When the local pit closed , there was enough coal left for many years of mining.
A very high price is often paid to get it though.
My ancestor James Amour was back-overman at Hartley Colliery (Hester Pit ) in Northumberland,- when at 10.20am on thursday 16th January 1862, the 42 ton pupming beam snapped and 22 ton thundered down the single shaft and blocked it. Trapping 204 men and boys. What made things so much worse,- the day shift and just gone down the shaft to relieve the night shift waiting to come up, so both shifts were down when the accident happened.
My ancestor James Amour took c