In the old records, there are references to the ‘Deep Colliery’ to ‘Crop Colliery’ and to ‘Crop and Deep Colliery’. The confusion arises from the fact that the shafts were often named as a pit and the names ‘pit’ and ‘colliery’ can mean the same thing. For example, there are references to ‘Chain Pit’ but it is known that this was a shaft at the Blackbrook colliery. Crop Pit could be a shaft at the Alexandra Colliery and Deep pit could be another colliery. Crop pit could also refer to any shaft sunk into an outcrop, or ‘crop’, of a coal seam. (See St. Helens colliery.)

10th. August 1861.
At the inquest at the Navigation Inn on James Morris who met his death when he was run over by tubs, the engineman Thomas Crouchley said that there were two tubs coupled together and he misunderstood a signal and lowered the killing Morris. The accident was put down to the negligence of the engineman. (St.L).

1902.
BREAKAGE OF THE WINDING ROPE.
The downcast shaft was dry and an iron shackle coupling the cage to the rope broke. The shackle was made of Low Moor iron and it was not known how long it had been in use. No one was injured. (Mines Inspectors Report).

29th. May 1880.
Fatal Accident at a Colliery.
Thomas Haughton aged 21 years of 41, Tontine Street, St. Helens died from injuries received on the 12th. at the Sutton colliery belonging to Messrs. Pilkington. On the afternoon in question, he was employed in the Deep pit at Sutton as an engine tenter and was winding boxes when one of them got off the rails. He went to put it on again and when it was wound up by a boy in the pit who threw the brake out of gear too soon and the boxes ran over the deceased and broke his back. He was removed to his home and Dr. Gaskell was called and attended him until his death. John Hewitt was pony driver aged 17 years and happened to be standing near when the boxes got off the rails. The deceased told him to look after the engine while he righted the boxes. He called to the lad to start the engine and as they came up he thought they would reach the level and turned off the air to the engine. The boxes went back. He tried the brake. Hewitt had never worked the engine before. Mr. Hall the Inspector said that this was Hewitt’s first day in the mine and he knew nothing of the engine. He asked the lad if he thought the accident was caused by his mistake and he stated that he thought it was the fault of the deceased. The coroner was also of this opinion and the jury returned a verdict of accidental death. (Prescot Reporter)

19th. June 1880.
Colliery Accident.
A collier named Charles Barnes aged 38 years of 19. College Street, Windle was working in Pilkingtons Deep pit at Sutton when he was severely injured by a fall. he died about half an hour after. Joseph Pilkington heard a fall of roof and called to the deceased but got no answer so he went to see. he found that a portion of the roof had fallen on him. He got help at once and the man was removed alive and taken home. He was attended by Dr. Brown but he died later. His widow Mary gave evidence of identification. Pilkington stated they knew there were slips in the roof and the fireman had visited the place. The coroner said that the man obviously thought it was safe as he had not set timber, the jury returned a verdict of accidental death. (Prescot Reporter)

8th. July 1882.
Willful Cruelty to a Pony in a St. Helens Colliery.
At the Police Court a collier, William Fletcher was charged with cruelly beating, ill-treating and torturing a pony. He worked at the St. Helens Colliery Company at the Deep pit Sutton. It was alleged that h struck one of the pony ponies with the sharp end of his pick making a hole in its side between the sixth and seventh rib, puncturing its lungs. On the 3rd. June, the prisoner was working down the pit with several other men. The pony was used for drawing boxes from one shunt to another and the driver was a lad named Sheppard. The pony had taken two empty boxes to one place where a man name Parr was working and returned with them full and stopped opposite the place where the prisoner was working. Fletcher shouted and at the same time struck a violent blow with his pick. The lad heard this but did not know that the blow was serious and led the pony up the hill where there was no strain on it but as time went on he heard the horse sneezing and breathing very heavily. When he started the animal up the incline the driver heard a noise like the blowing of a pair of bellows and the pony stopped. He went to it and found a hole in its right side. There was a deep puncture wound with air coming out of it with considerable force. He shouted out that the pony had burst and when the men came the pony was taken to the stables and the vet was set for. he examined the wound and came to the conclusion that the animal should be put down. This was not done but it was now unfit for work and instead of being worth £10 or £12 it was worthless and not able to do heavy work again. The prisoner had run away and was not caught until a few days later when he was apprehended in Rainford. He said he knew nothing about it and he did not do it. Mr. William Garton Dixon, the veterinary surgeon, said the pony was now out of the pit and on the grass and the wound was the result of a blow from a sharp implement like a pick. The prisoner had nothing to say and was sent to jail for a month’s hard labour. (Prescot Reporter)

22-03-1883
BROWN Henry 28 fireman
He was assisting to put some full tubs into the shunt at the bottom of an incline by which a journey was being drawn up by the engine when the tub at the end of the coupling chain broke the trailer and the tubs ran back and struck him. The incline was provided with the necessary refuge places.

09-10-1886
BIRMINGHAM John 23 gangrider
He was working on the down brow and ran the gang in front of the tubs. While coming up some of the tubs got off the road and he was jerked off and some of the tubs got him.

01-05-1888
BRADY Thomas 35 Collier
He was engaged with another man clearing up in the brow when a bar and some dirt fell from the roof. The roof was bad and uneven but it was barred 3′ apart.

30-01-1889
JAMESON Thomas 47 Waggoner
He was lowering a waggon and apparently still had the brake on when a passing waggon on the adjoining line and he was crushed. The latter waggon he had placed there himself. He had worked at the job for 15 yr.

10-06-1892
TOPLAS John 28 pusher-on
At 8am. in the 3rd hour of the shift he was trying to get a tub on the road when the jig started and he was crushed by the tub that was coupled to two others.

04-08-1894
HUTCHINSON Robert 32 Collier
At noon in the 6th hour of the shift, he was bringing out a tub of coal that got off the rails and struck a prop which had not enough clearance causing a bar to come down with some large stones.

18-06-1895
SWIFT John 63 collier
At 9am in the 3rd hour of the shift he was wedging coal down across the face when the roof fell from a slip on the head of coal he was working which could not have been detected. The place was fairly well timbered.

04-11-1895
LLOYD James 18 dataller
He was pushing dirt near the face of a roadway which had been standing for some time when a fall occurred capping a prop and a bar. The place had been inspected by the officials who considered the place safe.

10-06-1898
MURRAY Martin 37 Drawer
He was bringing a full tub along the drawing road when a fall fell from a slip capping a bar and crushing him. Several bars had been capped and jack-propped in the roadway.

10-10-1899
WINDERS WILLIAM 61 Collier
He was getting coal on the lower side of his road when a fall occurred between two slips capping two props and burying him.

28-08-1891
PENNINGTON James 45 dataller
At 11.45am in the 6th hour of the shift he was cleaning up a return airway when he disturbed the packing on the high side which allowed the roof to fall and bury him. The place was examined by the fireman 5mins before the accident.

19-11-1892
REECE John 26 drawer
At 2.30am in the 9th hour of the shift the main haulage rope broke in the engine brow and ran back crushing him. He had followed it up the shunt. If the trailer had been attached by the person in charge this would not have happened.

30-08-1897
CONWELL Henry 37 haulage hand
He signalled for the journey to be set off out of the shunt and while in the act of guiding them around a bend he was crushed by them as some of them got off the rails.

20-12-1900
GORMLEY James 27 Metalman
A contractor was repairing an airway and was trying to pull some loose down with an iron bar. More came than he was expecting and he was crushed.

20-04-1901
WOODWARD George 27 carpenter
They were putting a new rope on the main pulley in the engine house using a capstan engine when the coupling of the rope caught hold of the pulley shaft and before the men could shout the engine pulled it off the wheel and it fell on him.

25-02-1903
MURPHY Thomas 20 hooker-on
He had been the hooker-on for 24 years and stepped into a scaffold in the shaft when the cage was running and something (probably a piece of coal) struck him on the head. He ought to have signalled the cage to stand while he was at the bottom.

09-02-1903
UNSWORTH Thomas 37 metalman
He was attempting to take out a prop at the end of a bar supporting the roof which he was intending to replace with another prop when the bar and the top covering of dirt fell on him. Died 28th may 1903.

22-01-1903
PIGOT Ralph 34 Collier
He was getting bottom coal and had set one sprag under the roof coal which eventually fell on him.

15-08-1904
WILKINSON Joseph 32 Pony driver
He appears to have missed putting in scotches in the wheels at a point in the level and got run over in a steep portion of the roadway.

24-06-1904
HUGHES Thomas 30 collier
He was getting coal from the face to the step when he knocked out a sprag and more coal came down than expected. Died 26th.

05-03-1908
READ Joseph 52 Collier
Fall of the roof took place on him from a slip at the face.

28-02-1908
HILL James 44 Collier
A road endway in the down brow had fallen and had been retimbered by him and two other men when a week later a fall took place at the same place knocking out the new bars and killing him.

09-11-1909
BURNS John 42 Collier
When getting coal at the face a fall occurred between two slips.

23-10-1909
GRUNDY Edward 55 contractor
He was widening a roadway when a portion of the side fell knocking out a prop and causing the roof to fall.

28-06-1911
BRISCOE Thomas 60 Collier
When lifting a tub onto the rails in the main haulage road and the journey started and caught him between the tubs. The engineman stated that a signal had been given but the haulage hands denied this.

31-03-1911
WILLIAMS Richard 50 collier
When at the face a stone 8′ x 4’10” x 2’4″ fell from slips in the roof displacing three props and killing him. The place seems to have been secured in accordance with the propping rules.

26-07-1911
WILLS William 45 Collier
When getting coal in the waste near a longwall face he opened up a cross slip. this along with a known slip running almost at right angles caused a fall 13′ x 9’6″ x 5′.The rules required props to be set no father than 5′ from the face. In this case the had been set within 6′ 3″ of the face but these and three other props proved insufficient.

14th October 1913
Miscellaneous accidents underground.
St Helens Colliery Co St Helens Deep.
John Jackson collier deceased was engaged in ripping down the lane in front of the drawing road about 13 feet to the coalface when a large stone 6 ft by 3 ft by 2 ft between two slips in the roof fell and pinned him to the floor he received injuries from which he died the same day. (Mines Inspectors Report)

14-10-1913
JACKSON John 53 Collier
He was engaged in ripping down a brow 13′ from the wall face when a large stone 6′ x 3′ x 2′ fell from between two parallel slips in the roof and pinned him to the floor. He died the same day.

10-11-1914
RHODES Reuben 38 collier
He was taking a full tub along a drawing road and the tub stuck on the lower side causing a large stone to fall from the side which buried him. 20 mins after being released he died.

02-11 1914
WHITTAKER William 31 Haulage hand
He was attempting to pull the rope from a drum of a small haulage engine and to do this he stood on top of a full tub. He was hauled forward and crushed between a bar. Died 15th Nov. There was no reason for him getting on top of the tub

1918
St. Helens Deep
A colliery fireman lost his life through suffocation by foolishly entering a brow in which there was an accumulation of firedamp. He left his safety lamp at the bottom of the brow and proceeded up to the face with the intention of knocking through to a level which was nearly holed. After giving two knocks on the coal, the workmen heard groaning and on going into the brow found the man’s lamp hanging on a prop. Several persons made repeated efforts to get him out but his legs became fastened on the other side of the prop. Eventually, a holing was made from the other side and the gas cleared out. He should not have gone in knowing there was gas present. (Mines Inspectors Report)

14-03-1923
ASPINALL John 56 Collier
At 1.30am in the third hour of the shift he was injured by a fall of roof on the 11th. He was filling a tub with coal at the face when there was a sudden fall. It was well timbered and the fireman had been there half an hour before.

19-09-1924
SPENCER Richard 20 haulage hand
At 2.10pm in the 7th hour of the shift.

3rd November 1924
Thomas Green
The deceased received injuries from which he died five days later. A set consisting of 18 tubs had been hauled out of the electric haulage and the rope disconnected but the set did not run as far as usual. The fireman pushed the set a few yards and the former to support himself placed his hand on a iron shut and the fence rail. The sheet slipped and the rail canted and cane in contact with the roof the impact pinned the deceased against the engine house. Injuries were not considered serious at the time but after it was found that his pelvis was fractured and he died of pneumonia accelerated by the accident.

03-11-1924
GREEN Thomas 50 haulage hand
At 2am, in the 2nd hour of the shift, 18 tubs were being hauled and did not run as far as usual. He pushed them a few yards and placed his foot on an iron sheet on the fence rail and he slipped and a tub came into contact with him. He was pinned against the engine house wall and thought that his injuries were not serious but he had a fractured pelvis and died of pneumonia 18th (Mines Inspectors Report)

14th March 1923
John Aspinall aged 56 collier, was killed by a fall of roof and died on the 11th. He was getting coal at the face when a stone suddenly fell. The place was timbered according to the rules and the night fireman had examined the work about half an hour before the accident.

2nd November 1914
William Wicker aged 31
He was trying to pull the rope off the drum of a small haulage engine which was on a staging on the tub road. He stood on the top of a full tub and it was hauled forwards and he was crushed between the top of the tub and the side of the staging and he died Nov. 15th. There was no necessity for him to get on top of the tub and he had no right to do so. (Mines Inspectors Report)

10th November 1914
Reuben Rhodes aged 38 years collier was pushing a full tub along a drawing road and it slewed clear and caught a prop on the other side of the road which caused a large stone to fall from the side and partly bury the deceased. It took 20 mins to release him. (Mines Inspectors Report)

 

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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