Titford Long Meadow Colliery

Overview

A Thick Coal pit at Titford, Oldbury, in the South Staffordshire coalfield, where on 23 July 1874 a fall in fire-heated old workings drove a blast of hot air onto men fighting the fire; five of them died, though none showed a burn.

History

Titford Long Meadow Colliery lay at Titford, Oldbury, on the southern side of the South Staffordshire coalfield. The Thick or Ten Yard coal there had been worked for many years, and to reach coal on the dip of the shaft one of the gate roads was driven in the Heathen coal a few feet below the Thick and made the return airway. Some months after it was opened a fire was found just above its roof in the old Thick coal workings, burning everything between the two seams; it was supposed to be spontaneous combustion, though no sign of a fire had been seen there.

On the morning of 23 July 1874 men were pumping water onto the fire from a small hose when a crash was heard in the old workings above and the air where they stood became suddenly very hot. They ran to the shaft and were drawn up, believing that firedamp had exploded, and the mine was sealed. None of them looked burnt, but they complained of great thirst and a sense of suffocation: the overman, John Dyas, died that day, and Edward Cook, Joseph Roberts, Richard Roberts and James Jackson within a week. The inspector, Mr Baker, concluded that a large fall of roof had driven intensely heated air from the burning goaf into the gate road. After waiting months in vain for the mine to be reopened and examined, the inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

Geology

The South Staffordshire Thick (Ten Yard) coal, with the Heathen coal a few feet below it.

Workings

A shaft with gate roads in the Heathen coal under old Thick coal workings; one gate road served as the return airway.

Closure

Unknown; the mine was sealed after the 1874 fire. A BGS plan of Titford workings in the Thick Heathen is dated 1893.

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 colliery was owned by Joseph Hacket. (disputed) ¹
• The colliery's company is given as Fletcher and Co. (disputed) ²
• A BGS plan records Titford workings in the Thick Heathen, abandoned in 1893. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• Titford Long Meadow worked the Thick coal, with a gate road in the Heathen coal a few feet below it as the return airway. ¹
• A fire burned in the old Thick coal workings above the Heathen gate road, supposed to be spontaneous combustion. ¹
• On 23 July 1874 five men died at Titford Long Meadow after a rush of hot air from the burning workings. ^1,2
• The colliery was owned by Joseph Hacket. (disputed) ¹
• The colliery's company is given as Fletcher and Co. (disputed) ²
• A BGS plan records Titford workings in the Thick Heathen, abandoned in 1893. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Titford Long Meadow Colliery Fire, Oldbury, 1874 (NMRS accidents and disasters) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Colliery disaster, 23 July 1874: Titford Long Meadow (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21946742: Titford, Thick Heathen, abandoned 1893 — British Geological Survey

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