Redding is a village within the

Falkirk council area Falkirk ( ; ; ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one of three parts of the Central r ...

in Central Scotland. The village is southeast of

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, south-southwest of

Grangemouth Grangemouth (; , ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area in the central belt of Scotland. Historically part of the Counties of Scotland, county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firt ...

and west of

Polmont Polmont () is a village in the Falkirk council area of Central Scotland. It lies towards the east of the town of Falkirk, north of the Union Canal (Scotland), Union Canal, which runs adjacent to the village. Due to its situation in Central Sco ...

. At the time of the 2001 census, Redding had a population of 1,954 residents.No 3 - 2001 Census Population of settlements and wards
www.falkirk.gov.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-11

History

On a hill beyond Redding is a stone that is called Wallace's stone, marking out the spot from which Sir William Wallace, after his quarrel with Sir John Stuart, one of the Scottish chiefs, is said to have viewed the

Battle of Falkirk The Battle of Falkirk (; ), on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence. Led by Edward I of England, King Edward I of England, the English army defeated the Scottish people, Scots, led by William Wal ...

, from which he had been compelled to retire, and to have witnessed the defeat of the Scottish army. The village is one of the older settlements in the area and is shown on Timothy Pont's map of Stirlingshire from around 1590. In 1923, the small

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

community was the scene of the Redding mining disaster, one of the worst disasters in the history of the Scottish

coalfield A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...

, which claimed the lives of 40 men. At 5.00am on Tuesday 25 September 1923 an inrush of water flooded the pit. This trapped 66 miners underground, 21 of whom were successfully rescued after about five hours. A further five men were rescued after having been trapped in the mine for 10 days. A further 11 men survived for around two weeks in a dry section of the mine, but ultimately died before rescuers were able to free them. The Sir William Wallace Lodge of the Grand Lodge of Scotland Free Colliers still march every year on the first Saturday in August in memory of the men who lost their lives in the disaster. In 2023 the 100th anniversary of the disaster was marked by a march and ceremony to rededicate the memorial stone, with relatives of those killed traveling from Australia and North America to attend.

References

External links

Redding Pit DisasterFree Colliers
Villages in Falkirk (council area) Mining communities in Scotland 1923 disasters in the United Kingdom {{Falkirk-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links