	Snowdown Colliery	Index	Snowdown Colliery

Snowdown Colliery

Location:	7½ miles [12 km] SE of Canterbury
Map Ref:	(Sheet 179 Canterbury and East Kent) TR245512, 51° 12' 57" N, 1° 12' 56" E
Opened:	Nov 1912
Closed:	Oct 1987
Sinking Started:	1907
Owners:	Snowdown Collieries Ltd.
	1924 - Pearson and Dorman Long Ltd.
	1947 - National Coal Board (N.C.B.)
Output:	1910 - Coal.
	1915 - Coal.
	1933 - Coal: Coking, Manufacturing, Steam. (600,000 tons)
	1940 - Coal: Coking, Manufacturing, Steam. (600,000 tons)
	1947 - Coal: Coking, Manufacturing, Steam. (460,000 tons)
	1948 - Coal: Household, Steam.
	1954 - Coal: Coking, Industrial, Manufacturing, Steam.
Employment:	1910 - 189 (92 below, 97 surface) [Sinking]
	1915 - 519 (388 below, 131 surface)
	1923 - 560 (367 below, 193 surface)
	1933 - 2,050
	1940 - 1,850
	1947 - 1,740 (1,400 below, 340 surface)
	1948 - 1,868 (1,509 below, 359 surface)
	1954 - 1,648 (1,319 below, 329 surface)
Seams Worked:	1915 - Beresford Seam, New Seam, Snowdown Hard
	1948 - Three Thosuand Feet Deep
	1954 - Three Thousand Feet Deep
Notes:	Current Status - Page under construction! and is far, far from complete!

Description

Disasters (5 or more killed)

None Found

Names of those killed at this colliery

Please note that this collection of names is by no means complete!

						Ackerman, David Kenneth, 1958, aged 33, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Amos, Kenneth, 1964, aged 33, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Auld, Norman, 1938, aged 32, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Brown, Joseph, 1928, aged 56, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Cartwright, Wilfred, 1920, aged 33, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Causer, Charles, 22 Aug 1910, aged 19, Assistant Boiler Fireman, Crushed by wall falling [More information ...]
						Collins, William Henry, 1934, aged 25, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Coltham, Charles, 1928, aged 40, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Coulten, Walter, 1932, aged 37, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Davies, Gwillyn, 1943, aged 39, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Dodd, Joseph, 1935, aged 44, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Evans, Horace John, 1943, aged 36, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Fagg, George, 1915, aged 39, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Flynn, Michael, 31 Dec 1937, Death from silicosis, accompanied by tuberculosis
						Hale, Dennis, 1963, aged 52, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Hammond, Frederick, 1934, aged 34, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Hanson, George, 1948, aged 37, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Harris, Frank, 1965, aged 55, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Hawkins, Charles Ernest, 1928, aged 31, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Head, Richard, 1935, aged 18, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Henderson, David, 1941, aged 14, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Hobbs, William, 1934, aged 69, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Ince, Percy, 1952, aged 65, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Johnson, Arthur Bolton, 1934, aged 26, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Kendall, James, 1954, aged 70, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Kettle, Edward Thomas, 22 Aug 1910, aged 36, Boiler Fireman, Crushed by wall falling [More information ...]
						Knight, Edwin, 14 Jun 1907, 3.30 p.m., 2nd hour of shift, aged 57, Chargeman, The shaft having reached a depth of 280 feet from the surface, or from 80 to 96 feet below the level of the water head in the chalk, a sudden inrush of water occurred while 13 men were in the bottom. The water appears to have risen about 15 to 20 feet or more within five minutes, but where it came from is not yet known as they have not been able to get the water out. All the men except Knight escaped by climbing the pumps and chains, and floating with the aid of the brattice cloth fastened against the side to prevent the feeders splashing out into the shaft. A strange thing about this water is the sand which accompanied it, as there is still at least some 500 or 600 feet of chalk before reaching the Gault, according to the borehole which is within 150 yards of the shaft
						Lawson, James, 1964, aged 29, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Leonard, John, 1955, aged 47, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Liversidge, William, 1929, aged 15, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Mackay, George Henry, 1929, aged 33, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Mallett, Henry, 1915, aged 43, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Mayor, John, 1941, aged 46, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Mepham, Henry, 15 Dec 1909, aged 45, Chargeman Sinker, He fell from the "hoppet," in No. 3 Sinking Pit, in consequence of some misunderstanding of signals between the banksman and the engineman. The proper signals were given from the bottom of the shaft, and the banksman states that he transmitted them by his electric bell to the engineman, whereas the engineman says he received three rings instead of four. Both men gave their evidence at the inquest in a most straightforward manner, and each clearly believes in the truth of his statements
						Miller, James, 1928, aged 58, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Minto, Walter, 1939, aged 20, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Mitchell, Reginald Valance, 02 Oct 1937, (accident: 25 Feb 1937), aged 19, Loader, killed by a fall of stone
						Mount, John, 1915, aged 45, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Parker, Thomas, 1915, aged 35, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Peat, Horace Arthur, 1929, aged 29, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Peel, Ernest William, 1930, aged 43, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Phillips, David James, 1936, aged 19, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Phillips, David Louis, 1936, aged 16, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Price, George, 1920, aged 53, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Rolfe, Robert Sailor, 1965, aged 43, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Rowney, Joseph Hugh, 1930, aged 54, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Russell, James, 1918, aged 32, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Smith, James Alfred, 1928, aged 25, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Smith, James Joseph, 1926, aged 16, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Stevenson, William Osecroft, 1930, aged 23, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Taylor, Rex, 1943, aged 15, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Wade, Arthur, 1915, aged 39, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Walker, David, 1956, aged 57, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Waugh, Robert Arthur, 1932, aged 16, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Whittaker, Thomas, 04 Dec 1911, aged 44, Sinker, A pumping engine house at the 720 ft. level was being extended. Four shots had been fired close to the roof at the right side of the excavation, one of which took away half of a hole in which the end of a baulk supporting the roof was placed. About 1½ hours afterwards, whilst the chalk brought down by the shots was being filled away, a piece of the roof, measuring about 12 ft. by 12 ft. by 4 ft. thick, came down and killed deceased. On the right side of this piece of chalk there had been a slip extending its whole length, which, together with the vibration set up by the shot firing, was the cause of the fall
						Williams, Arthur, 1930, aged 41, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Williams, Robert Robson, 1928, aged 32, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]
						Woodbridge, Arthur, 1931, aged 15, [details unknown - name listed on Colliery Memorial]

						58 names found

If you know of any fatalities missing from the above list then please contact us with the details and we will add them to our database.

Those names marked with , have a web page providing individual details of the accident, the page may also include a photograph of the deceased. Click on the symbol next to the name to see the web page.

more information on some of the fatalities shown above

Collieries and Pits within 5 miles (8km)

a simulated map showing the immediate vicinity of Snowdown Colliery

list of collieries/pits etc. near to Snowdown Colliery

Gallery Images:

Credits

Sources:

1907 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 4045), Southern District (No. 12) by Joseph S. Martin, H.M. Inspector of Mines Where to find this report
1909 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 5177), Southern District (No. 12) by Joseph S. Martin, H.M. Inspector of Mines Where to find this report
1910 List of Mines - Government report from the Mines Department
1910 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 5676), Midland and Southern District (No. 8) by Hugh Johnstone, H.M. Inspector of Mines Where to find this report
1911 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 6237), Midland and Southern District (No. 8) by Hugh Johnstone, H.M. Inspector of Mines Where to find this report
1915 List of Mines - Government report from the Mines Department
1923 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory. Published by The Louis Cassier Co. Ltd., from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian
1933 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory. Published by The Louis Cassier Co. Ltd., from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian
1940 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory. Published by The Louis Cassier Co. Ltd., from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian
1947 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory. Published by The Louis Cassier Co. Ltd., from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian
1948 Guide to the Coalfields published by the Colliery Guardian, from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian
1954 Guide to the Coalfields published by the Colliery Guardian