Workington Colliery

Overview

A West Cumberland colliery on the Solway coast, worked by the Curwen family through the Isabella, Union, Lady, Buddle and Jane pits, with workings driven as much as 1,500 yards out under the sea. On 28 July 1837 the sea broke through into them and drowned 27 men and boys — a disaster that had been openly predicted in the town. Jane Pit's castellated engine house and chimney survive as a preserved ruin.

History

The Curwen family of Workington Hall worked coal on their estate on the Cumberland coast, the workings running out beneath the Solway. An explosion of firedamp in the Isabella Pit on 21 September 1833 killed thirteen, among them three Brennan brothers, the youngest fourteen. Until about ten months before the disaster of 1837, the colliery had been managed by Matthias Dunn. After he left, a considerable robbing of the pillars under the sea was carried on — the danger of it, Galloway records, was a matter of common talk about the town, and disaster was foretold by many. A number of colliers left the work. There was correspondence between men on the spot and Dunn, who thought the danger imminent enough to put the matter to a north of England coal-owner and get him to write to Mr Curwen about the risk being run. Nothing was done. On the evening of 28 July 1837 a crush followed and the sea burst in, submerging the Isabella, Union and Lady pits and drowning 27 (see Disasters, below). Had it happened in the daytime, more would have died. The colliery continued afterwards, recorded under Irving & Co. in the 1860s and raising coal through the Buddle, Isabella and Jane pits. Jane Pit, sunk in the 1840s, was built in a castellated Gothic style — engine house and chimney alike — and its ruins are preserved.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coal Measures of the Cumberland coalfield, which run out beneath the Solway Firth — the same undersea geology that Whitehaven's collieries exploited further down the coast. Working under the sea was normal here and not in itself dangerous; what mattered was the thickness of cover left above the workings and whether the pillars supporting it were left standing. At Workington by 1837 the cover was down to about 150 feet and the pillars were being taken out.

Workings

A group of pits on the coast — Isabella, Union, Lady, Buddle and Jane — whose workings were driven out under the Solway. By 1837 they had been carried 1,500 yards out to sea and were rising towards it, leaving only about 150 feet of strata between the workings and the sea bed; it was the robbing of pillars in that ground that let the water in. Jane Pit's surviving engine house and chimney are castellated, an unusually ornamental treatment for colliery buildings.

Closure

No reliable closure date has been located. The Isabella, Union and Lady pits were rendered unusable by the 1837 inundation; other pits on the site worked on, and the colliery is recorded under Irving & Co. in the 1860s.

What remains

The preserved ruins of Jane Pit survive at Workington — the castellated engine house and chimney standing in open ground.

Jane Pit's castellated engine house and chimney, preserved as a ruin.

Disasters & major incidents

• Workington Colliery Inundation, 1837
  28 July 1837 · Flooding / Inundation · 27 fatalities
  On the evening of 28 July 1837 the sea burst into the workings of Workington Colliery, which had been driven 1,500 yards out under it with only about 150 feet of strata above. The Isabella, Union and Lady pits were submerged and 27 men and boys drowned, along with a comparable number of horses. The danger had been common talk in the town for months, and the owner had been written to about it.

Recorded claims

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

• By 1837 the workings had been carried 1,500 yards out under the sea and were rising towards it, until only about 150 feet of strata intervened. (high) ¹
• An explosion of firedamp at the Isabella Pit on 21 September 1833 killed thirteen, among them three Brennan brothers, the youngest aged fourteen. (medium) ²
• The colliery worked through the Buddle, Isabella and Jane pits, with the Union and Lady pits also named among those lost in 1837. (medium) ^3,1
• The colliery belonged to Mr Curwen at the time of the 1837 inundation and is recorded under Irving & Co. in the 1860s. (medium) ^3,1

Photographs & further reading

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Robert L. Galloway, Annals of Coal Mining and the Coal Trade (1898), on the Workington inundation of 1837 — Durham Mining Museum, quoting Galloway
2. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Colliery Disaster, 21 September 1833 (Isabella Pit, Workington) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Workington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026