£16,000 Lottery grant to tell tale of Madeley pit tragedy

Madeley Living History Project has received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for a community project based on the lives of The Nine Men of Madeley.

It will fund a heritage trail and there are also plans for the story to be told in a community play with the parts taken by people from the town.

A website with more information on the tragedy is also planned.

The project has also been supported by Madeley Town Council and Ironbridge Gorge Parish Council and will provide an opportunity for people to find out more about the area's industrial history.

Alison Vermee, Madeley resident and initiator of the project, said: "This generous grant from Heritage Lottery Fund will enable people to find out more about life in Victorian Madeley.

"We want to recognise working class history and understand the human cost behind the generation of wealth during the Industrial Revolution.

"The trail, the website and the play will offer different ways for people to get involved in the story and to make connections between the lives of our Victorian ancestors and our own 21st century experiences."

The play will take place on September 27 at St Michael's Church, Madeley.

The date is significant as it will be 150 years to the day since the mining accident.

It was a disaster that devastated a community, illustrating the daily dangers miners took when going underground.

Brick Kiln Leasowes pit in Madeley was the scene of one of the worst disasters this country has ever seen, with the death of nine men and boys.

The youngest of those to die was just 12. William Onions was one of scores of youngsters for whom going down the pit was essential to supporting their families. Teenagers John Farr, 14, and John Jones, 14, also died in the accident. Edward Wallet, 52, Francis Cookson,13, William Jarratt, 18, Benjamin Davis, 35, Joseph Maiden, 18, and John Tranter, 37, were the other victims.

It was at the end of the shift on September 27, 1864, as the men and boys were being lifted out, that disaster struck. They were being carried on a piece of apparatus called the Doubles, which was designed to carry a maximum of eight.

The lift was made of chain circles which formed seats connected to a main chain. The men were being lifted the 200 metres out of the iron ore pit when, around halfway up, the hooks that connected the chains gave way and they fell to their deaths.

Their funeral took place at St. Michael's Church, Madeley, on October 1, where more than 400 miners, together with about 100 relatives and friends, made up the funeral procession.

They were placed in individual coffins in a communal grave which can still be seen at St Michael's Church today.

And today's announcement about the grant, of £16,200, will help cement the importance of the event in the minds of today's generation.

To find out more contact info@madeleytowncouncil.gov.uk