Seaham and Rainton Colliery Disaster Memorial

Colliery disaster memorial, about 1881 to designs of C Ryder and Son of Bishop Auckland. Eclectic style with Gothic Revival and classical details.

MATERIALS: sandstone with slate tablets and granite colonettes.

DESCRIPTION: situated immediately outside Christ Church within a walled Garden of Rest, along with the 1871 Seaham Colliery Disaster memorial. A two-stage monument about 5 metres high. The lower stage comprises a square pedestal with a moulded and chamfered base. The pedestal has four round-headed slate tablets that record the names of those killed and are framed at the corners by colonnettes with mid-shaft rings and Corinthian-style capitals. There is a patterned coved frieze and chamfered cap. The upper stage has a square plinth with Biblical texts and chamfered corners containing fruit and flower carved reliefs. Above is a short cylindrical stage with an octagonal moulded base, clustered shafts and a carved frieze, surmounted by a moulded and carved cross.

The inscriptions are all in black Roman letters. At the base of the East face: ERECTED BY THE WORKMEN OF/ SEAHAM AND RAINTON COLLIERIES/ AND OTHER FRIENDS/ IN MEMORY OF THE 164 ABOVE NAMED MEN AND BOYS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES/ IN AN EXPLOSION AT SEAHAM COLLIERY ON THE 8TH SEPTEMBER 1860. On the North face: HE WILL/ SWALLOW/ UP DEATH IN/ VICTORY. Incised on the West face: BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD and: WHAT MAN/ IS HE THAT/ LIVETH AND SHALL/ NOT SEE DEATH. On South face: THIS GARDEN OF REST/ WAS PROVIDED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION/ IN MEMORY OF ALL SEAHAM MINERS/ WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN THE COURSE OF THEIR DUTY/ DEDICATED 1965. Incised on south face at the base of the pedestal: C Ryder & Son BP, Auckland.