Eighteen street names at a new housing development at Grange Road in Hugglescote are being named after the men and boys who died in the Whitwick Colliery mining disaster of 1898.

That includes the 12 miners who are still buried under the land that will be built on.

A total of 35 miners died in the disaster - one, Albert Gee, was aged just 13, the oldest was 63 - but some were related and shared the same surname.

Barretts/David Wilson Homes have permission to build 360 homes on the sites in a series of phases.

Russell Johnson, the chairman of Hugglescote and Donington Le Heath Parish Council, suggested to the house builders that artwork on the new development could be used to remember the victims of the disaster which happened 122 years ago.

And, as well as the street names, a six metre diameter original winding wheel will be the centrepiece.

The Headstocks pulley wheel was transported from Snibston Colliery to the Grange Road site yesterday (Thursday) and will be stored onsite with the aim of putting it in place next year.

It was an idea that was put forward by Russell, but he received support from a joint partnership with Leicestershire County Council Museums Service, Coalville Heritage Society, Hugglescote & Donington le Heath Parish Council, Snibston Heritage Trust and Barratts/David Wilson Homes.

Russell believes local history should be remembered and - in his case - the people who died in the disaster should not be forgotten.

The victims were suffocated by carbon monoxide gas, from a fire.

The Northern Mine Research Society has published a full account of the 1898 tragedy here Whitwick Colliery Mining Disaster

And there is a full history of Whitwick Colliery here: History of Whtwick Collliery

Russell, a former Nottinghamshire miner but originally from the North East,  explained how important it is for such a terrible event to be recognised for future generations.

He told Coalville Nub News: "We have lots of local history and it needs to be told and I care about my community.

"I made a speech at a planning committee meeting saying that, as the developer wants a piece of art as a centrepiece, I suggested they remember those poor souls who are buried underneath that land.

"There's 12 there, entombed. There was a fire underground, and when the search teams went in for them, they couldn't find them, they'd been starved of oxygen, that's my view.

"There were survivors, but only seven.

"This has been a joint effort, I put the seed out. But we've all worked together to get this off the ground.

"Stuart Warburton, who's the Chair of Snibston Heritage Trust ,has done a lot of background work and as a parish we've had a few meeting on design, but it's not set in stone yet.

"We'll agree on a resting place for the pulley wheel which is a huge thing which we want to be a landmark. A local company, Leicester Machine Movers based in Thringstone, are moving the wheel. It'll probably go near Hugglescote surgery.

"There's been lots of input. It will happen.

"But this is about Coalville and the community remembering our mining dead. We should never forget what miners put into the country.

"And we should never forget who we are."

Russell compared it to the The 'Famous Fifty' who were the first of the August 1914 volunteers from the Coalville area to go to set foot in France and fight on the Western Front.

They marched off from St John the Baptist Church in Hugglescote to the train station in Coalville, with thousands lining the streets to wave them off.

But only 22 of them returned and were remembered in an exhibition in Coalville three years ago.

And In 2018, Hugglescote and Donington le Heath Parish Council helped create an event to mark the end of the war 100 years earler.  The march from Hugglescote Church to Coalville train station was re-created with 50 volunteers and 12 organisations.

Russell added: "That was my idea, and it was great event and stopped the traffic in Coalville.

"My idea this time was to invite the developers to a Parish Council meeting so that we could have some input into naming the roads, and it works.

"The developers are all to keen to talk to us because we know the local history. There are people who are phenomenal with local history in our village and we should be promoting that.

'It brings it home when you realise how young the youngest victim was 15, the rich land owners would use anything to get coal out of the ground for vast profits and paid the miners a pittance.

"Most of the dead came from Whitwick, Swannington, Coalville, Peggs Green Thringstone

The NMRS site lists the men and boys who died in the 1898 disaster.

• Charles Beresford Clamp aged 27 years, onsetter,

•William Davis aged 30 years, dataller,

•Albert Edward Limb aged 20 years, holer,

•Joseph King aged 30 years, stallman,

•William Belcher aged 36 years, stallman.

•Thomas Timpson aged 30 years, stallman,

•Edward Edwards aged 27 years, dataller,

•Albert Gee aged 13 years, deputy's boy,

•Henry Springthorpe aged 45 years, dataller,

•James Evans aged 57 years, dataller,

•Samuel Stacey aged 22 years, holer,

•Joseph Brooks aged 30 years, stallman,

•Jacob Wyatt aged 41 years, stallman,

•Joseph Wilson aged 43 years,

•John Richards aged 29 years, stallman,

•William Gresley aged 60 years, stallman,

•William Bradshaw aged 63 years, stallman.