Summary

Colliery disaster memorial, 1907 to designs of Douglas Crawford, sculpted by Borrowdale Brothers of Sunderland.

Description

Colliery disaster memorial, 1907 to designs of Douglas Crawford, sculpted by Borrowdale Brothers of Sunderland.

DESCRIPTION: the sandstone memorial stands about 4 metres high in the form of a faceted, tapering, sandstone obelisk. It stands upon a corniced base that is enriched with scroll brackets at its base. This surmounts a pedestal with squared corners framing convex panels to each face. The whole sits upon a moulded plinth and a two-stepped base. The partly-illegible front panel is inscribed: THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED/ BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION/ TO THE MEMORY OF THE/ TWENTY SIX MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES/IN THE EXPLOSION AT/ WINGATE GRANGE COLLIERY/ OCTOBER 14TH 1906. LET THEM REST FROM THEIR LABOURS. Inscribed on the east face of the pedestal is: BORROWDALE BROS./ SCULPTORS/ SUNDERLAND./ DOUGLAS CRAWFORD/ ARCHITECT. Inscribed on the other faces are the names of those who were killed in the disaster.

History

An explosion at the Lady Shaft at Wingate Grange Colliery occurred at about midnight on 14 October 1906 trapping all of the men working underground. Although 119 survivors were brought to the surface by rescuers, 26 men were killed. Many were killed by the noxious gas known as afterdamp and many by the force of the explosion itself. A subsequent inquiry found that the explosion was caused by the firing of a shot by one of the miners. The colliery disaster memorial funded by public subscription, was designed by local architect Douglas Crawford and erected by stonemasons Borrowdale Brothers at a total cost of £155. Proceeded by a procession headed by the banner and band of the Wingate Miners’ Lodge, the memorial was unveiled on 21 December 1907 by F W Lampton MP who said that ‘No-one would be able to pass it with indifference. It would bring to mind the dangers which beset a miner’s life’.

Reasons for Listing

The Wingate Grange Colliery Disaster Memorial, of 1907 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* an attractive design in the form of an obelisk with intricate decorative detailing;
* it displays good-quality materials and craftsmanship and creates a prominent landmark at the centre of the village.

Historic interest:

* it commemorates a major Durham coalfield mining disaster in 1906 in which 26 men died, and stands as a tangible expression of the hazards inherent in England's later-C19 and early-C20 coal mining industry.

Group value:

* it benefits from a spatial group value with the adjacent Grade II-listed Holy Trinity Church.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26452723

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)