Ellerbeck Colliery was a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

located on the border of

Coppull Coppull is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is part of the Borough of Chorley, lies around above sea level. Its population is around 8,000, having been counted at 7,959 in the 2011 Census. It is bounded by Whittle Brook, Cl ...

and Adlington in the

Borough of Chorley The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 107,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley. History The non-me ...

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 Hilton House and Red Moss Coal Company sank the first shaft in 1876 and the colliery closed in 1928. In 1896 Ellerbeck employed 460 underground workers and 148 on the surface. In 1923 Ellerbeck Nos. 1 & 2 pits had expanded to employ 892 underground workers and 156 on the surface. Ten years later the colliery was owned by the Blackrod Colliery Company and the pit employed 50 underground and 22 surface workers mining the Bone, Wigan Six Feet and New coal seams. The colliery was nationalised in 1947 becoming part of the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

and was redeveloped employing 411 men in 1958 before finally closing in 1965. The colliery was served by a branch line of the

Lancashire Union Railway The Lancashire Union Railway ran between Blackburn and St Helens in Lancashire, England. It was built primarily to carry goods between Blackburn and Garston Dock on the River Mersey, and also to serve collieries in the Wigan area. Most of the ...

, remnants of which including the old bridge foundations on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal are evident today. The branch line was shared with neighbouring Duxbury Park Colliery.

References

Bibliography * Coal mines in Lancashire Buildings and structures in the Borough of Chorley {{Lancashire-struct-stub

See also

References