Qualla: Oaks Explosion

Oaks Explosion: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thomas Dewell Scott, Public domain. The message sent to mining engineer Thomas Woodhouse was six words long: 'The Oaks Pit is on fire. Come directly.' Woodhouse was in London. His partner, Parkin Jeffcock, responded instead, arriving in Barnsley by train before ten that evening. Jeffcock descended into the shattered pit, took charge of the rescue, and worked through the night to restore ventilation and recover survivors. The next morning, a second explosion killed him along with 27 other rescuers. The Oaks disaster of 12 December 1866 claimed 361 lives in all -- 334 miners from the original blast and 27 who went down to save them. It remains the worst mining disaster in English history.

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Image: Thomas Dewell Scott | Public domain

Oaks Explosion: The Pit They Called Dangerous

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Alan.Z at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5. Everyone knew the Oaks was dangerous. The colliery near Hoyle Mill in Barnsley sat atop the Barnsley seam, eight feet thick and prone to violent outbursts of firedamp -- the methane gas that accumulates in coal seams and turns a mine into a bomb. Explosions at the Oaks had alread...

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Image: The original uploader was Alan.Z at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 2.5

Oaks Explosion: Three Hundred Yards Below

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unidentified engraver, Public domain. At 1:20 on a Wednesday afternoon, with less than an hour remaining in the shift, 340 men and boys were underground. Among them were hewers cutting coal, hurriers hauling it to the shaft bottom, horse drivers, maintenance workers, and trappers -- boys employed to open and close ve...

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Image: Unidentified engraver | Public domain

Oaks Explosion: The Second Explosion

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Foto43, CC BY 2.0. At dawn the next day, about 70 men went underground to recover bodies. At 8:30 in the morning, a smaller explosion sent the air reversing through the tunnels. Men rushed to the pit bottom, sixteen cramming into a cage built for six. They bid each other farewell as they waited for...

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Image: Foto43 | CC BY 2.0

Oaks Explosion: The Bell in the Dark

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit blue_rat, CC BY-SA 2.0. Between four and five in the morning on the third day, the signal bell at the No. 1 shaft rang. A bottle of brandy and water was lowered on a rope. When it came back up, the bottle was gone. Engineer John Mammatt and young Thomas Embleton volunteered to descend in a makeshift buc...

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Image: blue_rat | CC BY-SA 2.0

Oaks Explosion: 167 Widows, 366 Children

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Neil Theasby, CC BY 2.5. The disaster left 167 widows and 366 children under twelve. In Hoyle Mill, nearly all the men had perished -- some families lost a father and three or four sons. Special trains brought sightseers from Leeds, Sheffield, and Manchester the following Sunday. Thirty-five bodies were ...

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Image: Neil Theasby | CC BY 2.5