page_title: Abram, Greater Manchester
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Abram, Greater Manchester / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Chimney of the former Maypole Colliery, Abram, Greater Manchester. It has been reduced from its original height by several metres.
context_page_description: Abram is a village and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat land on the northeast bank of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 2 miles west of Leigh, 3 miles southeast of Wigan, and 14.5 miles west of Manchester. Abram is a dormitory village with a population of 9,855.
  Historically part of Lancashire, Abram anciently formed a township and chapelry in the parish of Wigan and hundred of West Derby. Abram appears in an entry of an ancient survey of Lancashire in 1212 under the name "Edburgham".
  The urbanisation and development of Abram largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution. Abram is at the centre of a coal district, and industrial scale coal mining was introduced to Abram around the middle of the 19th century with the opening of several collieries. In 1911, Abram was described as "distinctly unpicturesque ... trees are in the minority, and stunted and blackened with smoke", with "collieries, pit-banks, and railway lines" as well as "much pasture land". The Maypole Colliery Disaster in 1908 resulted in 75 deaths and profoundly changed the character of the village.
context_section_description: The village name has been variously recorded as Edburgham in 1212 and Adburgham in 1246. In the 16th century it had evolved into Abraham, and by the 17th century the current name of Abram had become prevalent. It is suggested that Abram derives from Abraham, the surname of the medieval Lords of the Manor.
  The manor was probably part of the larger manor of Newton until it was granted to "Warine son of Godfrey" by Henry II who reigned 1154–1189. The family adopted the name of the settlement, and remained Lords of the Manor until the 17th century. The family was ruined by the English Civil War, in which they supported the Royalists. When the last in male line of the Abraham family died in the 17th century, possession of the manor passed through many hands, and the title of Lord of the Manor was still around at the start of the 20th century although held no manorial rights.
  Just after 17:00 on 18 August 1908 there was an explosion at the No 1, Cannell Mine of the Maypole Coal Pit. A total of 75 men and boys died in this mining accident. Because the explosion occurred deep underground, it was not until November 1909 that all the bodies were recovered. The inquest ruled that the explosion was caused by a combination of a buildup of coal dust and gas, and the use of explosives to bring down coal from the ceiling. The physical effects of the disaster on Abram are described as "profound"; the explosion made 44 women widows and killed the fathers of more than 120 children. At the time, Irish people were a large ethnic minority in Lancashire, making up between a quarter and a third of the populations of Leigh, St Helens, and Wigan. The Irish Catholic immigrants were seeking works on the Lancashire Coalfield, as demonstrated by the fact that 13 of the dead were Catholic migrants from Ireland. Many of the families affected by the disaster returned to Ireland shortly afterwards.
caption: The chimney of Maypole Colliery where there was a mining accident in 1908, profoundly affecting the village.
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