A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Mr. Peile, who subsequently became Lord 

 Lonsdale's chief colliery agent. 



In 1 8 1 1 Mr. Bateman was succeeded in 

 the management of the Whitehaven Collieries 

 by Mr. John Peile. 



At that time the pits drawing coals at the 

 Howgill Colliery were Kells, Croft, and 

 Wilson ; and at the Whingill Colliery, Wil- 

 liam, North and James. 



In 1812 Mr. Taylor Swainson, engineer at 

 the Whitehaven Collieries, tried his invention 

 of the ' iron horse,' or locomotive engine, on 

 the Croft Pit waggon-way. The engine 

 answered admirably, but the track was not 

 strong enough to bear the weight. 



The output for 1814 was : 



Hovigill Colliery- 

 Kells Pit . 

 Croft Pit 

 Wilson Pit . 



Wbingill Collier-y- 

 William Pit . 

 North Pit . 

 James Pit 



Waggons Waggons 



10,694 

 25,031 

 22,836 



34.151 



9.835 



14,072 



58,561 



58,058 

 116,619 



A waggon of coals weighed 42 cwt. 



On 27 February, 1819, three successive 

 explosions occurred in Kells Pit, Main Band, 

 Howgill Colliery, by which twenty persons 

 were killed. Candles as well as Davy lamps 

 were in use ; and it was thought that the gas 

 had fired at a candle. 



In 1821 there was an explosion of firedamp 

 in the Main Band workings, William Pit, 

 which caused the death of five naggers and 

 seven boys and girls. The explosion was 

 attributed to a sudden great outburst of gas 

 that had ignited at an open light. Although a 

 Davy safety-lamp was supplied to each hagger, 

 its use with the top on was ' more honoured 

 in the breach than the observance.' 



William Pit was the scene of a still more 

 dire calamity in 1823, when a violent explosion 

 of firedamp in the Main Band workings 

 resulted in the death of 1 5 men, 1 5 boys, and 

 2 girls. Seventeen horses also perished. It 

 was the general opinion that the explosion 

 had been occasioned by some one having had 

 the top of a safety-lamp off. 



In 1826 nine men were suffocated in 

 William Pit by the smoke from a fire which 

 had originated in an underground engine-room. 

 In explosions at Croft Pit 6 lives were lost in 

 1828 and 23 lives in 1831. Both disasters 

 were caused, it was thought, by the men work- 

 ing with their lamp-tops off, as they did unless 



ordered to the contrary by the officials. In 

 1839 23 men and boys were killed by an 

 explosion of fire-damp in the Main Band 

 workings, William Pit, about a mile and 

 a half from the shaft. The gas had fired at 

 the open light of a boy who was accompany- 

 ing the deputy on his rounds. 



The undertaking with which Mr. Peile's 

 name will always be identified is the sinking 

 of the Wellington Pits, Whitehaven, which 

 was begun in 1840. The Main Band was 

 reached in 1843, and the Six Quarters Seam 

 in 1845. Thence level stone-drifts were 

 driven seaward and intersected the Main Band 

 at a distance of 900 yards. Peile's design was 

 to sink the pits a further depth of 1 60 fathoms 

 a total depth of 300 fathoms from the 

 surface. The last 100 fathoms, it was as- 

 sumed, would be in the Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone. At the increased depth he proposed to 

 drive a pair of level drifts westward until they 

 intersected the Six Quarters Seam, then the 

 Main Band, and finally the Bannock Band at 

 a total distance of 4,500 yards from the shafts. 



Messrs. George Stephenson (the celebrated 

 engineer) and Frank Forster, who were con- 

 sulted about this scheme by Lord Lonsdale, 

 reported against it. 



In 1844 a violent explosion of firedamp 

 in the Six Quarters Seam workings, Duke 

 Pit, killed 1 1 men and 1 1 horses. The 

 coroner in summing up the evidence at the 

 inquest said that if the tops had been on the 

 lamps the accident would no doubt have been 

 prevented. 



In 1 847, Wilson Pit ceased drawing coals ; 

 4 coal-hewers were killed by an explosion 

 of gas in the Main Band workings of Croft 

 Pit ; and Mr. John Peile retired from the 

 office of principal colliery agent to Lord 

 Lonsdale, being succeeded by Mr. Peter 

 Bourne, with Mr. William Anderson, South 

 Shields, as consulting viewer. 



The output of the Whitehaven Collieries 

 in 1847 was : 



Howgill Colliery 

 Saltom Pit 

 Croft Pit . . 

 Wilson Pit . 

 Wellington Pit 



Whingill Colliery 

 William Pit . 

 North Pit . . 

 Wreah Pit . 



Waggons Waggons 

 12,384 



7.577 

 8,861 



63,452 



30,292 



24,846 



3,597 

 1,849 



93,744 

 The waggon contained 48 cwt. of coals. 



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