Today I submitted this article to the Woodland Trust for publishing on their web site. I have worked with the Woodalnd Trust for a number of years to see my dream of refurbishing the walls of Nabs (or Knabs as it's known locally) Wood, who's story follows........................
Terrible Tragedy at Nabs Wood
On a bleak day in June 1838 Nabs Wood was about to be written into history books as a tragic chain of events unfolded. In the village of nearby Silkstone Common black smoke rose from the engine powering the winch to the Huskar Pit where many of the local men, women and children worked at least 12 hour stints in the hot, damp and acrid coal seams which ran below the village. Early in the afternoon a storm broke out starting with a rainstorm making a hissing sound as it landed on the engine and then turning into a torrent of rain and hail up to 4 ½ inches in diameter.
The deluge caused havoc flattening crops, smashing windows and dousing the fire fuelling the engine to the winch. Disquiet broke out underground when the miners found that they were without a winch to haul their corves of coal to the surface in exchange for a token from the mine owner which could be converted to goods in the mine owners ‘Tommy shop’. Panic started setting in, especially in the children when they found out that their main way out of the mine via the winch was closed to them.
A group of the children had a bright idea. They would head through the mine for the day hole, a drift entrance to the mine in Nabs Wood. 
They hurried through the pitch-blackness relying on their base instincts and local knowledge to navigate their way through the rough passages. They went through doors in the passages, usually operated by the escaping children which provided ventilation to the mine. They passed through the final door on their escape, catching a glimpse of light from the entrance ahead of them. At their feet a stream of water flowed past them. They hurried on. They looked up to see a wall of water rushing down the shaft caused by a storm ditch next to the drift entrance bursting its banks due to the sheer volume of rainwater 
gushing down it. The children turned and ran back down the drift but as they ran they were swept away by the torrent and slammed against the ventilation door the sheer volume of water pinning them to it.
Twenty-six children aged seven to seventeen drowned. The villagers 
were distraught and in an age when mining accidents were common, this tragedy made the London broadsheets. The newly enthroned Queen Victoria was shocked and the government of the day set up an enquiry, not specifically into the Huskar Pit Disaster but to working conditions in Britain’s factories and mines. This enquiry was chaired by Lord Ashley (later to become Lord Shaftsbury), well known for his emancipated views. In 1842 this enquiry led to the 1842 Factory Act which was the first piece of legislation relating to working conditions in Britain.
Nabs Wood today is owned by the Woodland Trust. The only visible sign of the terrible disaster which took place under its leafy mantle is a monument erected by Silkstone Parish on the 150th anniversary of the disaster. Much of the woods are as they were 168 years ago – except that the dry stone walls which form the boundary to the woods are in a serious state of disrepair.
Local dry stone waller Les Young volunteered his services to the Trust to repair or rebuild the boundary walls as a tribute to the children who died and to return the walls to their former glory
as a living memorial to their memory. After surveys and risk assessments it became apparent that not only would it take an awful lot of time and manpower to complete the project, but it would also be expensive due to the amount of stone needed to rebuild the walls.
Les approached the local landowners who have a vested interest in renovating the perimeter walls to keep their livestock enclosed. He proposed that he hold dry stone walling courses to rebuild the walls thereby speeding up the 
rebuilding and teaching novices an ancient craft at the same time. The owner of Westfield Park which shares part of the perimeter walls of Nabs Wood embraced this project, and in fact has kindly promised to donate stone to rebuild part of the walls.
The dry stone walling courses will be run from Westfield Park using it’s excellent facilities. The courses are graded as Beginners or Improvers courses and are either a weekend or a week long in duration. If you would like to be part of one of Les’s courses and have the opportunity to rebuild the walls surrounding one of the Trusts woods, help preserve a piece of Britain’s history and learn an ancient craft at the same time then please contact Les at Hadrian’s Dry Stone Walls, whose contact details can be found at or the bottom of this article or at www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk where more details about the course can be found.
For further reading on the Huskar Pit Disaster read The Children of the Dark by Allan Gallop, ISBN 0-7509-3094-2 which is an excellent book.
Post Script by Les Young
Today I have witnessed how this disaster occurred. Over the past week we have had fierce storms with high winds and lashing rain culminating in a corker of a storm last night. This morning Nabs wood resembled a swamp with fallen trees and streams filled to bursting. After climbing over two fallen trees I eventually reached the day hole. The day hole was filled in many years ago and earth piled some 6 metres away from the entrance to form a dyke to protect the day hole from the stream. Normally the stream is a trickle and does not encroach on the dyke. Today there was a foot of water in the ‘crater’ at the entrance to the day hole and on the other side of the protective dyke the water was about 3 foot deep. I now have a clear picture of this volume of water breaching the dyke and crashing down on the day hole. Devastating.
Contact details:
Les Young
07952 551025
email: les@hadriansdrystonewalls.com
Web site: www.hadriansdrystonewalls.co.uk
