Bryn Hall Colliery was a coal mine 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 f ...
in
Bryn,
Ashton-in-Makerfield,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
then in the
historic county of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, England.
The colliery was first worked 1859 to 1864 by Smith & Sons before ownerships transferred in 1866 by Crippin and Smethurst who left the partnership a year later.
It was owned by Crippin and Sons in 1868, W and B J Crippen in 1871 and in 1873 William Crippin, the owner was sinking new pits. The owners between 1875 and 1886 were W and
E F Crippen followed by E F Crippen and H H Crippen up to 1892.
In 1908 the colliery had five shafts and employed 400 workers underground and 150 above ground. The colliery was managed by Peter Gorton, and his undermanagers were T Pownall, John Grundy and P Bullough.
The colliery was closed in 1945.
Today the colliery site is a privately owned and consists of agricultural land, housing and a water ski lake, to the north east of the
Three Sisters Recreation Area
Three Sisters Recreation Area is located in Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. In 2011 it was designated a Local Nature Reserve.
The area was reclaimed from three coal mining spoil tips and an old golf course during ...
.
Disasters
On 19 August 1870 an explosion ripped through the colliery, killing 20 workers. On 2 June 1873 there were more explosions in which six shotfirers were killed.
In popular culture
George Orwell visited the colliery in 1936 when he was gathering material for his book ''
The Road to Wigan Pier
''The Road to Wigan Pier'' is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. The first half of this work documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yor ...
''.
See also
*
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 ...
*
Glossary of coal mining terminology
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{coord, 53.5068, -2.6324, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Coal mines in Lancashire
Ashton-in-Makerfield