Boothstown Mines Rescue Station which served the collieries of the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Owners on the

Lancashire Coalfield The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. The Romans may have been the fir ...

opened in November 1933 on a site in

Boothstown Boothstown is a suburban village in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. Boothstown forms part of the Boothstown and Ellenbrook ward, which had a population at the 2011 Census of 9,599. The village is within the boundaries of th ...

, close to the

East Lancashire Road The A580 (officially the Liverpool–East Lancashire Road, colloquially the East Lancs Road) is the United Kingdom's first purpose-built inter-city highway. The road, which remains a primary A road, was officially opened by King George V on 18 ...

. The mines rescue station is Grade II listed and at the centre of a conservation area. It replaced mines rescue stations at

Howe Bridge Howe Bridge is a suburb of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it is situated to the south west of Atherton town centre on the B5215, the old turnpike road from Bolton to Leigh. The settlement was built as a mod ...

, Denton, St Helens and Burnley. The rescue station and its associated buildings were designed by

Bradshaw, Gass and Hope Bradshaw Gass & Hope is an English architectural practice founded in 1862 by Jonas James Bradshaw (–1912). The style "Bradshaw Gass & Hope" was adopted after his death referring to the remaining partners John Bradshaw Gass and Arthur John Hope ...

of Bolton. A two-storey building which fronts onto Ellenbrook Road contained a garage, shower rooms, laboratory, oxygen and equipment storage areas and offices, A board room and

aviary An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds, although bats may also be considered for display. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages. Av ...

for the station's canaries were located on the first floor. At the rear, a single-storey section contained U-shaped training galleries representing underground workings. Observation halls overlooked the galleries so that training taking place in the galleries could be inspected. The galleries could be filled with smoke or heated to simulate the conditions that might be encountered in an emergency. A chimney exhausted the fumes and smoke after the training had concluded. The permanent staff consisted of a superintendent, two instructors and two teams of six rescuers. They lived on site in a development of seven pairs of

semi-detached house A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced house ...

s and a superintendent's house with allotments, parking, and recreation areas. The site had underground air raid shelters.

References

Notes Bibliography * * {{Salford B&S , state=collapsed Mining in Lancashire Emergency services in England Mine safety Grade II listed buildings in the City of Salford Bradshaw, Gass & Hope buildings

See also

References