Title: Troubled seams
Description: As a daughter, of a Seaham miner whose family have lived in Seaham for generations “Troubled Seams” is a much treasured book which I inherited from my late father. When I was a child in the fifties I knew the author {a wonderful man and so interested in local history hence the book} who was our local librarian and married to one of my infant school teachers.
“Troubled Seams” is a factual account of the colliery town of Seaham and its three mines Seaham colliery being the oldest followed by Dawdon colliery then Vane tempest, founded by Lord Londonderry. Mr. McCutcheon gives graphic descriptions of the shattering events/ disasters which happened in the oldest of the three pits which was Seaham Colliery. After the 1880 explosion in which 164 lives were lost, there were found moving messages written by the entombed miners to their families, one note was scrawled using a rusty nail on a tin water-bottle, by a miner to his wife and children. The book is a fascinating insight into how the miners lived and existed enduring what was a harsh way of life but how they bonded together as marrers {mining slang for mates] and as with all mining districts Seaham was a very close community.
Troubled Seams is a stark reminder of life for the working class in the nineteenth century and I for one am very proud of the mining history of Seaham, which is reflected in this beautifully written book.
Subjects: Coal mines and mining
Places: England, Seaham (Parish)
People: n/a
Time periods: 19 th Century