in the upcast shaft and water rose 200 yards, drowning six men working the night shift.

History

Ravenslodge Colliery lay at Dewsbury, about six miles west of Wakefield, and was owned by G. and J. Haigh. It worked the Black Bed seam at 268 yards for household coal; the upcast shaft went about 40 yards deeper, to the Better Bed, and both shafts stood at the lowest part of the workings. Its iron tubbing held back the water of the measures above. It employed 393 people in 1894 and 384 in 1896, falling to 210 by 1900.

At about ten on the night of 4 August 1892, with six men underground heightening the main road and the furnaceman, William Lund, at the ventilating furnace, nine segments of tubbing gave way in the upcast shaft. Lund saw air and smoke coming down the upcast and reached the downcast, where he signalled and was drawn up; Richard Swallow, who had gone along the main road to warn the others, did not return. Water filled both shaft bottoms within minutes and rose 200 yards. Recovery was slow and dangerous, through fallen roof and accumulated gas: the first body was found on 12 October and the last five in early December. A flaw across the boss of one cast segment, invisible from outside, was found to have caused the failure; the inspector noted that 200 men and boys would have been below had it happened by day.

Geology

West Yorkshire coal measures, worked in the Black Bed, with the Better Bed below; the shafts passed the Blocking Bed and water-bearing measures held back by tubbing.

Workings

Downcast and upcast shafts at the lowest point of the workings, the upcast lined with cast-iron tubbing; ventilation by an underground furnace.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Ravenslodge Colliery was owned by G. and J. Haigh and worked the Black Bed seam at 268 yards. ^1,2
• Ravenslodge employed 393 people in 1894. ²
• On 4 August 1892 tubbing gave way in Ravenslodge's upcast shaft and six men were drowned. ^1,2
• The failure was traced to a flaw across the boss of a cast tubbing segment. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Ravenslodge Colliery Shaft Accident, Dewsbury, 1892 (NMRS accidents and disasters) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Ravenslodge Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 24 October 2026 · Last researched: 24 October 2026