Mexborough and Swinton Times February 17, 1928

Memories of the Lundhill Explosion
A Ghastly Scene.
Old Lady’s Vivid Recollection.

Mrs. Elizabeth Ashton, of Counting Houses, West Melton Fields, has vivid recollections of the Lundhill explosion. She is still in the house where she lived. when the disaster occurred. Mrs. Ashton will be 83 in March. She has living four sons and four daughters, 37 grandchildren and 21 great – grandchildren. She has occupied the house continually for 77 years, except for a short period on her marriage 63 years ago to her first husband, the late Mr.Beardshall.

Her second husband was the late Mr John Ashton who died last August. This celebrated 35 wedding days together. Mrs Ashton was 11 years of age when the explosion occurred, and was at home with her parents.

A representative of the “Mexborough and Swinton Times photos found Mrs Ashton at a picturesque cottage adjoining Caroline’s Lodge at the crossroads, between West Melton and Elsecar.

This and the adjoining cottages were styled the “Counting Houses,”  by reason of the fact that they originally formed the headquarters of a number of small pits that once thrived in this neighbourhood.

Qne was Westfield Colliery, and another was known as the Planting Colliery. The latter stood in a planting in the angle formed by the Elsecar and Wentworth roads behind the “Counting Houses.”

The Melton Field seam was worked at all these pits.

Most of them were called the “Lord’s pics,” through the fact that they were owned and worked by Earl Fitzwilliam.

Mrs Ashton was able to confirm all the details previously given us, and added much new information to what has previously been collected and written regarding the Lundhill. Explosion,

Mrs. Ashton said she was 11. year at the time of the explosion, and was at home with her parents; She recollects that they were making “herb beer” at the time, and the first intimation they had of the explosion was a loud “bang.”

Her father remarked in a jocular way that a cork had blown out of one of the bottles. – They examined the bottles and found they were all right.

It was shortly this that they saw a lot of scared-looking people coming from West Melton and rushing past the house in the direction of Lundhill. Looking towards the colliery they could plainly see the smoke and flames belching out of the pit shaft.

At the time of the explosion Mrs Ashton’s father worked at Lundhill and was one of the first to volunteer for the rescue party. He was not, however, allowed to go down the pit, as the “Lord’s” men were told that the danger of another explosion was too great. Mrs. Ashton herself actually saw the dead bodies laid out at the colliery.  She had gone  there with a number of women in order to identify  the victims. This, however, they were not able to do.

“They were as black as coal, and it was impossible to tell one from another.”

Mrs. Ashton mentioned that one of the victims was a certain Charles Milner, the landlord of a public house then existing at Westfields, West Melton. Few people remember this hostelry. Milner and his wife had not been on the best of terms, and his wife resolutely refused to go to the pit to identify his body. “We tried to pick him out,” said Mrs. Ashton, but we couldn’t.” Mrs. Ashton relates that Milner had a premonition of the disaster, which he described as a “queer dream.” He did not wish to go to the pit, but his wife insisted on his doing so.

“Milner is buried among the unrecognised ones in a large grave in Darfield churchyard. “

Mrs. Ashton recalls that prior to the Lundhill disaster there was a colliery explosion at Tingle Bridge, Hemingfield in which 11 men were killed outright, and two from Broomhill died afterwards she mentioned that this occurred on St Thomas’s day, and in that the date was stamped on her mind because on St Thomas’s day in years gone by the tenants used to have a large piece of beef allowed them from Wentworth House.

Touching upon these old, customs of hospitality, Mrs. Ashton. said “I was just telling my son here that this was Collop Monday.”  She explained that “Collop” Monday” was the day before Shrove Tuesday and that each year it was the practice for the tenants to receive “Collops” of bacon from Wentworth House. “That custom has now stopped,” she observed with note of lamentation in her voice. “It used to be very thick and very fat, but it was alway very welcome.  We should like to have some now.”

The cottage in which Mrs Ashton resigned used to be a stable. Her father moved into it 78 years ago. It is a comfortable little Homestead and might be envied by many people occupy modern dwellings.

Mrs Ashton is a mother of a well-known Wombwell townsmen, Mr William Beardshall