Bee Hole Colliery

Overview

A Burnley colliery north-east of Turf Moor, worked from 1872 to 1935 by the Hargreaves executors and Hargreaves Collieries, which raised Bing and Fulledge coal with up to 193 men and gave its name to the Bee Hole End of the football ground.

History

Bee Hole Colliery lay to the north-east of Turf Moor, the home of Burnley Football Club, in the Burnley coalfield. It was opened in 1872 and owned by the executors of Colonel John Hargreaves, the family that also held Bank Hall, and later by Hargreaves Collieries Ltd. The pit raised household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Bing seam, with the Fulledge from about 1915; plans record workings in the King seam abandoned in 1908 and in the Fulledge Thin abandoned in 1921.

It employed 178 men in 1894 and 193 in 1896, falling to about a hundred during and after the First World War and 117 in 1933. In March 1907 a collier, George Gardener, was killed when a drawer taking out his last full tub of the shift ran into him; the inquest jury held that the drawer had been going recklessly fast. The colliery closed in May 1935. For many years the end of Turf Moor nearest the pit was called the Bee Hole End, until it was replaced in the 1990s by the Jimmy McIlroy Stand.

Geology

Burnley coalfield (Lancashire coal measures), worked in the Bing, King and Fulledge (Fulledge Thin) seams.

Workings

Unknown.

Closure

Closed in May 1935; the King seam plans were abandoned in 1908 and the Fulledge Thin in 1921.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bank Hall Colliery — Shared owner: both were worked by the executors of John Hargreaves.
• Burnt Hills Colliery — Shared owner: both were worked by the executors of John Hargreaves.
• Gannow Colliery — Shared owner: both were worked by the executors of John Hargreaves.
• Habergham Colliery — Shared owner: both were worked by the executors of John Hargreaves.
• Reedley Colliery — Shared owner: both were worked by the executors of John Hargreaves.

Recorded claims

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

• Bee Hole Colliery opened in 1872 and closed in May 1935. ¹
• Bee Hole Colliery lay north-east of Turf Moor and gave its name to that end of the football ground. ²
• Bee Hole Colliery employed 193 people in 1896. ¹
• A collier, George Gardener, was killed at Bee Hole in March 1907 when a drawer taking out a full tub ran into him. ³
• Bee Hole's King seam workings were abandoned in 1908 and its Fulledge Thin workings in 1921. ^4,5
• Bee Hole is among the coal mines worked in Burnley listed by the Burnley Civic Trust. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Bee Hole Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Burnley Coalfield — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
3. (primary) NMRS deaths and accidents database: George Gardener, Bee Hole, 27 Mar 1907 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21912396: Bee Hole, King seam, abandoned 1908 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21914898: Bee Hole, Fulledge Thin, abandoned 1921 — British Geological Survey
6. (secondary) Coal Mining (Burnley Civic Trust Heritage Image Collection) — Burnley Civic Trust

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026