Yew Tree Colliery
In 1845 George Green of Wharton Hall, Little Hulton, and his brother leased land at Yew Tree Farm and sank a shaft to prospect for coal. This became Yew Tree Colliery. Before 1851 Green 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. By 1858 the shaft was 250 feet (76 m) deep and the workings extended under the parish church.
After 1870 the colliery was part of the Tyldesley Coal Company. The colliery had two shafts, one for ventilation, sunk to the Rams mine at 600 feet (183 m). The shafts were deepened in the early 1890s to access the Black and White mine.
An explosion of firedamp, ignited by a safety lamp, in 1858 cost the lives of 25 men and boys. This was the worst mining disaster to occur in Tyldesley.
See also
- List of Collieries in Astley and Tyldesley
- Glossary of coal mining terminology
- List of mining disasters in Lancashire
References
Citations
- ^ Nadin 2006, p. 48.
- ^ Tyldesley Coal Company, Durham Mining Museum, retrieved 19 February 2011
- ^ Hayes 2004, p. 62
- ^ Yew Tree Colliery Disaster (PDF), The Coalmining History Research Centre, p. 46, archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2016, retrieved 23 June 2017
- ^ McEwen, Alan (13 December 1858), The Yew Tree Pit Disaster, handybluepages.co.uk, retrieved 19 February 2011
Bibliography
- Hayes, Geoffrey (2004), Collieries and their Railways in the Manchester Coalfields, Landmark, ISBN 1-84306-135-X
- Nadin, Jack (2006), Lancashire Mining Disasters 1835-1910, Wharncliffe Books, ISBN 1 903425 95 6