A River of Black Mud

Click image above to enlarge

How Cornholme narrowly averted disaster

The date - October 16 1947 - is one Cornholme residents were to remember for many years to come.

It was the day a huge black wall of tons of mud slid down the hillside, crushing all in its path and almost engulfing homes, vehicles and both road and rail links.

The cause of the potentially catastrophic disaster was attributed to opencast coal mining operations at Rattan Clough, during which tons of peat and soil had been skimmed back. Together with water from recent heavy rains this had suddenly burst out, pouring down the clough.

In all about a million tons of slurry had shifted.

For a full account of the near catastrophe see Issue 4 of Milltown Memories.

Read the full story in Milltown Memories, issue 4. If this or other stories stirs a memory, we'd be happy to know - send us your memories and comments.