STONEYFORD COLLIERY owned by James Christopher Royston was included in the 1842 Children's Employment Commission.  In 1842 they were working two pits, one soft 75 yards deep and one hard 93 yards deep. In the year preceding there had been two wildfire incidents at the pit, where one William Hutchby was burnt and unable to work for two months and a second when one William Longden was badly burnt and disabled for three months.  The pit did not have a Davy (Safety)  Lamp and had never used one.  Only two months before the report, one man a 'butty' had fallen down the shaft and was 'smashed to pieces' - his chains and a bag of corn fell with him.  The coal agent, Vincent Wild thought that children should be put to work at age seven, just as he had been with a daily walk of  three miles to work. Vincent said he had seen the 'poor little things so tired that they wanted to lay by the fire sooner than walk home.'  The pit was employing at that time, 110 children under the age of 13 - so next time you walk over to the 'Stoneyford Lodge' for a drink or a meal spare these little mites a thought ..

William Fletcher - Aged 9
Charles Hunt - Aged 11
Joseph Birkinshaw - Aged 8
Samuel Vernon - Aged 9

Thanks also go to Ian, Picks Publishing and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre for giving permission to reproduce the following true accounts.