Redding Pit Disaster Source List - Falkirk Community Trust

Hazards in Coal Mining
The main dangers in mines are from dangerous gases, coal dust, subsidence
and flooding.
Black damp is a non-poisonous, non-inflammable gas mixture of nitrogen,
oxygen and carbon dioxide which uses up the oxygen in the air .
Fire-damp is methane, a flammable gas.
White-damp is carbon monoxide, which is colourless and odourless and
which kills by combining with human haemoglobin and preventing the
blood from carrying oxygen.
Further reading
Local newspapers contain the best contemporary accounts of the Redding Pit
Disaster. You will find copies of these on microfilm in the local libraries.
Some are indexed.
The Falkirk Herald
Grangemouth Advertiser
Bo’ness Journal
The main source is the report of the public inquiry
Report on the causes of and circumstances attending the Inrush of Water
which occurred at the Redding Colliery, Falkirk, Stirlingshire on the 25th
September 1923
Sir Thomas H Mottram, C B E (London, HMSO, 1924. Cmd 2136)
Other useful books about mining are:
R Page Arnot A History of the Scottish Miners (1955)
National Coal Board A Short History of the Coal Mining Industry 1958)
Baron F Duckham A History of the Scottish Coal Industry (1970)
You can find out what happened at the Redding Pit Disaster by reading the
book “The Redding Pit Disaster” by Amanda M Jackson. A digital version of
this book is available on the website .