Stanley Mayor marks 112th anniversary of Burns Pit disaster

Every year Stanley pauses to pay its respects to the 168 men and boys who died when an explosion ripped through the Burns Pit at 3.45pm on February 16, 1909.

There is a usually a gathering and memorial service at the pit wheel, near North Durham Academy, near the site of the tragedy.

This year, due to lockdown restrictions because of the Covid crisis, the 112th anniversary was marked today with a wreath-laying, by Councillor Carole Hampson, the Mayor of Stanley.

Cllr Hampson said: “It is different this year, but we can’t let the day go by without recognising it in some way. As a mark of respect I have laid a wreath.

“It really, really rocked Stanley that day and it is harrowing when you read exactly what happened.”

The bells of St Andrew’s Parish Church rang for five minutes in memory of those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

Left, the crowd at pithead after the Burn Pit disaster of February 16, 1909, and, right, the mass funeral procession through the town’s streets

Crowds gather at the pit head after the blast in 1909

It is an event that will live long in the memories of people from the area as the devastating impact on the town has been passed down through generations.

So many people died some of the dead had to be buried in mass graves in the town’s churches.

Over 300 dependents, the vast majority of whom lived in colliery company houses, were not only grieving but also faced destitution after losing their loved ones.

Such was the close-knit community at the time, everyone would have known someone who was killed in the tragedy.

The logbook of the East Stanley Board School at the time stated: “Many of our children have lost father or brothers. The intense grief is unbearable. In my visits I find that 11 of my old pupils have suffered on Tuesday.

“The West Stanley Disaster has made an awful havoc among our children.”

FUNERAL: Funeral of victims of Stanley pit disaster.

The town came to a standstill for mass funerals in the aftermath of the tragedy

The annual memorial service in Stanley is a poignant reminder of the North-East’s industrial heritage and the real danger colliery workers faced everyday as they earned their living underground in the coalfields of County Durham.

Cllr Hampson said: “I get so emotional to think about it. To think that a husband, son, brother or whatever was going out to work and was not coming home that day. It is unthinkable. It gives me chills. I cannot imagine what those families must have gone through when this happened. Some of them were children.

“It is so important that we remember the price they paid for the job that they did.

“It is our history.”