Just after 11.30am on May 25, 1812, at Felling, Gateshead, a deep, low boom shook the ground for miles around. Fears that there had been an accident at the local coal mine soon proved to be well-founded.
The writer M.A. Richardson wrote some years later: “As soon as the explosion was heard, the wives and children of the workmen ran to the working pit; wildness and terror were pictured in every countenance. The crowds from all sides soon collected to the number of several hundreds; some crying out for a husband, others for a parent or son, and all deeply affected with an a mixture of horror, anxiety, and grief.”
It's 210 years since a huge blast ripped through Felling Colliery, killing 92 men and boys out of the 128 who worked there. The pit was located where Mulberry Street stands today, behind the town’s modern-day Metro station.
