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oken, never e she John Riley put themselves at risk – some dying in an even larger explosion. One man was so mutilated by this second blast he was only identified by the collar of his shirt, another by his fob watch.
But there were some escapes. Samuel Brown crawled over the bodies of dead mates to ring a signal bell just as the shaft was about to be sealed off.
William Hart only survived because a donkey beside him took the full force of the blast.
An inquest into the tragedy was inconclusive and nobody was ever prosecuted. The mine reopened a year later.
Artist Graham Ibbeson, with family in TTY WHOSE HUSBAND S TERRIBLY BURNED
cond d and the pits since the 19th century, created the sculpture of a woman with a child on her hip, something he says he was feels he was “born to make”.
Graham says: “To me, she represents the community moving forward over 150 years. In a way, the biggest memorial is the community that’s around now. It’s the end game of my sculpture career. It won’t get any better than this.”
Stifling tears, he adds: “Sorry, I’m the son of a Barnsley miner. Great grandson as well. Ah told yer ah’d get emotional.”
It would be a man of stone, or possibly a Victorian mine-owner, to feel otherwise watching this brilliant evocation of a lost way of life – and the lives lost in it. ■ Watch the documentary at
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