New Lester Colliery was a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

operating on the

Manchester Coalfield The Manchester Coalfield is part of the South Lancashire Coalfield, the coal seams of which were laid down in the Carboniferous Period. Some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages, and extensively from the begi ...

from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century in

Tyldesley Tyldesley () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the Wes ...

, 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. It was owned by

James Roscoe James Roscoe (c. 1820 – 1 August 1890) of Little Hulton, Lancashire, was an English locomotive engineer and colliery owner. He was the son of Roger Roscoe of Farnworth and his wife Eliza Grundy. He started his working life as a miner in Astl ...

and two shafts were sunk in about 1865 on the east side of Mort Lane on the road to

Little Hulton Little Hulton is a suburb in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, south of Bolton, northwest of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, and northwest of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, histo ...

where Roscoe had sunk the Peel Hall and New Watergate pits. At first the colliery was not linked to a railway and coal had to be moved using horses and carts until the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

built the Little Hulton mineral branch line in 1874. The Little Hulton mine was connected to the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company before the Railways Act 1921, 1923 Grouping. It was Incorporation (business)#Incorporation in the United Kingdom, incorpo ...

's Manchester to Southport Line in 1888 at Peel Hall sidings and a private line built to New Lester. James Roscoe and Sons was formed in 1892 remaining in operation until 1938 when Peel Collieries took over. New Lester's shafts were deepened to access the Arley mine in the early 1890s where 'Arley slack', poor quality coal for industrial use was mined. The colliery also won coal from the

Yard mine The Manchester Coalfield is part of the South Lancashire Coalfield, the coal seams of which were laid down in the Carboniferous Period. Some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages, and extensively from the begi ...

which was known here as the Denner Main, the Four foot,

Cannel Cannel coal or candle coal is a type of bituminous coal, also classified as terrestrial type oil shale. Hutton(1987) Dyni (2006), pp. 3–4 Speight (2012), pp. 6–7 Due to its physical morphology and low mineral content cannel coal is considered ...

, Plodder and Three Quarters mines. In 1939 the colliery employed 499 men underground and 169 surface workers and three years later 15 men underground and 13 on the surface. The colliery was completely closed by 1947. The area of these coal workings was opencasted after the Second World War.

Locomotives

Roscoe's company bought ''Lord Kenyon'', a six coupled saddle tank from the

Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures Diesel engine, diesel Switcher, shunting locomotives. The company ...

in 1884. In 1900 another Hunslet saddletank, ''Mary'', in 1907 ''King Edward VII'' and in 1914 ''King George V'' were bought from Hunslets. They resembled the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, Merseyside, Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it ...

Company locomotives and could negotiate sharp curves.

References

Citations

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Bibliography

{{refbegin *{{citation , last=Hayes , first=Geoffrey, title=Collieries and their Railways in the Manchester Coalfield , publisher=Landmark , year=2004 , isbn=1-84306-135-X *{{citation , last=Townley , first=C.H.A. , last2=Appleton , first2=C.A. , last3=Smith , first3=F.D. , last4=Peden , first4=J.A. , title=The Industrial railways of Bolton, Bury and the Manchester Coalfield, Part Two, The Manchester Coalfield, publisher=Runpast, year=1995, isbn=1-870754-32-8 {{refend {{coord, 53.519, -2.436, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Coal mines in Lancashire Underground mines in England Tyldesley

Locomotives

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography