What happened here in 1838?

Thinking about the terrible tragedy in Queensland and the people who have died and those who are without homes at the moment, I was reminded of another terrible tragedy that happened over a 150 years ago in a neighbouring village.

On 4th July 1838 from 2.00pm until late in the afternoon a violent storm of thunder, lightning, rain and hail raged over Silkstone and Stainborough. The torrential rain caused flooding to houses in Silkstone and roads were blocked by fallen trees. In the Huskar Pit (House Car Colliery) yard, about 500 yards from where the memorial is sited, the fire in the furnace of the steam boilers which drove the winding engine at the top of the shaft was extinguished by the flood water. A message was sent down the shaft to all miners and children to put out their lights and wait at the pit bottom until they could be wound up by hand.

Unaware of the storm and the conditions at the pit top, 40 children took the fateful decision to make their way out of the workings by a day-hole or drift which came to the surface in Nabs Wood. At the bottom of the drift was one of the air doors used to control the flow of air throughout the workings which the children went through. They were not to know that the small stream on the surface had turned into a raging torrent. As the children made their way up the slope, the water from the stream burst through, sweeping them back to the door behind them where they were trapped. Twenty six children were drowned, some as young as five. one as young as seven and seven who were eight years old. (I've just checked this against the names of those who died).

The Children's Employment Commisiion of 1842 reported that, "The ages of the children vary from 5 1/2 to 10 years old, few come before they are nearly 7 and few remain longer than 9 or 10."

The very youngest children were emplyed as `trappers', they opened and closed the ventilations doors, frequently sitting in the dark or at best with a tiny sliver of candle. Children who were older were employed as `hurriers', as they hurried the `corves' along the tunnels.

When Queen Victoria, who had just come to the throne, heard about the tragedy she was terribly shocked and played a key role in ensuring that children would never again work down the mines.
(Text largely taken from the display board outside the monument.)

I passed the monument on my way home and decided I would use it for todays blip - I took some close-up shots too but the low light wasn't conducive to great images. I decided to use this context shot as my blip for today