On Sunday (12 January 2025) at 2pm, on the 200th anniversary of the Gosforth Pit disaster in Middleton, there will be a Memorial Service for the dead and injured at St Mary’s Church, Town Street, Middleton.
Twenty five men and boys, the youngest being 7 years old, lost their lives in the underground explosion at the coal mine on 12 January 1825. During the service Frances Jones, Chair of the Friends of Middelton Park, will read a roll call of the dead and a commemorative plaque to the dead and injured will be unveiled. Middleton Park Councillor, Wayne Dixon (SDP), will read a poem to the disaster composed in 1825. The service will be conducted by Rev Olasupo Ogunyinka.
Middleton was built on working the coal, which continued up to 1968 when Middleton colliery’s last pit, Broom, finally closed. In remembering this tragic accident, we are reminded of the hard and difficult conditions our ancestors had down the mines, and the devastating effect such a disaster had on the local community.
St Mary’s Church is inextricably linked to the mining community in Middleton. Each miner, local tradition has it, contributed a week’s wage or a week’s labour to the church’s construction in 1845-1846 on land given by Rev RH Brandling, the colliery owner.
To find out more about the disaster, go to southleedslife.com/local-history-the-gosforth-pit-disaster
for transcripts of newpaper articles at the time or go to www.fomp.co.uk/history/jn_1825_Accident.html
for an article on the disaster by local historian Ken Burton.
This post was written by Jim Jackson and John Newbould
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