2-979-580 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Explosion at Lund Hill Colliery, Barnsley, 1857. Disaster at a coalmine on the South Yorkshire Railway, belonging to Taylor and Co. '...a fearful explosion occurred, which shook the ground for a great distance around...The interior of the pit was set on fire by the explosion, and the flames spread with such rapidity as to cut off all chance of reaching that part of the pit where the rest of the men (about 170) were supposed to be...the flames ascending the air-shaft, 220 yards deep, reached more than twenty yards above the top, illuminating the country for a distance around...Mr. Webster gave an account of the result of his visit to the mine...The coal and woodwork in the upcast shaft had taken fire, and the flames were raging furiously. He could compare it to nothing but to a stream of molten metal being poured down the shaft...During the investigation they found many dead bodies...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.