Silkstone - Industrial revolution mining disaster always remembered

The parish has grown to having about 3,000 residents, a significant majority of which are aged 50 and above.

Passing a convenience store and petrol station, on entering the village from the Barnsley Road, the High Street features two pubs in close proximity, The Bells bar and kitchen and the Red Lion, and a mix of historic terraced housing alongside large detached contemporary properties.

There's a profusion of deciduous trees and, for much of the year, greenness in and around the village. Even the primary school is set behind a tree-lined drive, while at the opposite end of the HIgh Street the 12th century grade I listed All Saints Church stands amid an expansive graveyard and fields.

Known as the Minster of the Moors due to its cathedral-like exterior and late-15th century roof featuring finely carved roof bosses above aisled nave arcades, its interior which provides a fascinating insight into much of Silkstone’s history.

A poignant stained glass window in the church’s St James’ Chapel, documents the day, 186 years ago, when the parish became the focus of national attention.

On July 4, 1838, the alarm was raised at Moor End Colliery after a torrential downpour as water was seen to be streaming into the pit shaft.

The inundation was so heavy the engine used to lift miners from the Huskar Pit bottom failed, leading to 40 children working there attempting to escape by a day-hole exit.

Some 26 of them, some as young as seven, drowned after being swept away by a torrent of water and trapped against ventilation doors.

Evidence given to the Inquest held eight days later at the Red Lion in Silkstone – a two-room coaching inn dating back to 1733 that is still popular with locals – stated 14 of the older children had managed to climb into an opening free from the floodwater.

A subsequent public inquiry led to all females and boys under the age of ten from being banned from working underground.

The site of the disaster is marked by a small hollow in the ground in a wooded area and a memorial to the Huskar Pit Disaster, featuring the names and ages of the young victims, stands overlooking the High Street in the churchyard.

The disaster happened about a quarter of a mile from Silkstone Waggonway, a narrow-gauge industrial horse-drawn railway serving the Barnsley Canal, which had been built 29 years earlier to transport coal from the Silkstone valley to Cawthorne, opening up markets to the east and access to the River Humber.

Following an extension to the waggonway, coal traffic along it peaked in 1851 at 33,621 tons, but just two decades later, after the launch of the Silkstone Branch Railway, the 2.5-mile waggonway’s unusual U-shaped rails were pulled up.

Today the waggonway, which is among only 11 such routes in England with stones still in place, is a popular route with walkers visiting Silkstone, alongside other ancient paths.

The Industrial Revolution also saw a pioneering glass-making industry established in the village by the Pilmay family, who solved contemporary issues over producing glass in a coal-fired furnace.

In 2002, archaeologists revealed the remains of the Pilmay’s glass-house under the floor of a building at Pot-house Hamlet, on the edge of village, leading to English Heritage recognising the site as an Ancient Scheduled Monument. The buildings on the site are now home to a number of retail outlets.

Another great innovator of the era, Joseph Bramah, dubbed the father of hydraulics, was born and educated in Silkstone, before an accident in a jumping contest left him unable to work on his family’s farm on Stainborough Lane.

Bramah, who became a mechanic and has a gallery in the church named after him, went on to invent items ranging from an advanced locking system and a hydraulic press to water closets for Queen Victoria.

Another legacy from the Victorian era is Silkstone Old Band, which competes at the Yorkshire Brass Band Championships and last month performed a Last Night of the Proms concert in All Saints Church, rehearses twice a week, at Silkstone Common Methodist Chapel. However, it was the choirmaster of All Saints’ Church, Coniah Stringer, who launched the brass band in 1861 by raising local subscriptions to buy several instruments.

The band’s first set of uniforms were military in style, featuring a helmet with a white tassel, and as the government considered it too similar to that of the Household Cavalry Band, after only a couple of band outings Whitehall mandarins agreed to replace them with outfits including kepi caps to avoid confusion.

The village's eastern boundary has been limited to the Silverstone Beck, beyond which is the site of a 1914 camp which was occupied by 1.000 men mainly from Barnsley, followed by a large number of Royal Engineers from the Newcastle area. This area is now Silverwood Scout Camp.

Nearby in Churchfield Peace Gardens, an artwork, Light Lines, commemorating 300 of the soldiers from Barnsley who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme has recently been reinstated after being vandalised. The memorial features images of soldiers who died, including many of the 13th/14th York and Lancaster Regiment, known as the Barnsley Pals.