Mining Explosion

In 1882, 74 men and boys lost their lives in an explosion at a coal mine. Almost everyone in the small town of Trimdon Grange near Durham lost a father, brother, husband, or grandfather.

Source 1 comes from a popular magazine called the Illustrated London News (1882). Source 2 was written by Tommy Armstrong, who was from the region. All the people and events mentioned in the song are real.

This lesson combines History and Literacy to ask pupils to consider how a story is told through narrative poetry.