Snydale


SNYDALE COLLIERY

  Many years after the event John Rhodes recounted how he had a conversion in a railway carriage which led him to leave Drightlington and buy Snydale Hall and estate. In 1861 he put down a borehole near Featherstone Station and at 129 yards struck water and gas. The water soon stopped flowing but the gas continued to be emitted for a while and could be lit or put out easily. It became known as "The burning well" and became a tourist attraction while it lasted. It became so famous it was featured in the Illustrated London News which published this drawing. 
  

   John Rhodes decided in 1863 to sink shafts for a colliery to be called Snydale Victoria. He was in partnership with a Mr Dalby but there is no information about him.
  In 1879 the cages collided in the shaft and the winding rope broke. One cage fell to the bottom of the shaft killing all eight men in it.

 This 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the colliery shows it was only a small undertaking.
 
  In 1897 the colliery was bought by the Henry Briggs and Son company to replace their Streethouse Colliery which was worked out.  The following two views of the colliery, and Queenie the shunting engine are from postcards.
 
 
 


This photo of the colliery is from the Aire and Calder website.

  In 1922 the colliery employed 702 men and boys underground and 209 on the surface. Pithead baths were erected in 1951. There was no room for them in the pit yard, so they were built at the other side of Wakefield Road and a footbridge enabled the workers to get from the baths to the shaft side without crossing the road.

  The colliery was only a small undertaking and the maximum output was 185,000 tons of coal in 1953 and 1954. Ten years later it was worked out and it stopped coal production in August 1965. The coal preparation plant remained operative to help out at Ackton Hall colliery during reconstruction works. Demolition began in 1971. One unusual feature during its working days was the growing of lupins by the residents of Victoria Crescent on an old muckstack which backed onto their houses. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.

    The following three photos were taken in 1971 by Dr Gatecliff when the buildings were ready for demolition.

 

  By 1994 the buildings had all gone and the muckstacks were being cleared away. Photo - Dr Gatecliff.

  Eventualy the site was returned to how it was in the 1860s. Photo - Google Earth.

MANAGERS
Abraham Wardman 1863-1895
James T Eley 1895-1902
Thomas Beach 1903-1907
Robert Johnson Shaw 1907-1911
Arthur Simpkin 1911-1918
George Armstrong Charlton 1924 - 1944
H P A (Percy) Johnson 1944-1947
Charles Appleby 1947-1951
F Speakman 1951-1954
Edgar Fearnside 1954-1957
Les Simpkin 1957-1960
John Tunnicliffe 1960-1965
George Galley 1965-1966



SNYDALE COLLIERY FATAL ACCIDENTS

1864
Benjamin Hepworth age 35 and John Greenwood age 34, shaft sinkers, were killed by an explosion of firedamp during shaft sinking operations.
1869
Henry Peel Noble age 29 and John Barratt age 35, drifters, were suffocated by powder fumes after a shotfiring operation.
1870
Ambrose Webster, age 35 a blacksmith, took an ordinary flame lamp down the pit instead of a safety lamp and ignited firedamp. He died a few days later from his burns.
Robert Poole age 36 and William Leuty, age 28 colliers, took their candles into the goaf (a waste area) and ignited gas. They died some days later from their burns.
1871
Abraham Roberts, a pony driver age 25, was crushed by tubs.
1872
George Smith, a collier age 28 was killed by a fall of roof.
James Corrigan, a collier age 49 was killed by a fall of roof.
Samuel Hardcastle, a furnaceman age 55 attempted to get off the cage when it set off and crushed him.
1878
William Wilcox , a pony driver age 16 was killed by a fall of roof.
1879
Samuel Kerfoot age 36 a byeworker, William Douthoit age 38 a byeworker, Charles Alsop age 35 a byeworker, John Brown age 42 a horsekeeper, William Aldridge age 32 a miner, William Pegg age 28 a miner, John Cancannon age 29 a miner and Samuel Clamp age 20 a pony driver were all killed when the winding rope broke after the cages collided.
1883
William Wilcox, a collier age 44 of Station Lane was killed by a fall of roof.
1885
Michael James Luckman, a pony driver age 14 was run over by tubs.
1886
William Massey, a collier age 56 was killed by a fall of roof.
1889
E Luckman, a pony driver age 14 was crushed by tubs.
1890
Samuel Raleigh, a collier age 19 was killed by a fall of roof.
1893
John Gleed, an underground labourer age 25 was found lying across the tub rails and on arrival at Clayton Hospital it was found his back was broken and he died five days later.
J Nash, a collier age 25 was killed by a fall of coal.
1895
J Stead, a collier age 26 was injured by a fall of roof and died three days later. 
1896
George Oliver,  a collier age 49 strained himself lifting a tub and died five days later.
1897
M Layne, a collier age 30 was killed by a fall of roof.
Charles Foster, a collier age 44 was killed by a fall of roof. 
Isaac Harvey, a surface labourer age 62 was pushing a wagon under the screens when another wagon crushed him. 
1899
J Machin, a pony driver age 17 was trapped between tubs on January 26 and died April 21. 
1900
Ernest Staples, a surface worker age 20 was found dead in a coal washer hopper. It was presumed he fell from a ladder. 
1901
R Hammond, a pony driver age 17 was found dead under a tub.
T Atkinson, a haulage lad age 17 was killed when the haulage rope jerked and knocked him in front of the tubs.
W Jackson, a trapper (in charge of a ventilation door) age 14 was passing some full tubs when the horse moved forward and he was crushed between a tub and a door frame. He died two days later. 
1902
Isaac Hufton, a collier age 58 of Andrew Street was injured by a fall of roof and died the same day. 
1904
Joseph Wardle, a stone miner age 28 was enlarging a roadway and was killed by a fall of roof.
James Green, a collier age 28 was killed by a fall of roof.
Benjamin Ward, a collier age 49 was injured by a fall of roof. He was taken home where he died shortly afterwards.
1908
Joseph Oliver, a collier age 40 was killed by a fall of roof.
Henry Lockwood, a carter age 20 was caught between a coal cart and a wagon and he died five days later. 
1910
Thomas Lucas, a collier age 56 was killed by a fall of roof. 
1911
Cyril Jones a byworker age 22 of Sharlston was injured by a fall of roof on March 1 and died of pneumonia on March 10. 
Henry Bailey, a collier age 35 was killed by a fall of roof. 
1914
Edward Brooke, a collier age 27 was killed by a fall of roof. 
Ernest Hopkin, a pony driver age 19 of Sheffield but lodging in Featherstone for six weeks was trapped  between a tub and a prop and killed. 
 1915
Harry Radford, a shaftman age 62 of Sharlston was being wound to the top of the shaft in a cradle. The winding emgineman overwound and the cradle hit the headgear. The shaftman was taken to Clayton Hospital where he died from shock. 
Joseph Stockton, a collier age 60 was killed by a fall of coal. 
1918
William Johnson, age 15 of Phipps Street was trapped between tubs and died three says later in Clayton Hospital.
1920
Henry Brown, age 54 was killed by a fall of roof.
1922
Walter Earnshaw,   collier age 39 was killed by a fall of coal. 
1924
Herbert John Poole, a collier age 25 was killed by a fall of roof. 
1925
Frank Early, a collier age 44 of Station Lane was injured by a fall of roof and died the next day in Clayton Hospital. 
James Wolstenholme, a collier age 26 of Scarborough Terrace was killed by a fall of roof. 
1926
Thomas Lackenby, age 53 was killed by a fall of roof.
1928
Frederick Cope, age 55 of Halfpenny Lane was killed b a fall of roof. 
1932
James Beardsley, age 43 of Leeds Terrace was injured by a fall of roof and died six days later in Clayton Hospital from a fractured pelvis. 
1934
William Aldridge, a ropeman age 27 was hit by a runaway tub and died the next day.
1940
Laurence Evans, a pony driver age 36 of Allison Street was injured by a fall of coal on 4 March and died 13 April in Pontefract General Infirmary.
Joseph Worrall, a collier age 65 of Appletree Road,was injured by a fall of roof and died the next day in Pontefract General Infirmary.
1942
John William Golding, age 35 of Normanton was injured by a fall of roof and died the same day in Pontefract General Infirmary.
John A Waring,  age 47 was killed by a fall of roof.
1944
Leslie Barraclough,  age 17 of Allison Street was caught in a conveyor drum.
1946
John Holden, age 56 of Wakefield Road was severely injured by a fall of roof. He was taken to Pontefract General Infirmary where he died three hours later from shock.
1949
Thomas William Clayton, age 32 of Airedale ignited some gas while illegally smoking underground. He was badly burned and taken to Pontefract General Infirmary where he died shortly after.
1951
Harold Copley, age 33 of The Bungalows, Purston, was crushed by the cage in the pit bottom. 
 1954
Herbert Pearce Walters, a ripper age 38 of Dixon Street, was hit on the head by a rope haulage hook after a misunderstanding over verbal signals. He died on the way to the pit bottom.