In Local Churchyards (Later Collieries)

Edwin was a colliery foreman killed in an accident in 1882, aged 47, when he was crushed between two railway wagons. His son, John, buried in the same plot, also died prematurely, of heart disease aged just 20.

Like many Neston workers Isaac came from Lancashire. He was a foreman pit-sinker (i.e. leading a team building a new shaft) who died in 1876, aged 62. He was killed with Joseph Hughes, 23; both plunged to their deaths when scaffolding in the shaft they were making gave way. The unusual gravestone was paid for by subscription.

Aged just 18, Dick Roberts fell under the wheels of a railway wagon. His mother witnessed the accident and it was said her hair turned white overnight. Robert’s father, Ellis ‘Peg Leg’ Roberts (see picture in ‘People & Places’ gallery) is also named.

William died in 1924, aged 54, in an underground rock fall – a constant danger at the Neston works.

Henry was a miner at Neston for at least 30 years. The gravestone marks the death of four of his and his wife Susan’s children, aged 6 months, 1 year, also 1 year, and 14 years. He was the brother of the first manager of Neston Colliery. He was working underground in Lancashire by age 10, was a miner for at least 50 years and died age 79.

Thomas Leacroft Cottingham was the son of Thomas Cottingham who ran Little Neston Colliery (see ‘Early Collieries’ section of website). Thomas junior was a mine surveyor and manager. He surveyed Neston Colliery before it opened in 1875. He had previously given advice to a parliamentary committee on coal mines in which he described the workings at Neston.