Today (April 9) is the anniversary of the terrible Norton Hill mining disaster in which ten miners, including a boy aged just 14, were killed in an explosion in 1908.

According to the mining archives, many more might have been killed, as at the time there were about 380 men and boys employed at the colliery of whom 30 were underground at the time of the explosion. The manager of Norton Hill was also the manager of the Farrington Colliery which belonged to the same owners.

Many of those listed have familiar local surnames, and included three from the same family, some of whom perished in the fire, others who suffocated due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The roll call of those who died that night :

:Charles Burge,32

:John James Ashman,34

:Andrew Brooks,27

:William Doughty, 20

:Ernest Jones, 23

:Frank Jones,41

:Stanley Jones,16 years, carting boy.

:George Maggs, 20

:Henry Sage, 14, who worked as an examiner and shotfirer's boy

:Gilbert Winsley, aged 25 years.

There were also five horses killed in the explosion which was at the bottom of the Slyving Vein Incline.

The inquest into the deaths was held over several weeks at the Town Hall, Midsomer Norton, with arguments into whether the explosion was attributed to gas or to dust.

The jury finally returned a verdict:

"That Winsley Burge and others, ten in all, met their deaths in an explosion of coal dust caused by a shot fired by C. Burge in the Slyving Vein Incline, Norton Hill Colliery, but whether Burge did it on his own initiative or by the orders of Mr. Attwood (undermanager), we are unable to decide on account of conflicting evidence. "

The mine was closed in 1965.

For a full report on the disaster click HERE: the Somerset mines site