HUNTERS HILL. Lanark, Lanarkshire. 13th. September, 1910.

This was sandstone mine which was owned by Thomas Gibb and Sons, Limited and the accident caused the deaths of four quarrymen and a labourer and injured two other workmen. The owners had worked the mine for about 13 years and records showed that it had been worked since 1854 by the methods employed at the time of the accident and they thought they had a safe working practice.

A bed of sandstone in the coal measures about 40 feet thick was being extracted by “stoop and room” working. The stoops that were left were about 30 feet square and the rooms about 40 to 50 feet wide. The stoops were not removed. There were vertical joints in the stone which ran N.E. or S.W., parallel to each other and from 30 to 50 feet apart. These had a considerable influence of the working of the rooms as it was usual to have one of these joints at each side of them to help the getting of the stone in as large blocks as possible.

The process of extracting the stone was as follows. A place about 5 feet high was driven in the inferior sandstone, above the bed of the stone, a distance of about 40 for 50 feet according to how far the joints were apart. While this was being done, the roof was supported by props about 12 inches in diameter which were withdrawn by being blown out by explosive. The roof was the carefully examined and dressed down to hard stone about 3 to 5 feet up, so that the total height when all the stone was taken was about 50 feet. A slice of stone, or bench, was then taken down to the floor of the mine and 15 feet wide. The process was repeated until the whole of the stone uncovered by the first process was extracted.

After the props were withdrawn in the first instance the roof was not supported in any way, the strength of the stone being relied on to prevent falls. All had gone well and there had been few accidents at the mine. There had been small falls but no one had been hurt.

At the time of the accident, a large area of roof had been undermined, ready to take a slice or breast off the stone down from the top of the seam. The props supporting the roof had been taken down and a bench started which was 33.5 feet from the floor. Four men were working on the bench in charge of a foreman and five others were working on the floor of the room below driving a steam crane and filling stone into boxes. Suddenly the roof over a large area collapsed without the slightest warning and buried the seven men and smashing the jib of the crane.

The crane driver and one of the men who were not injured went to get help. The injured men were released as soon as possible and the bodies of the men killed recovered.

Those who died were:

  • Patrick Armstrong aged 41 years, quarryman,
  • John Bradley aged 40 years, quarryman,
  • Andrew Raeburn Gibson aged 35, quarryman,
  • Alexander McDonald aged 33 years, quarryman
  • Allan Gibson McDougall aged 38 years, labourer.

The foreman had a miraculous escape. As the stone fell over him, one end caught the top of the bench and was prevented from falling on him. The area of stone that fell was roughly 60 feet by 40 feet and varied from 3 feet 9 inches thick where it joined the stone and trailed to a feather edge where it was free. There were joints on three sides of it and over a large area it fell from a slippery clay parting which was the main cause of the accident an could not be seen before the stone fell.

Mr. W. Walker, the Inspector, thought that too great an area of roof had been left for safe working and that the management of the mine were guilty of a lack of judgement rather than carelessness. He suggested that in future that the rooms should not exceed 30 feet and the roof should always be supported by timber, girders, or railway to tram rails with timber placed at right angles between them. The owners came to the conclusion that the mine could not be worked profitably if the roof had to be supported and in consequence gave up the lease and it was not worked after the date of the accident.

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

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