Outwood Colliery was a coal mine in Outwood, near Stoneclough in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Originally named Clough Side Colliery, [1] it opened in the 1840s and was the largest colliery in the area. [2] It was owned by Thomas Fletcher & Sons and then by the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company. [3] There were two pits. Coal was transported by a tramway to a depot west of Outwood Road, in Radcliffe, and also by tramway through Ringley Wood to the nearby Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. A railway sidings from the nearby East Lancashire Railway Line was located nearby, from the northern end of the colliery. In its heyday the colliery employed over 2000 workers. [4] Outwood Colliery exploited the coal seams of the Manchester Coalfield and was noted for its Trencherbone Coal. [5]
Due to an underground fire [6] which caused the winding gear to collapse into its own shaft, [4] the colliery was closed in 1931. [2] [7]
The colliery site, which covers 13 hectares (0.050 sq mi), was transferred from the ownership of British Coal Property to Bury Council in October 1997. The council intended to turn the site, consisting mostly of contaminated land covered with collapsed buildings, spoil heaps, and uncapped mineshafts – into open land suitable for public use as part of its Outwood Forest Park project. Converting the site cost about £600,000. The site is now the main entrance to Outwood Forest Park and part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail. [8]
The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong (24 km) long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. Seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. Between Bolton and Bury the canal was level and required no locks. Six aqueducts were built to allow the canal to cross the rivers Irwell and Tonge and several minor roads.
Radcliffe is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It lies in the Irwell Valley 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Manchester and 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Bury and is contiguous with Whitefield to the south. The disused Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal bisects the town.
Pendlebury is a town in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,069. It lies 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Manchester, 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Salford and 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Bolton.
Little Lever is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Within the Historic County of Lancashire, it is 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Bolton, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Radcliffe and 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Bury. In the 19th century, the population was employed in cotton mills, paper mills, bleach works, terracotta works, a rope works and numerous collieries.
Clifton is a suburb of Swinton in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the edge of Irwell Valley in the north of the City of Salford. Historically in Lancashire, it was a centre for coal mining, and once formed part of the Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury.
Darcy Lever is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, the area lies on the B6209, between Bolton and Little Lever. Its history dates to the time of William the Conqueror when it was part of the Salford Hundred given to Roger of Poitou for his participation in the Norman conquest of England.
Kearsley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,212. Within the Historic County of Lancashire, it lies 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Manchester, 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Bury and 3+3⁄4 miles (6 km) south of Bolton.
Agecroft Colliery was a coal mine on the Manchester Coalfield that opened in 1844 in the Agecroft district of Pendlebury, Lancashire, England. It exploited the coal seams of the Middle Coal Measures of the Lancashire Coalfield. The colliery had two spells of use; the first between 1844 and 1932, when the most accessible coal seams were exploited, and a second lease of life after extensive development in the late 1950s to access the deepest seams.
Ladyshore Colliery, originally named Back o' th Barn, was situated on the Irwell Valley fault on the Manchester Coalfield in Little Lever, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Founded by Thomas Fletcher Senior, the colliery opened in the 1830s and mined several types of coal. It became infamous as a result of the owners' stand against the use of safety lamps in the mines. Women and children worked in the mines, under poor conditions.
The Irwell Valley in North West England extends from the Forest of Rossendale through the cities of Salford and Manchester. The River Irwell runs through the valley, along with the River Croal.
Wilton Mill, Radcliffe was a cotton spinning mill in Radcliffe, Bury, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1907 and was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1930 and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production finished in 1965, after which it was used by the East Lancashire Paper Company but has now been demolished leaving an empty site next to the railways and the River Irwell.
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 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. The company became part of Manchester Collieries in 1929 and some of its collieries were nationalised in 1947.
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.
Bridgewater Collieries originated from the coal mines on the Manchester Coalfield in Worsley in the historic county of Lancashire owned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater in the second half of the 18th century. After the Duke's death in 1803 his estate was managed by the Bridgewater Trustees until the 3rd Earl of Ellesmere inherited the estates in 1903. Bridgewater Collieries was formed in 1921 by the 4th Earl. The company merged with other prominent mining companies to form Manchester Collieries in 1929.
Astley Green Colliery was a coal mine in Astley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. It was the last colliery to be sunk in Astley. 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 Middle Coal Measures where they dipped under the Permian age rocks under Chat Moss. The colliery was north of the Bridgewater Canal. In 1929 it became part of Manchester Collieries, and in 1947 was nationalised and integrated into the National Coal Board. It closed in 1970, and is now Astley Green Colliery Museum.
Pendleton Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after the late 1820s on Whit Lane in Pendleton, Salford, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.
Gin Pit was a coal mine operating on the Lancashire Coalfield from the 1840s in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. It exploited the Middle Coal Measures of the Manchester Coalfield and was situated to the south of the Tyldesley Loopline.
Bradford Colliery was a coal mine in Bradford, Manchester, England. Although part of the Manchester Coalfield, the seams of the Bradford Coalfield correspond more closely to those of the Oldham Coalfield. The Bradford Coalfield is crossed by a number of fault lines, principally the Bradford Fault, which was reactivated by mining activity in the mid-1960s.
Ellesmere Colliery was a coal mine in Walkden, Manchester, England. The pit was located on Manchester Road, a short distance south of Walkden town centre.