A Pocket watch taken from the scene of the Pretoria Pit Disaster of 1910 which claimed 344 lives, it was Lancashire’s worst mines disaster.
Stopped at 7.50 a.m. the watch was used to verity the time of the explosion.
The watch belonged to William Davenport one of only three survivors.
The blast ripped it out of his pocket and out of a protective carrying case.
Davenport survived as a result of a tub being upturned over him, giving him enough clean air to survive until rescue arrived.
