{50S] 



MISCELLANIES. 



An Account of the dreadful 

 accident which happened 

 AT Felling Colliery, near 

 Sunderland, on May 25th, 

 1812. 



FELLING is a manor in Hie 

 chapelry of Heworth, and pa- 

 rish of Jarrow, about a mile and a 

 half east of Gateshead, in the 

 county of Durham. It contains 

 several strata of coal, the upper- 

 most of which were extensively 

 wrought in the beginning of the 

 last century. The stratum called 

 the High-main, was won in 1779, 

 and continued to be wrought till 

 the 19th of January, 1811, when 

 it was entirely excavated. 



The present colliery is m the 

 seara called the Low-main. It 

 commenced in October, 1810, and 

 was at full work in May, 1811. 

 Messrs. John and William Brand- 

 ling, Henderson, and Grace, have 

 each a fourth share, both in its 

 xoyalty and in the a(lventure : they 

 have also a lease from the dean 

 and chapter of Durham, of a large 

 extent of coal, lying on the south 

 and east of the manor of Felling. 



The working or down-cast shaft 

 is called the John Pit, and is si- 

 tuated on the north side of the 



Sunderland road, and half way be- 

 tween Felling toll-bar and Felling 

 Hall. It is 204 yards deep, and 

 furnished with a machine or steam 

 engine for drawing the coal, and 

 with an engine called a whim-gin, 

 wrought by horses, and of use in 

 letting down and drawing up the 

 workmen, when the machine 

 chances to be crippled, or repairing ; 

 and when it lies idle on pay Satur- 

 days and on Sundays. Here is 

 also a high tube of brick- work, em- 

 ployed in assisting ventilation while 

 this shaft was sinking, and till the 

 communication by the narrow 

 boards and the drifts was opened 

 between the two shafts ; since that 

 it has been of no use. 



The up-cast, or air furnace shaft, 

 is called the William Pit. It is on an 

 eminence 550 yards south-west of 

 the John Pit, and is distinguished 

 by a whim-gin and a lofty tube of 

 brick-work. This shaft is 232 

 yards deep. 



Over each pit two iron puliies 

 were suspended on a kind of scaf- 

 fold, called the shaft-frame. In 

 these ran the ascending and de- 

 scending ropes. The puUies over 

 the John Pit were six feet in dia- 

 meter, and weighed nine cwt. a- 

 piece. Those in which the rope of 



