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29/07/2015

Mines Memorial Madeley

I have always been interested in history, and lately I have been thinking on what history is excisting around where I live.  England is full of history, and I thought I should embrace it and get to know it. So I am starting with my little town of Madeley.

There is a few monuments and memorials around here, and I have not yet thought about why they are there and what happend to the people it has been rised for. Today I took a trip to the Mines Memorial.
The 21st January 1880 there was an explotion at the Fair Lady mine, in Lycett. 62 men and boys were killed. It was a Wednesday. The pit had only opened the year before and there had been complaints about the ventilation in the Seven Foot Banbury Seam. There had already been an explotion at the colliery on the 12th of September which had killed eight.

On the Monday before the accident the late manager and Burgess, one of the deceased was summoned to court for neglecting to provide enough ventilations in the mine. The case had been brought forward a week.

A new ventilation fan had been fitted and the roof of the fan house had been lifted off. They formed a party quickly to try and rescue as many as they could, but the guide-rods were damaged and therefore it took extra time to get down to the workers. The cage would not go all the way down and they had to use ladders.

Not too many things going the rescuers way. The explotion occured 08.30 in the morning and the first people they brought up was at noon.

I am passing by this every morning on my way to work. A little piece of Madeley history. Now I know that it was raised for 62 men who went to work one morning, and did not make it home.

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