Trimdon Grange Colliery Disaster Memorial

Colliery Disaster Memorial, 1882, by G Ryder & Sons.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar with granite shafts.

Description: the Gothic monument stands about five metres high. It has a shaped base supporting a square pedestal which has a moulded plinth and cornice; there are capitals on corner shafts framing a panel to each face. This is surmounted by a high, tapering, octagonal spire, with blind tracery and leaf decoration on alternate panels, and a cross finial bearing the inscription I H S. The spire rests upon a square block which has scenes carved in low relief on all sides, and has flower and beast decoration. These represent a miner walking to work, an injured miner being rescued from the pit, a grieving widow at her husband's grave and a scroll with clasped hands inscribed with the word 'FRIENDSHIP'.

The Gothic-shaped panels on the pedestal bear inscriptions incised in Roman letters which read: on the north face of the dado and pedestal: IN MEMORY OF / THE 74 MEN AND / BOYS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES BY THE EXPLOSION AT TRIMDON GRANGE / COLLIERY / THURSDAYFEBRY16 / 1882 / THE FOLLOWING / FORTY FOUR OF WHOM ARE HERE INTERRED. The names and ages of those who died are inscribed on four panels on the dado of the pedestal. Incised in Roman lettering on the north pedestal base: ERECTED / BY THEIR FELLOW / WORKMEN AND FRIENDS / AS A TOKEN OF THEIR SINCERE / RESPECT /G. RYDER & SONS / BP AUCKLAND.