The Miner Due to Repair the Belt Had His Overtime Cancelled — Hours Later, the Mine Was on Fire

Coal mining documentary: Creswell Colliery, Derbyshire, 1950 — a cancelled belt repair, an underground fire, and what the inquiry found. In the early hours of 26 September 1950, a fire began at a belt transfer point underground at Creswell Colliery, near Mansfield on the Derbyshire–Nottinghamshire border. Of the 232 men below ground, 131 were working beyond the fire. Fifty-one came out by the return airway. Eighty men lost their lives. This film follows the hours before the fire: a damaged conveyor belt, a repair that was arranged and then cancelled, and a pump that did not start. It then looks at what happened when the firefighters turned to the colliery's water supply, why the district was sealed, and why the last men were not brought out until August 1951. The official inquiry was held by Sir Andrew Bryan, Chief Inspector of Mines, and its report was published as Cmd 8574 in 1952. We rely on that report wherever we can. Where sources disagree on a figure or a date, we say so in the film and use the report's version. Creswell was a village built around its pit. Remembered here with respect for the families who lived through it. Sources: Ministry of Fuel and Power, Report on the Causes of and Circumstances Attending the Fire at Creswell Colliery, Derbyshire, on 26th September 1950 (Sir Andrew Bryan, Cmd 8574, 1952) Northern Mine Research Society, Creswell Colliery Conveyor Fire page Friends of Pleasley Pit / David Amos, The 1950 Creswell Colliery Disaster, 75th anniversary Nottinghamshire Mining Museum Health and Safety Executive, Belt Conveyors in Mines The National Archives, COAL 89/122 Archive images and film are credited on screen where used. Reconstructed images are labelled on screen. #CoalMiningHistory #BritishHistory #PitVillageBritain