Colliery Disaster Memorial In Tudhoe Cemetery

Colliery disaster memorial, about 1882 by G Ryder and Sons of Bishop Auckland.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar with granite shafts.

DESCRIPTION: the Gothic monument occupies the centre of the cemetery and 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 detailed scenes 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 west face: IN MEMORY OF/ THE 37 MEN AND/ BOYS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES/ IN THE LAMENTABLE/ EXPLOSION AT TUDHOE/ APRIL 18 1882/ ERECTED BY THEIR FELLOW WORKMEN AND FRIENDS AS A/ TOKEN OF SINCERE RESPECT. The names of the dead are inscribed below the inscription and on the other three faces.