This explosion took place on January 21st 1880 ,the burial ceremony took place on the 25th of January and was performed by Rev W Daltry Curate,GM Ashdown Curate and Granville R Bailey Curate,it took three vicars to perform these burial ceremonies as there were so many to get through.



The list of names below identifies all the men and boys who lost their lives during the explosion of 1880 at Leycett Colliery.It is so sad to read through the names of all the good people who died leaving behind their families,it would be nice to see the names on the memorial wheel at the bottom of Leycett Lane.There was a wall mounted memorial placed inside St Saviours at Leycett after the explosion,when St Saviours closed its doors for the last time the memorial was taken to All Saints in Madeley, it is still there today on the wall not far from the altar,so that on remembrance Sunday we can honour the lives that were lost on that fateful day.A total of 62 lives were lost during this explosion and of the 62 only 31 were buried at Madeley according to local newspapers at the time and burial records.There are two main versions of events surrounding the burial of these bodies.

The bodies of 31 men and boys (out of a total of 62 who were killed in the explosion) were all said to be buried together in a mass grave,I know this sounds a little sad but in those days people couldn't afford headstones and if a family had lost more than 1 man in the explosion it was very costly.Not forgetting a normal burial ceremony would normally take around 1/2 an hour to perform so if the vicar had 31 to perform in one day it would have been impossible, so ,as this story goes the vicar at the time performed a ceremony for about 5 men at a time and got through them all within 1 day.The supposed mass grave is said to be situated at the foot of the altar window.There is nothing however to identify this story as being true.

It is also said that the 31 bodies were buried beneath the Yew trees which were planted in honour of these miners instead of headstones ,the trees lead up to the church from the village entrance of the church yard ,they grow either side of the church yard pathway at All Saints,therefore no alterations can ever be made to this holy ground and the trees can never be removed nor felled.Nobody has been able to identify why the bodies were buried here as it was never recorded.There were however a number of separate graves dug for 3 sets of brothers,these were the brothers Salmon (double grave),the brothers Lear (double grave) and my relations the 3 brothers Viggars.

It has been identified that the latter of these 2 stories is the one most likely to be true and it is also the one that matches most of the records I have researched.But like all small villages of this kind and with the explosion being so long ago many people interpret the stories they hear in very different ways and before you know it the real goings on are a little different than the stories we hear today.

Below are the names of all the miners killed in the explosion,the miners buried at Madeley are highlighted in Green.A copy of the original entries of death can also be found below (the first 6 names on the first page are not related to the 1880 explosion).

I. Bailey
J. Beesley
J. Bergess
G. Boulton
J.Boulton
W. Burgess
H. Cartledge
G. Clews
Henry Darlington - 21 of Leycett
Thomas Darlington - 55 of Leycett
John Davies - 21 Little Madeley
T. Dean
T. Edwards
John Evans - 26 Leycett
John Espley - 20 of Leycett
H. Fernihough
G. Greener
H. R. Greener
Henry Grocott - 26 of Little Madeley
T. Gross
John Hall - 21 of Madeley Heath
B. Harrison
Joseph Heywood - 27 of Leycett
J. Highfield
Patrick Hutchinson - 36 of Leycett
William Huxley - 21 of Leycett
John James - 18 of Madeley Heath
Richard Jenkinson - 46 of Madeley Heath
Frederick Jervis - 22 of Scot Hay
I. Johnson
L. Knapper
Samuel Lamsdale - 17 of Leycett
John William Lawton -21 of Leycett
Richard . Lear - 23 of Middle Madeley
William Lear - 25 of Middle Madeley
A. Loundes
T. Madders
T. Mayer
J. Morris
George Nixon - 58 of Little Madeley
J. Nynerson
William Picking - 24 Little Madeley
John Salisbury - 24 of Leycett
George Salmon - 34 of Madeley Heath
Jesse Salmon - 36 of Madeley Heath
James Scott - ? yrs of Leycett
A. Smallwood
J. Testall
G. Thorley
E. Thornton
G. Tomkinson - My Family
Thomas Turner - 17 Little Madeley
J. Turnock
Edwin Viggars -33 Madeley Heath -My Family
Frederick Viggars - 31 Madeley Heath- My Family
Joseph Viggars - 35 Madeley Heath- My Family
Herbert Walker -20 Little Madeley
James Webb - 35 yrs of Madeley Heath
J. Whaling
Michael Whalen - 23 of Leycett
J. T. Williams
W. Winkle
W. Yardley








This is an account taken from the Staffordshire weekly Sentinel 31st January 1880.

Nearly all the graves were dug in the slope of Madeley burial ground at the entrance from the village.Relief boxes were placed about and one was tied with a piece of rope to the church yard wicker gate.The yawning graves just in view,furnished in a silent but strong appeal which few could resist;and the contributions at this point were considerable.Graves were dug for 33 bodies.Close to the churchyard path and immediately in front of the grave dug for Thomas Cross is a tombstone erected in memory of a man who had died suddenly.The epitaph seemed startlingly appropriate to the circumstances of the death of the unfortunate colliers to be brought to their long home,where around the walls of the venerable edifice,so many of the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.The words were: