Ackton Hall Colliery

Overview

A Featherstone colliery whose 1893 lockout ended with troops firing on a crowd of demonstrators, killing two men in what became known as the Featherstone Massacre — a pit that went on working for another 92 years before a strike-triggered fire finally destroyed its future.

History

Ackton Hall Colliery was started in 1873 by George Bradley, owner of Ackton Hall and most of the surrounding land at Featherstone, who borrowed money to sink two shafts near the railway station to the Stanley Main Seam. In August 1890 the estate and colliery were bought by Samuel Cunliffe Lister (later Lord Masham), who carried out a major improvement scheme including new shafts to the Silkstone and Haigh Moor seams.

The colliery's defining moment came on 7 September 1893, when soldiers protecting coal stocks during a national lockout opened fire on a crowd near the pit yard, killing two bystanders — remembered as the Featherstone Massacre, a landmark event in British labour history (see Disasters, below).

As underground workings extended further from the original Featherstone shafts, a further shaft was sunk at nearby Ackworth from 1912, with a ventilation fan installed to serve the extended workings. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board at nationalisation in 1947 and continued working for decades afterward. The year-long miners' strike of 1984-85 proved fatal to the pit's future: spontaneous combustion took hold in the Barnsley Bed seam during the stoppage, and Ackton Hall became the first colliery in the country to close once the strike ended, shutting in 1985. Across its whole working life, from 1873 to 1985, 329 men and boys were killed at the colliery.

Geology

Coal of the West Yorkshire field: the Stanley Main seam the first two shafts were sunk to in 1873, the Silkstone and Haigh Moor seams reached by new shafts from 1890, and the Barnsley Bed, where spontaneous combustion took hold during the 1984-85 strike.

Workings

Originally sunk in 1873 to the Stanley Main Seam, with further shafts added from 1890 to the Silkstone and Haigh Moor seams, and a further shaft sunk at Ackworth from 1912 as underground workings extended away from the original Featherstone shafts.

Closure

Spontaneous combustion took hold in the Barnsley Bed seam during the 1984-85 miners' strike, destroying the colliery's economic prospects; it became the first pit in the country to close once the strike ended, shutting in 1985.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Featherstone Main Colliery — Connected underground; after Featherstone Main closed in 1935 Ackton Hall's shaftmen pumped its shafts, and the connection was dammed in 1965.
• Snydale Colliery — Snydale's coal preparation plant was kept running after 1965 to help Ackton Hall through reconstruction.

Disasters & major incidents

• Featherstone Massacre
  7 September 1893 · Other · 2 fatalities
  During the national coal lockout of 1893, a crowd of over 2,000 gathered at Ackton Hall Colliery amid rumours that coal was being moved out to break the strike. After the Riot Act was read and the crowd failed to disperse, soldiers of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry opened fire; two bystanders, James Gibbs and James Arthur Duggan, were fatally wounded and died the next day. The event became known as the Featherstone Massacre, a landmark moment in British labour history.

Culture

• Featherstone Rovers and the Featherstone pits (Sports)
  The inquiry into the 1893 shootings at this colliery was held at the Railway Hotel, where the club was founded; a plaque there records both.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Ackton Hall Colliery was started in 1873 by George Bradley, who sank two shafts to the Stanley Main Seam. ¹
• Samuel Cunliffe Lister (later Lord Masham) bought the Ackton Hall estate and colliery in August 1890 and carried out a major improvement scheme, including new shafts to the Silkstone and Haigh Moor seams. ¹
• On 7 September 1893, during a national coal lockout, troops sent to protect coal stocks at Ackton Hall fired on a crowd; two men, James Gibbs and James Arthur Duggan, died of their injuries. An official inquiry found the attack had been organised by crowds from outside the area, with Ackton Hall's own miners taking no part beyond watching. ²
• A further shaft was sunk at Ackworth from 1912, with a ventilation fan installed, as underground workings extended away from the original Featherstone shafts. ¹
• Spontaneous combustion in the Barnsley Bed seam during the 1984-85 miners' strike destroyed the colliery's economic prospects, and it became the first colliery in the country to close once the strike ended, in 1985. ¹
• Across its working life from 1873 to 1985, 329 men and boys were killed at Ackton Hall Colliery. ¹
• Ackton Hall Colliery was founded by George Bradley in 1873 and passed through Samuel Cunliffe Lister (Lord Masham) from 1890, then the South Kirkby Investment Company from 1926, before nationalisation in 1947. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Featherstone's Three Collieries: Ackton Hall — Featherstone's Three Collieries
2. (secondary) The Ackton Hall Colliery Riot of 1893 — Featherstone, England & the Victorians Archive

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026