Tyldesley Coal Company
Encyclopedia
Tyldesley Coal Company was a coal mining
company formed in 1870 in Tyldesley
, on the Manchester Coalfield
in the historic county of Lancashire
, England that had its origins in Yew Tree Colliery, the location for a mining disaster that killed 25 men and boys in 1858.
s on the north side of Sale Lane to the east of Tyldesley. In 1845 George Green of Wharton Hall, Little Hulton
, and his brother William, leased it and sank a shaft to prospect for coal
. This became Yew Tree Colliery
. By about 1851 George Green had built a tramroad to link the colliery to the Bridgewater Canal
east of Astley Green. At the Tyldesley end, the tramway was worked by cable down the steep slope of the Tyldesley Banks and horse-drawn wagons completed the journey. The tramway was out of use by 1913 when the tipping plant and sidings by the canal were sold to the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company
to be used by its colliery at Astley Green
.
In 1860 John Holland, a railway contractor from Ireland, joined the company and the Tyldesley Coal Company was formed in 1870.
The London and North Western Railway
(LNWR) built a line from Eccles to Wigan via Tyldesley and the Tyldesley Loopline
via Leigh
to Kenyon Junction
in 1864 providing the impetus for the exploitation of coal seams in Tyldesley and Greens Sidings were constructed for the company to the east of Tyldesley Station
.
After the arrival of the railway the company expanded rapidly. It opened Shakerley Colliery
near Shakerley Little Common in 1867, which had the first iron headgear in the country but finished operating in 1878. (A different pit belonging to William Ramsden
was also named Shakerley Colliery.) Combermere Colliery
in Shakerley
opened in 1878 and lasted until 1893. The company built a brickworks at Combermere and the railway to it operated until the mid 1930s.
Cleworth Hall Colliery
was sunk under the Cleworth Hall estate to the east of Yew Tree in 1874. In the early 1890s the shafts at Yew Tree were deepened. Cleworth Hall colliery was modernised before the 1914 and the Arley pit shaft equipped with steel headgear and a washery and coal preparation plant built. The company's coal output in 1871 was 25.825 tons and its highest output was in 1907 at 419.471 tons. In 1920 it was 267.848 tons.
In about 1888 miners employed by the Tyldesley Coal Company exceeded the boundaries of the lease and extracted coal south of Well Street which was discovered when colliers of neighbouring Astley and Tyldesley Collieries
broke through and found the coal gone. Lengthy litigation followed resulting in a £3,000 fine for Green's company.
The colliery's railway expanded at the same time as the pits were developed. The line to Combermere Colliery was extended to Peelwood Colliery
, which opened in 1882 next to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
's Manchester to Southport line and where the company had a siding. A fault caused the company to sink another shaft, the Daisy Pit, to win coal from seams close to the surface.
In 1896 Cleworth Hall employed 304 men underground and 46 surface workers. Gas coal, household and manufacturing coal was mined from the Black and White, Six-Foot and Trencherbone, mines.The Yew Tree Colliery was smaller with 118 below ground and 23 above. Steam, household and manufacturing coal were mined from the Seven Foot mine.
In 1923 only Cleworth Hall and Peelwood, which together employed over 1,400 workers, were operating. Peelwood closed in 1928. In 1933 Cleworth Hall mined the Trencherbone, Haigh Yard, Cannel, Three Feet, Four Feet and Arley coal seams and employed over 900 workers.
The company remained independent until it became part of the National Coal Board
's (NCB) North Western Division on nationalisation in January 1947 when 760 men were employed underground and 258 on the surface. In 1961 the area became the NCB's East Lancashire Area. The area mined by this company, Shakerley Collieries and James Roscoe's New Lester Colliery
was opencasted after the Second World War, removing all traces of the industry.
caused by a safety lamp
cost 25 lives, the youngest 11 and the oldest 35 years of age. Some of the victims are buried in the churchyard at St George's Church.
in Wigan
. It was delivered in 1867 and named Tyldesley. Beatrice, another 4-coupled saddle tank, was bought from Vulcan Foundry
in Newton le Willows in 1877, the same year that Jessie was delivered from Walker Brothers in Wigan. In 1897 Victoria, another 4-coupled locomotive, was bought from the Vulcan Foundry and the first 6-coupled engine, Louisa, was built by the Hunslet Engine Company
in Leeds in 1902.
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain 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 iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
company formed in 1870 in Tyldesley
Tyldesley
Tyldesley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies an area north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, east-southeast of Wigan and west-northwest of the city of Manchester...
, on the Manchester Coalfield
Manchester Coalfield
The Manchester Coalfield is part of the South East Lancashire Coalfield. Its coal seams were laid down in the Carboniferous period and some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages and extensively from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th...
in the historic county of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England that had its origins in Yew Tree Colliery, the location for a mining disaster that killed 25 men and boys in 1858.
History
Yew Tree Farm covered about 18 Cheshire acreAcre (Cheshire)
A Cheshire acre is a unit of area historically used in the County of Cheshire.One Cheshire acre amounts to 10,240 square yards, or 92,160 square feet whereas a standard acre amounts to 4,840 square yards or 43,560 square feet...
s on the north side of Sale Lane to the east of Tyldesley. In 1845 George Green of Wharton Hall, Little Hulton
Little Hulton
Little Hulton is a village—effectively a suburb—within the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Bolton, west-northwest of Salford, and west-northwest of Manchester...
, and his brother William, leased it and sank a shaft to prospect for coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
. This became Yew Tree Colliery
Yew Tree Colliery
Yew Tree Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1845 in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England....
. By about 1851 George Green had built a tramroad to link the colliery to the Bridgewater Canal
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester...
east of Astley Green. At the Tyldesley end, the tramway was worked by cable down the steep slope of the Tyldesley Banks and horse-drawn wagons completed the journey. The tramway was out of use by 1913 when the tipping plant and sidings by the canal were sold to the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company
Clifton and Kersley Coal Company
The Clifton and Kersley Coal Company or Clifton and Kearsley Coal Company was a coal mining company that operated in Clifton and Kearsley in the Irwell Valley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Its collieries exploited the coal mines of the middle coal measures in the Manchester...
to be used by its colliery at Astley Green
Astley Green Colliery
Astley Green Colliery was a coal mine in Astley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Sinking commenced in 1908 by the Pilkington Colliery Company, a subsidiary of the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company, at the southern edge of the Manchester Coalfield, working the...
.
In 1860 John Holland, a railway contractor from Ireland, joined the company and the Tyldesley Coal Company was formed in 1870.
The London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
(LNWR) built a line from Eccles to Wigan via Tyldesley and the Tyldesley Loopline
Tyldesley Loopline
The Tyldesley Loopline was the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The line opened on September 1st 1864...
via Leigh
Leigh, Greater Manchester
Leigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester. Leigh is situated on low lying land to the north west of Chat Moss....
to Kenyon Junction
Kenyon Junction railway station
Kenyon Junction was a junction railway station at Kenyon on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Bolton and Leigh Railway near Culcheth in Warrington, England. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire. The station opened in 1831 and closed to passengers on 2 January 1961...
in 1864 providing the impetus for the exploitation of coal seams in Tyldesley and Greens Sidings were constructed for the company to the east of Tyldesley Station
Tyldesley railway station
Tyldesley railway station is a closed railway station in Greater Manchester. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.-History:...
.
After the arrival of the railway the company expanded rapidly. It opened Shakerley Colliery
Shakerley Colliery (Greens)
Shakerley Colliery was a coal mine on the Manchester Coalfield near Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England...
near Shakerley Little Common in 1867, which had the first iron headgear in the country but finished operating in 1878. (A different pit belonging to William Ramsden
Shakerley Collieries
Ramsden's Shakerley Collieries was a coal mining company operating on the Manchester Coalfield from the mid 19th century in Shakerley, Tyldesley in the historic county of Lancashire, England.-History:...
was also named Shakerley Colliery.) Combermere Colliery
Combermere Colliery
Combermere Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1867 in Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England....
in Shakerley
Shakerley
Shakerley is a suburb of Tyldesley in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.It was anciently a hamlet in the northwest of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, in the ancient parish ofLeigh....
opened in 1878 and lasted until 1893. The company built a brickworks at Combermere and the railway to it operated until the mid 1930s.
Cleworth Hall Colliery
Cleworth Hall Colliery
Cleworth Hall Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1874 in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.-Geology:...
was sunk under the Cleworth Hall estate to the east of Yew Tree in 1874. In the early 1890s the shafts at Yew Tree were deepened. Cleworth Hall colliery was modernised before the 1914 and the Arley pit shaft equipped with steel headgear and a washery and coal preparation plant built. The company's coal output in 1871 was 25.825 tons and its highest output was in 1907 at 419.471 tons. In 1920 it was 267.848 tons.
In about 1888 miners employed by the Tyldesley Coal Company exceeded the boundaries of the lease and extracted coal south of Well Street which was discovered when colliers of neighbouring Astley and Tyldesley Collieries
Astley and Tyldesley Collieries
The Astley and Tyldesley Collieries Company formed in 1900 owned coal mines on the Lancashire Coalfield south of the railway in Astley and Tyldesley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England...
broke through and found the coal gone. Lengthy litigation followed resulting in a £3,000 fine for Green's company.
The colliery's railway expanded at the same time as the pits were developed. The line to Combermere Colliery was extended to Peelwood Colliery
Peelwood Colliery
Peelwood Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1883 in Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.Shaft sinking at Peelwood Colliery began in 1878 and it opened in 1883...
, which opened in 1882 next to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...
's Manchester to Southport line and where the company had a siding. A fault caused the company to sink another shaft, the Daisy Pit, to win coal from seams close to the surface.
In 1896 Cleworth Hall employed 304 men underground and 46 surface workers. Gas coal, household and manufacturing coal was mined from the Black and White, Six-Foot and Trencherbone, mines.The Yew Tree Colliery was smaller with 118 below ground and 23 above. Steam, household and manufacturing coal were mined from the Seven Foot mine.
In 1923 only Cleworth Hall and Peelwood, which together employed over 1,400 workers, were operating. Peelwood closed in 1928. In 1933 Cleworth Hall mined the Trencherbone, Haigh Yard, Cannel, Three Feet, Four Feet and Arley coal seams and employed over 900 workers.
The company remained independent until it became part of the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board 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 mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
's (NCB) North Western Division on nationalisation in January 1947 when 760 men were employed underground and 258 on the surface. In 1961 the area became the NCB's East Lancashire Area. The area mined by this company, Shakerley Collieries and James Roscoe's New Lester Colliery
New Lester Colliery
New Lester Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century in Tyldesley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England...
was opencasted after the Second World War, removing all traces of the industry.
Disaster
The worst mining disaster in Tyldesley occurred at Yew Tree Colliery on 11 December 1858. An explosion of firedampFiredamp
Firedamp is a flammable gas found in coal mines. It is the name given to a number of flammable gases, especially methane. It is particularly commonly found in areas where the coal is bituminous...
caused by a safety lamp
Safety lamp
A safety lamp is any of several types of lamp, which are designed to be safe to use in coal mines. These lamps are designed to operate in air that may contain coal dust, methane, or firedamp, all of which are potentially flammable or explosive...
cost 25 lives, the youngest 11 and the oldest 35 years of age. Some of the victims are buried in the churchyard at St George's Church.
Locomotives
The locomotives owned by the Tyldesley Coal Company had to pass under the Manchester Road bridge which had restricted headroom and were built to a reduced loading gauge. Its first locomotive was a 4-coupled saddle tank locomotive from the Haigh FoundryHaigh Foundry
The Haigh Foundry was leased in 1835 by E.Evans and T.C.Ryley in Haigh, Lancashire. It had initially been established in the Douglas Valley, in Haigh, circa 1790 by Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres and his brother Robert as an ironworks and foundry...
in Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
. It was delivered in 1867 and named Tyldesley. Beatrice, another 4-coupled saddle tank, was bought from Vulcan Foundry
Vulcan Foundry
Vulcan Foundry was a British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire .-History:It was originally opened in 1832 as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches and crossings, and other ironwork following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway...
in Newton le Willows in 1877, the same year that Jessie was delivered from Walker Brothers in Wigan. In 1897 Victoria, another 4-coupled locomotive, was bought from the Vulcan Foundry and the first 6-coupled engine, Louisa, was built by the Hunslet Engine Company
Hunslet Engine Company
The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...
in Leeds in 1902.