Burnley Coalfield
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Burnley Coalfield is the most northerly portion of 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 f ...
. Surrounding
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
,
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
,
Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
and Accrington, it is separated from the larger southern part by an area of Millstone Grit that forms the Rossendale
anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
. Occupying a syncline, it stretches from Blackburn past
Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
to the Yorkshire border where its eastern flank is the Pennine anticline.


Geography and geology

The Burnley Coalfield which surrounds Burnley, Nelson, Blackburn and Accrington is the most northerly portion of 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 f ...
. The Rossendale anticline, an area of Millstone Grit, separates it from the larger southern part of the coalfield. Occupying a syncline bounded by the
Pendle Pendle may refer to: * Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England ** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency) * Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England ** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill * Pendle College of the University of Lancaster * ...
monocline to the north, the coalfield stretches from Blackburn, eastwards past Colne to the Pennine anticline on the border with Yorkshire. The coalfield's seams are the Westphalian Coal Measures of the
Carboniferous period The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
, laid down from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests more than 300 million years ago but here, only the Lower Coal Measures remain. Within the coalfield, the dip in the strata varies from shallow to the south and west but steeper where there are faults. Named faults include the Deerplay Fault in the middle of the district which is associated with a line to west where the Lower Mountain and Upper Foot mines combine to form the Union mine. The Cliviger Valley Fault has a throw of up to in the Cliviger valley. The intersecting Theiveley Lead Mine and nearby Hameldon Faults are some of a smaller number of easterly aligned structures which separate the coalfield from the horizontal strata of Rossendale. Other unnamed faults include one between Altham and
Huncoat Huncoat is a village in Lancashire, England; situated in the North West. It is located to the east of Accrington. It is a ward of Hyndburn where the population taken at the 2011 census was 4,418. Huncoat railway station is on the East Lanc ...
which is considered to be the boundary between the Burnley and Accrington district. Around the district, 19 coal seams, of varying thickness were exploited over time. The most important were the Lower/Union and Upper Mountain, Dandy, King and Arley mines. Seams were generally less than 1.5 metres in thickness, frequently less. One notable exception occurs in the
Calder Valley Calder is a Scottish name and may refer to: People *Calder (surname) * Calder baronets, two baronetcies created for people with the surname Calder *Alexander Calder (1898-1976), the American sculptor known for his mobiles, son of Alexander Stirli ...
near
Gawthorpe Hall Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in Ightenhill, a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated ther ...
, where as a result of the absence of the Tim Bobbin Rock which usually separates the King and Fulledge Thin mines, the Padiham Thick mine is up to 5.3 metres thick. Coal extracted from the Arley, Upper and Lower Mountain mines was used to produce high grade
metallurgical Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
coke which was in high demand for industry, whereas coal from the Union/Upper Foot mines had a high sulphur content making it unsuitable for making coke. The Union mine is contaminated with in-seam concretions known locally as
coal ball A coal ball is a type of concretion, varying in shape from an imperfect sphere to a flat-lying, irregular slab. Coal balls were formed in Carboniferous Period swamps and mires, when peat was prevented from being turned into coal by the high am ...
s or bobbers, spherical concretions, composed of limestone measuring from 0.1 to 1.0 metre in diameter that posed hazards for mining. They were largely responsible for the closure of Bank Hall Colliery, the area's largest and deepest pit.


History

Coal was exploited in the 13th century at
Trawden Trawden is a village in the Trawden Forest parish of Pendle, at the foot of Boulsworth Hill, in Lancashire, England. The village co-operatively owns and runs its library, shop, community centre and pub. Activities As a way of encouraging pe ...
near Colne where receipts are mentioned in a rent roll from 1295. Coal was also bought at
Cliviger Cliviger is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated to the southeast of Burnley, and northwest of Todmorden. According to the 2011 census, the parish has a population of 2,238. Although the whole parish ...
. The first coals were extracted at the
outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
s before shaft and
adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adit ...
mining were adopted. The coal industry grew in the 16th and 17th centuries, developing from manorial tenants who dug coal for their own use into fixed term leases in return for rent. Coal was mined all around Burnley, mostly from shafts. By 1800, more than a dozen pits had been sunk in central Burnley. The arrival of the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
was a catalyst for industrialisation as was the coming of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...
line through Burnley to Colne in 1848. In the 1840s some old small pits such as Cleggs Pit and Habergham closed and larger collieries were sunk at Bank House Colliery, Whittlefield Colliery and the old Fulledge Colliery was redeveloped and linked by a tramway to canal. Tramways came into more common use in the 1880s and several collieries in the town were linked by the system. Several collieries were nationalised under the
Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act of 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6 c. 59) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or brought into state control, the coal industry in the United Kingdom. It established the National Coal B ...
on vesting day, 1 January 1947. After the 1950s much of the area was opencasted. Coal was opencast at Helm, Royal Zone, Gawthorpe Hall and Tipping Hill. Hill Top Colliery, a very small drift mine near
Bacup Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east of ...
, was still producing small amounts of coal in 2010.


Collieries


Accrington district

*Aspen Colliery was next the canal and the
East Lancashire line The East Lancashire line is a railway line in the Lancashire region of England, which runs between Preston and Colne, through Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley (Barracks and Central) and Nelson. The line formerly ran onto Skipton but this closed i ...
at
Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the ...
, having both a
canal basin A canal basin is (particularly in the United Kingdom) an expanse of waterway alongside or at the end of a canal, and wider than the canal, constructed to allow boats to moor or unload cargo without impeding the progress of other traffic, and to al ...
and railway siding. Mining here is thought to have commenced in the early 19th century and the colliery closed in 1930. The remains of the site which includes two stone-built engine beds and a bank of 24 beehive type coke ovens are protected as a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
. *Baxenden Colliery was located on the western side of
Baxenden Baxenden is a village and ward in the Borough of Hyndburn in Lancashire, North-West England. The ward population taken at the 2011 census was 4,042. Baxenden is sometimes known to locals as Bash. History Whilst people have inhabited the s ...
village next to the old railway line from Accrington to
Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
. *Broadfield Colliery was south of
Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the ...
. The 1840s a surface tramroad connected to the printworks and Foxhill Bank via Moscow Mills. *Dunkenhalgh Park Colliery was south of
Dunkenhalgh The Dunkenhalgh is a country manor in Lancashire, on the outskirts of Clayton-le-Moors near the river Hyndburn. Originally a large country house in Tudor style, later converted into a hotel. It is grade II listed. History The name ''Dunkenha ...
. *Huncoat Colliery was sunk by George Hargreaves and Company between 1890 and 1893. The shafts accessed the Upper and Lower Mountain mines. The company linked its Calder and Scaitcliffe Collieries to Huncoat underground before 1930 and it wound the coal from all three pits. The colliery was nationalised in 1947 and the NCB modernised the pit to raise productivity. Improvements were made to the pit bottom and coal raising was improved by higher capacity cages. Underground, new diesel locomotives hauled three-ton mine cars. The colliery closed after its coal was exhausted in 1968. *Moorfield Colliery next to the canal in Altham was opened around 1880 and mining continued until 1949. It was retained by the NCB as a pumping station until around 1970. It was originally worked by the Altham Colliery Company, who sunk a single shaft, linked by a inclined roadway to their colliery at Whinney Hill for ventilation and emergency escape. In 1895 the site had a winding engine with twin diameter cylinders made by ''Ashton, Frost and Co'', a pumping engine capable of extracting over 230 gallons per minute by Hathorn, Davey and Co, and a surface-driven endless chain haulage system. There was also screening plant, a battery of 25
Simon Carves Simon Carves Engineering Ltd. is an engineering company headquartered in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1878 by Henry Simon and is a subsidiary of Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding. History Simon Carves was founded in 1878 by Henry Sim ...
coke ovens and a bank of beehive type ovens. On 7 November 1883 an underground explosion killed 68 miners, including 13 boys and the colliery manager. *Martholme Colliery near the old hall at Martholme was connected to Bridge Hey Colliery across the River Calder and Great Harwood Colliery also known as Park Pit, in
Great Harwood Great Harwood is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, located north east of Blackburn and adjacent to the Ribble Valley. Great Harwood is the major conurbation of the 'Three Towns'; the three towns being Great Harwood, Clayton- ...
. *Rishton Colliery in
Rishton Rishton is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, about west of Clayton-le-Moors and north east of Blackburn. It was an urban district from about 1894 to 1974. The population at the census of 2011 was 6,625. History Its ...
was begun by P.W. Pickup Ltd in late November 1884 and mining continued until 1941. The NCB used it as a pumping station from 1955 until 1970. A ginny road from the pit connected to a coaling wharf on the canal. *Scaitcliffe Colliery in Accrington was sunk to the Lower Mountain mine in the late 19th century. It was located south of
Accrington railway station Accrington railway station serves the town of Accrington in Lancashire, England. It is a station on the East Lancashire line east of Blackburn railway station operated by Northern. It is also served by Caldervale Line express services between ...
, next to the old railway line to Bury near
Howard & Bullough Howard & Bullough was a firm of textile machine manufacturers in Accrington, Lancashire. The company was the world's major manufacturer of power looms in the 1860s. History The firm of Howard and Bleakley was founded in 1851 with four workers ...
's Globe Works. After nationalisation the NCB employed 182 men underground and another 25 on the surface, but the colliery closed in the summer of 1962. *Sough Lane Colliery was southwest of
Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the ...
and had a tramroad connecting it to Knuzden. *Town Bent Colliery was south of
Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the ...
.


Burnley district

* Bank Hall Colliery was the town's largest and deepest pit, sunk by the Executors of John Hargreaves between 1865 and 1869 and the pit closed on 17 April 1971. *Barclay Hills Colliery was started before 1834. Its site was later occupied by coke ovens linked by tramroads to Hapton Valley and a coal staithe on the canal. The colliery had two shafts to the Arley Mine and a
cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
chimney. Although the coke ovens are marked as disused on the 1912 map, coal
screening Screening may refer to: * Screening cultures, a type a medical test that is done to find an infection * Screening (economics), a strategy of combating adverse selection (includes sorting resumes to select employees) * Screening (environmental), a ...
of the output from Hapton Valley continued until 1947. *Bee Hole Colliery was located to the northeast of
Burnley FC Burnley Football Club () is an English association football club based in Burnley, Lancashire, that competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, following relegation from the 2021–22 Premier League. Founded on 18 ...
's
Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional footba ...
home and for many years gave its name that end of the football ground (replaced in the 1990s by the Jimmy McIlroy stand). *Black Clough Colliery was opened by the Deerplay Colliery Company in 1915. It worked a small area of the Arley mine north of the Deerplay fault, and the Lower Mountain mine on the south side from a drift in Black Clough about 1.2 km distant. The colliery closed in 1940 but was reopened by the NCB between 1948 and 1950. A ginny road from the pit connected to a coal staith near the Thieveley Pike triangulation point, 1470 feet above sea level. The coal was opencasted between 1948 and 1955. *Burnt Hills Colliery on the Burnley –
Edenfield Edenfield is a village within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. Lying on the River Irwell, it is around north of Ramsbottom, south of Rawtenstall, and west of Norden, and has a total population of 2,080, reducing to 2,053 at th ...
road (A682) at Clow Bridge in Dunnockshaw and nearby Porters Gate were two small collieries owned by the Executors of John Hargreaves that operated from the 1840s and closed in 1920 as the redeveloped Hapton Valley Colliery had taken over their workings 10 years previously. Both worked the Upper and Lower Mountain mines and Burnt Hills had a coal staithe and a surface tramroad that connected the pits by about 1863. In 1880 the tramroad was extended from Porters Gate to connect to the system at Hapton Valley. In 1892 Burnt Hills had two shafts with a single-cylinder winding engine and an underground engine drove a long haulage system that raised the coal through a surface drift. Porters Gate had several shafts and a least three surface drifts and was one of the few pits in the area to record zero fatal accidents. *Calder Colliery was open from 1908 until July 1958. It was sunk by George Hargreaves Collieries beside the
Padiham Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
to Clayton-le-Moors ( A678) road on the north side the River Calder near Simonstone. Shaft sinking had commenced by 1903 but was stopped for several years due to water ingress. Coal was got from the Lower Mountain mine which was thick using longwall cutters and conveyor belts The pit was later linked to Huncoat and Moorfield Collieries. The pit was nationalised in 1947 and even though it was uneconomic, demand for this quality of coal was so high that production continued until its reserves were depleted and it closed in 1958. *Clifton Colliery was sunk in 1876 by the Executors of John Hargreaves on the road from Burnley to Clifton Farm. It closed in 1955 but one shaft was retained for use as a pumping station until 1971. *Mining at Copy Pit began in the 1830s from a drift near to Walton Copy Farm in
Cliviger Cliviger is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated to the southeast of Burnley, and northwest of Todmorden. According to the 2011 census, the parish has a population of 2,238. Although the whole parish ...
near the source of the River Calder. After the arrival of the railway line between
Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax. In 2011 it had a population of 15,481. Todm ...
on the
Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...
and
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
in the 1850s, the Cliviger Coal and Coke Company expanded its operations. The pit was near the summit of the railway and gave its name to the route. Copy Row, a terrace of seven cottages was built for the mine workers on Burnley Road. The company built coke ovens and a gantry over the Todmorden turnpike road to a loading bay by the rail line. To access the Arley mine, the company sank two shafts in 1860. A Cornish-type steam pump was installed to de-water the pit. The headgear for each shaft was arranged on either side of the engine house with a single wheel for each. One shaft had a cage for miners and the other had a cage for coal tubs. Copy Pit was the Cliviger Coal and Coke Company's only colliery to be nationalised in 1947 as the others had been worked out. The pit produced 1,000 tons of coal per week until 1963, when it closed. At nationalisation the pit employed 52 men below ground in the Dandy seam and 17 surface workers. *Deerplay Colliery was established close to the source of the River Irwell and the Burnley to Bacup Road by the Deerplay Colliery Company in 1894/5. The colliery's two drifts accessed the Lower Mountain and Little mines in workings to the west of the drifts. After 1915, the colliery was worked with the company's other drift mine at Black Clough until 1940. In the 1940s Deerplay employed up to 46 men underground and 8 on the surface. It closed in April 1941 but the National Coal Board NCB refurbished it before re-opening it to exploit reserves to the east of the drifts in 1951/2. The new colliery had an average workforce of 143 underground and 15 surface workers. Ten advancing longwall faces were worked including one at Hill Top which after closure was linked by a tunnel. The last face at Hill Top was closed as it neared old workings in November 1967 and was abandoned in March 1968. The Deerplay site is now occupied by lagoons for settling and filtering ochreous water from the workings which polluted the Irwell from its source. *Fox Clough Colliery was south of
Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
. Coal was being mined at Fox Clough from the early 17th-century, however this colliery also known as Engine Pit was started by the Executors of John Hargreaves, probably around 1832. Its beam-engine house was in Church Clough. By the 1840s a surface drift was located at the foot of the clough, on the south side of
Colne Water Colne Water is a river in eastern Lancashire. It is approximately long and has a catchment area excluding its major tributaries (the River Laneshaw, Wycoller Beck, Trawden Brook and Wanless Water) of . Colne Water is formed at the Covey Bri ...
, about 400 metres from the engine house and a tramroad crossed the river connecting the colliery to a coal yard in the town. It seems the coal here was not of a high quality, as during the winter of 1860 a local newspaper reported that the frozen canal and diversion of railway wagons had forced the inhabitants of Colne, to resort to town's coal pit. Fox Clough Colliery was abandoned in 1872. Trawden Colliery (1874–1890) located about 200 metres up the valley, continued production from the same workings. A largely underground tramroad connected it to the existing route at the drift entrance buildings. The system was marked as disused in 1893. *Fulledge Colliery , to the east of the Burnley Embankment, was linked to it by a tramroad. The first pit was sunk by Henry Blackmore in about 1720. It had a 16 yards deep shaft and was drained from a second shaft using an endless bucket chain powered by a waterwheel. The pit was a little way from the river and a dispute with the neighbouring tenant over water channels led to its abandonment. In 1736 Blackmore leased it out for a while after which he gave it to his father-in-law. After his death in 1754 Blackmore's widow married the Rev John Hargreaves making Fulledge the first colliery of the company that came to dominate the industry on the Burnley Coalfield. In 1770 the pit was worth £100 a year, producing an average of 15 to 18 tons per week. * Gambleside Colliery was near Clowbridge Reservoir. It was connected to the pre-existing tramroad from Swinshaw to a coal yard in
Crawshawbooth Crawshawbooth is a small village on the edge of the Pennine hills in England just north of the market town of Rawtenstall, Lancashire, and just south of Loveclough. It is part of the valley of Rossendale, an ancient royal hunting ground. The ...
. *Gannow Colliery on Gannow Lane near the canal was linked to a coal staithe by a tramroad. It was begun by the Executors of John Hargreaves in 1856. Construction of the shaft took many years and several lives were lost due to accidents. Originally an endless chain system driven from the surface was used for transport, this being replaced in 1862. Mining ceased in 1878, but it was used to wind coal from Habergham until it closed in 1941. *Grime Bridge Colliery was due east of Rossendale hamlet of Lumb and was linked by a tramroad to a coal staithe further down the valley at Whitewell Bottom. *Habergham Colliery was on the turnpike road from Burnley to
Padiham Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
near Gawthorpe Hall close to the earlier Gawthorpe Colliery and Dugdale Pit. After two years development by the Executors of John Hargreaves, production began from the Arley mine at a depth of in 1870. As the colliery developed it was linked underground to Gannow and on the surface it was connected to the pre-existing tarmroad from Cornfield via East Pit to a coal yard in Padiham, and a surface drift was driven to the Top Bed mine. A shortage of manpower led to closure in 1941. *
Hapton Valley Colliery Hapton Valley Colliery was a coal mine on the edge of Hapton, Lancashire, Hapton near Burnley in Lancashire, England. Its first shafts were sunk in the early 1850s and it had a life of almost 130 years, surviving to be the last deep mine operatin ...
was sunk in 1853. After nationalisation the NCB, in 1950 constructed a loco-drift to the west. Thorny Bank Colliery began operation in 1952, utilising a small surface drift was driven from Thorney Bank Clough in the early 1940s, for ventilation. They moved Hapton Valley's area of operation to the east, completing two new drifts from the pit bottom, cutting through the Deerplay Fault, in 1954. On 22 March 1962 at Hapton Valley, an explosion 750 feet below ground killed 19 men. A new surface drift was completed in 1962 to replace the 90 yards deep shaft. In the 1960s the workforce of 412 men produced 212,000 tons of coal each year from the Upper and Lower Mountain mines, while Thorny Bank employed 300 men who produced 160,000 tons of coal annually. Difficult geological conditions led to the closure of Thorny Bank in 1968, but Hapton Valley survived to be the last deep mine operating on the coalfield, closing in 1982. *Laneshaw Bridge Colliery was southeast of
Laneshaw Bridge Laneshawbridge (otherwise Laneshaw Bridge) is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 918. It is to the east of Colne in Lancashire and is the easternmost settlem ...
village near Emmott. The Cannell mine was only 0.5 metres thick there. *Marsden Colliery was in Brierfield close to the canal. It is thought that coal was being mined n the vicinity in the early-17th century, but this colliery, originally known as Brierfield Pit, was begun around 1811. It was the first colliery in the area to use endless chain haulage powered by a steam engine. As Marsden was nearing the end of its reserves in 1872 an explosion in a disused section killed two men and caused an underground fire. Operations were wound down and the pit closed in early in 1873. *Old Meadows Colliery was a drift mine on the northern edge of Bacup. Driven in about 1854 by Hargreaves, Ashworth & Company, it accessed the Lower Mountain or Union mine. George Hargreaves & Company owned it in 1890 employing about 38 men underground and 9 surface workers. Under the NCB little modernisation took place although more men were employed, 53 men worked underground and 12 on the surface and the coal continued to be hauled along roadways. The mine closed in March 1969. *Railway Pit at Walk Mill in Cliviger was the furthest of the Cliviger Colliery Company's pits from the Burnley to Todmorden Railway. It was sunk about 1840 and its workings eventually stretched for almost four miles towards Hurstwood. It was accessed by two sloping drifts. Coal was moved to the sidings and coke ovens near the railway along a tramway. Candles were used for light in the pit. It accessed the Arley seam. The pit closed in 1938. The arched entrance to the drift, the engine house and evidence of the tramway remain. *Reedley Colliery also known as Barden Pit was sunk by the Executors of John Hargreaves next to the canal in 1879. The pair of shafts accessed the Arley mine, and the Dandy and the King mines after 1910. The company linked the pit underground to Bank Hall before 1893 and its coal was transported directly to Bank Hall's wash plant via a drift. Its pithead baths, opened in November 1914, were the first in east Lancashire and only the second in the country. Wood End Colliery was constructed from 1910 as a downcast shaft for Reedley. After nationalisation the NCB developed two high-productivity drift mines at
Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...
connected to each pit. Fence No 1 was worked-out by 1950 and Wood End closed in 1959. Fence No 2 closed with Reedley in May 1960. *Rowley Colliery was sunk by the Executors of John Hargreaves in 1861 next to Rowley Hall on the River Brun. It closed in 1928, but its
spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quant ...
on the banks of the river continued to be used by Bank Hall, causing a significant pollution issue. Since 1971 restoration works by Lancashire County Council have seen extensive modifications to the river including the creation of Rowley Lake. *Town House or Clough Head Colliery in
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
was owned by Spencer and Wilson. On 12 April 1850 six men were working in the pit when one man went to check for gas with a
safety lamp A safety lamp is any of several types of lamp that provides illumination in coal mines and is designed to operate in air that may contain coal dust or gases, both of which are potentially flammable or explosive. Until the development of effectiv ...
but before he signalled it was safe, another man removed the top from his lamp causing an explosion that killed them all. A second explosion in November 1856 resulted in two fatalities. The colliery had two coke ovens in the early 19th century. There is evidence in the area of bell pits at Swinden and surface mining at Castercliffe. *
Towneley Colliery Towneley Colliery or Towneley Desmesne was a coal mine on the Burnley Coalfield in Burnley, Lancashire, England. Sunk in the late 1860s, it was linked to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Burnley to Todmorden line which became known as the ...
, also known as Towneley Demesne was on the hillside to the west of
Towneley Hall Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
where the company also had a
fire clay Fire clay is a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines fire clay very generally as a "mineral aggregate composed of hydrous silicates of alumi ...
works. Work began sinking the shafts in late February 1869 and it closed March 1949. It had three satellite pits, Dyneley Knoll , Boggart Brig and Park Pits . *The Union Pit was sunk in about 1853 in Walk Mill, Cliviger, where the Cliviger Coal Company had its headquarters. Its shaft was 450 feet deep and a drift accessed the workings. The colliery had a gasometer that supplied gas to light the shaft bottom, the surface buildings and nearby miners' cottages. Coal was moved to the sidings that served Railway Pit along a tramway. In 1910 it employed 10 miners and 19 surface workers. Union Pit closed in 1943. Steps that accessed the shaft and the drift's stone arch survive. Hole House Pit , situated west of the bridge where the Copy Pit rail route crosses Burnley Road, was the pumping shaft for Union Pit. It closed in 1939 and the site was cleared in 1964. *Whittle Field Colliery was close to the canal near Whittle Field Farm.


See also

* Collieries in the Burnley area since 1854 *
List of mining disasters in Lancashire This is a list of mining accidents in the historic county of Lancashire at which five or more people were killed. Mining deaths have occurred wherever coal has been mined across the Lancashire Coalfield. The earliest deaths were recorded in par ...


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Borough of Burnley culture, state=collapsed Coal mining regions in England Geology of England Geology of Lancashire History of Burnley Borough History of the Borough of Pendle History of Hyndburn History of the Borough of Rossendale