Oaks Colliery Disaster Memorial

Memorial erected 1913, by the architects’ practice Wade and Turner, stonemason Peter Dalby, the sculpture a copy of an original by Marius Jean Antonin Mercie, and iron railings by C Downing. Commissioned by Samuel Joshua Cooper.

MATERIALS: Bolton Wood stone and bronze.

DESCRIPTION: not inspected, information from other sources. The memorial takes the form of a high, extended pedestal of two abutting squares with moulded entablatures and deep plinths, with a tall, ashlar obelisk on the rear square and a bronze group on the front square. The pedestal is mounted on a two-stepped podium and surrounded by a rectangular railing enclosure.

The obelisk has a moulded base and a bronze finial.

The bronze group is of Athene as a classical winged female figure, shown in forward movement with billowing robes and wearing a gilded cuirass. Over her left shoulder she bears a wounded or dying naked soldier holding a broken sword. An owl, symbol of wisdom and a common attribute of Athene, stands at her feet on the circular bronze base.

The ashlar frieze of the pedestal is inscribed GLORIA VICTIS. Beneath is an inset rectangular, bronze panel with a moulded ashlar frame. It has an inscription of raised lettering, reading: OAKS EXPLOSION 1866 / THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED / ANNO DOMINI 1913 / BY SAMUEL JOSHUA COOPER / AS A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF / PARKIN JEFFCOCK AND / OTHER HEROES OF THE RESCUE / PARTIES WHO LOST THEIR LIVES / OWING TO FURTHER EXPLOSIONS / ON DECEMBER 13TH 1866 / ALSO TO COMMEMORATE / THE SIGNAL BRAVERY OF / JOHN EDWARD MAMMATT AND / THOMAS WILLIAM EMBLETON / IN DESCENDING THE PIT AND / RESCUING THE SOLE SURVIVOR / ON DECEMBER 14TH 1866.

The pedestal stands on a two-step stone podium. It is enclosed by iron railings set on a low, coursed stone wall with chamfered coping stones.