Good Afternoon 
I was intrigued to find, when I used Google to search for Parkhouse Colliery, that you had put on your website that it was also known as Catty Pit.  I've only ever heard my Mum and Dad refer to it as that. 

As I am, like most of the country at the moment, doing a bit of research on my family, I did ask my Mum why it was called that, but she had no idea.  Unfortunately, my Dad died in 1977, so I can't find out from him. 

I was born in Danesmoor and lived there till I was about 13, and have lost touch with anyone from there who worked at the pit who may be able to help. 

Fingers crossed that you know, or know where I might be able to find out. 

Thanks, as they say, in anticipation. 

Avis Whileman

PARKHOUSE No.7
(Catty Pit as it was better known)
Clay Cross, Derbyshire. 7th November 1882.

An explosion of firedamp at this pit killed 45 men and boys. One of the countries worst disasters. At the inquest the 14 strong jury did not include a single miner, but comprised of gentlemen farmers, grocers and a couple of employed craftsmen. 

Only the flunkies were working as the pit was on short time. Gaffer Dunn lost two sons and several relations. In 1893, a William Dunn was killed at work and the Clay Cross Company, "agreed to make a gratuity of £15 to his widow, he being an underviewer whilst on duty, but no precedent be thereby established"

About The Pit

The colliery was the property of the Clay Cross Iron and Coal Company which was founded in 1837 by George Stevenson when the colliery was operated under the name of George Stevenson and Company. In 1847 the Clay Cross Company took over the colliery. The total area of the coal of the Company amounted to 7,500 acres of which 2,050 had already been worked. To develop this large area sinkings had been put down at different places and the shafts were numbered starting at No.1.the accident took place at the No.7 Pit which was at Park House near Danesmore.

The pit was sunk in June 1868 to work 1,200 acres of coal with the objective of connecting with two other pits Nos. 2 and 4. a large portion of the coal that used to go up the No.2 shaft was then worked from the No.7. In sinking the Park House work was carried out on the upcast and then the downcast alternately. The diameter of the downcast was 13 feet and it was 179 feet deep to the Black Shale Coal. The upcast was 10 feet in diameter and 180 yards deep to the bottom coal.

A ventilating furnace, eight and a half feet wide and seven feet long was fixed near the bottom of the upcast shaft. The furnace on bars and a dead plate was put down in October 1868 and had been the means of ventilating the pit ever since.

The main roads north and south from the pit bottom, the cross cuts on the north side of the incline on the south side were worked by endless chain haulage. The engine plane was worked by a single rope driven from the chain gearing by a part of a horizontal steam engine which was driven by steam from surface boilers and taken down the downcast shaft. After 445 yards on the south side the chain incline connected with the south level of the No.7 pit which was the old south level of the No.2 pit. The workings to the rise of this were called the ‘top pit’ and those to the east and immediately west of the No.7 levels were called the ‘bottom pit’.

As the workings in the top pit advanced to the rise in a westerly direction it was found necessary to sink a shaft near Clay Cross in order to facilitate the entrance to the exits in these parts of the workings. This shaft was the No.8 pit which was 9 feet in diameter and 120 yards deep with a ventilation furnace 7 feet square on bars and a dead plate at the bottom of this pit.

The water made in the No.7 pit and the workings was pumped to the surface by a direct acting pump fixed close to the bottom of the No.7 downcast shaft and the steam to drive this engine was taken from the steam pipes for the hauling engines. The north and south levels in the No.7 pit were driven in 1868, 1869 and 1870 and coal was first worked on the north side in 1869 and on the south side in 1870. The chain incline was driven in 1871 and 1872 and the ‘straight up’ incline driven between 1871 and 3. This formed the old part of No.2 and No.7 pit and connected with the No.8 shaft which ventilated the rise portion of the workings.

The dip workings in No.7 were started in 1869 and coal was first worked from there in 1876. The district was ventilated from the No.7 downcast and the air returned to the No.7 upcast shaft and crossed over the main chain level by an overcast. The north cross cut was driven between 1877 and 1879 and coal was first worked from there in 1879.

This was the district where the explosion took place. The level was driven for about 350 yards to the north east and the working were divided into three districts called Nos. 1, 2 and 3 flats. The ventilation to the first two flats went up the first gate, passed the workings of the first two flats and returned on the low side of the second flat by an overcast into the main return of the cross cuts. The third flat was ventilated by air passing above the afore mentioned overcast, from where it went through a head, round the faces and into the main return. The ventilation of the No.7 pit was separate from the others except on the north side where air was passed through to keep the old workings clean. The air passed down the No.7 and returned through No.2 upcast.

Mr. Crudace was the certificated manager of the colliery and the persons under him at the No.7 pit were, George Dunn, the underviewer who was assisted by the deputies and assistant deputies or corporals. James Parker, William Renshaw and Walter Cutts were the corporals in charge of the part of the pit where the bodies were found after the explosion. All the corporals and deputies also took orders from Mr. Dunn. James Parker,
William Renshaw, Michael Parkin and Joseph Stone were among those killed in the disaster. George Dunn jnr. had charge of the blasting in the pit and naked lights were in use in the No.7 pit.

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