Felling Colliery Disaster Memorial - Jun 30, 2021
As we have been learning about the Felling Colliery disaster as part of out local history unit, we spent the afternoon walking along to St Mary’s Church to visit a few memorials of local historical importance. First we looked at Thomas Hepburn’s grave, as we found out during our lessons the important role he played in setting up the Northern Miners Union and fought for shorter hours, better education and pay for miners. We also found the memorial for the Felling Colliery disaster, which displays the names of the 91 victims whole were buried in the graveyard. It was devasting to see how many family members lost their lives that day and at such young ages. Finally, we read the blue plaque that had been placed on the wall infront of the memorial as part of the 200th anniversary of the disaster.
