Bryn Hall Colliery was a coal mine on the
Lancashire Coalfield
The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British Coalfield#Great Britain, coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago.
The Rom ...
in
Bryn,
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Ashton-in-Makerfield is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, south of Wigan. As of the 2021 census, there was a population of 26,380.
Historically part of Lancashire, Ashton-in-Makerfield was a to ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
then in the
historic county of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, 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.
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
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
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. Its first half documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the ...
''.
See also
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List of mining disasters in Lancashire
This is a list of mining accidents in the historic counties of England, 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 earlies ...
*
Glossary of coal mining terminology
This is a partial glossary of coal mining terminology commonly used in the coalfields of the United Kingdom. Some words were in use throughout the coalfields, some are historic and some are local to the different British coalfields.
A
Adit
:An ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
*
{{coord, 53.5068, -2.6324, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Coal mines in Lancashire
Ashton-in-Makerfield