The Government-backed partnership Meden Valley Making Places funded the Creswell Pit Disaster memorials, as part of its housing regeneration scheme for Creswell Model Village.

Cllr Dennis Kelly, Bolsover District Council environment chief, said: "This was a tragedy and these benches will provide a fitting tribute in memory of 14 men who lived in the model village and lost their lives during the disaster."

Rev David Hull, of St Lawrence's Church, Whitwell, held a service of commemoration and there was a memorial to all the 80 men who died in the disaster in September 1950.

The men became trapped after a broken conveyor belt caught fire and it is widely believed they died from suffocation by poisonous fumes.

Gary Kirk, chief executive of MVMP, said: "While MVMP is working to revitalise former mining settlements, it's important for a community to remember its history.

"Many families still have close connections to the mines and sadly many lost relatives during this disaster."

Bolsover Colliery Company had Creswell Model Village built between 1896 and 1900 to house workers from its Creswell Colliery. Since the colliery closed in 1991 many of the houses have become derelict and boarded up.

But the Model Village is now part of a £12m MVMP scheme to refurbish and modernise 245 homes across the village.


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