Brackley Colliery

Overview

Brackley Colliery at Little Hulton was the Bridgewater Trustees' last major sinking, put down at the end of the 1870s into ground already riddled with old workings and connected to one of the western branches of the Duke of Bridgewater's underground canal system. Two shafts reached the Arley Mine at 294 yards, and No. 1 went on to 390 yards in a fruitless search for the Mountain Mine. Hemmed in on every side, Brackley survived by inheriting what was left of its neighbours: the remaining takes of Ashton's Field and Wharton Hall were allocated to it from the late 1920s, and the reopening of the Plodder Mine on modern lines in 1938 more than doubled its output within four years. It was one of only three ex-Bridgewater pits still at work when the industry was nationalised, and closed in 1964.

History

The Bridgewater Trustees developed Brackley in the Hulton townships at the end of the 1870s — one account dates the development to 1878, the Northern Mine Research Society and Grace's Guide to 1879 — sinking into an area that had been worked for coal for many years and tying the new colliery into one of the western branches of the Worsley underground canal system. It had two shafts and a drift, or day-eye, the last giving officials and materials a way into the Plodder Mine. Both shafts went down to the Arley Mine at 294 yards; No. 1, the downcast, was then sunk on to 390 yards in a vain attempt to prove the Mountain Mine of the Lower Coal Measures. No. 1 was 14 feet 6 inches across down to the Arley and 15 feet below it, and the No. 2 upcast was 18 feet 6 inches. For its first thirty years the colliery ran two returns to the Inspector — a day-eye working the Black Band, White, Cannel and Plodder mines, and the two pits working the Arley, Plodder, Three Quarters and Yard. The day-eye was discontinued by 1910. Because Brackley's coals coked well, a bank of Semet-Solvay coke ovens was built in the early 1900s and worked until about 1929, its gas going into the town mains through a holder beside the colliery; when the plant was demolished some of its steelwork went to roof the boilers at Bedford Colliery. Under Manchester Collieries Ltd the pit was pushed hard. In the early 1930s it was raising 142,000 tons a year from the Smith and Arley seams, the Smith only 22 inches thick. The Plodder Mine was reopened in 1938 on modern lines, with conveyors and high-capacity tubs, and by 1942 total output had reached 394,000 tons and overall output per man-shift 32.4 hundredweight against 19 in 1934. After nationalisation a Meco-Moore cutter loader was put into the Plodder; where the machine proved cumbersome elsewhere in Lancashire, at Brackley it was an unqualified success.

Geology

Brackley was fortunate underground: the dip varied from 1 in 5.5 to 1 in 20 and averaged 1 in 14, markedly gentler than the rest of the Bolton and Bury coalfield, and the colliery had relatively few geological problems. It worked a full sequence of Lancashire Coal Measures seams — Cannel at 254 feet, Plodder at 389, Yard at 503, Half Yard at 631, Three Quarters or Smith at 674 and Arley at 874 feet in No. 1 Pit, whose bottom lay at about 1,200 feet. Both the Smith and the Arley were good coking coals, though the Smith was only 22 inches thick.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example), Strike and Dip (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts and a drift. The No. 1 winding engine, installed by J. Musgrave & Sons of Bolton in 1879, was a twin-cylinder horizontal 26 by 60 inches with Cornish valves set corner-wise, Allan straight-link valve gear and no trip gear, winding 153 tons an hour from 294 yards onto a drum 12 feet by 7. The No. 2 engine, older and of unknown make, wound the Plodder Mine's output from 134 yards from 1938 to 1964. No. 1's lattice-girder headgear was built by the Haigh Foundry of Wigan in 1879; No. 2's steel joists replaced an earlier wooden structure. Eight Lancashire boilers at 105 psi fed a 150-foot chimney, two cross-compound air compressors were installed in 1912-13, and ventilation was by a Schiele and later a Walker 'Indestructible' fan circulating 206,000 cubic feet a minute in 1946. Coal was screened by two Plowright Bros. sets, one to each pit, and washed from 1938 in a Simon-Carves Baum jig of 125 tons an hour.

Closure

Brackley was hemmed in by old workings, and from the late 1920s the remainder of the takes of Ashton's Field and Wharton Hall collieries were allocated to it, extending its life to 1964. It was one of only three ex-Bridgewater collieries — with Bridgewater (Sandhole) and Mosley Common — still working when the industry was nationalised in 1947, and the second of the three to go, after Bridgewater closed in 1962 and before Mosley Common in 1968. Demolition was rapid, and the site was cleared so completely that only a diligent observer would know a colliery had stood there.

What remains

Nothing remains above ground. Demolition after closure was very rapid, and the Northern Mine Research Society's account records that only the diligent observer could now tell a thriving colliery once stood on the ground.

Nothing remains above ground.

Related mines

• Ashton's Field Colliery — The remainder of Ashton's Field's take was allocated to Brackley from the late 1920s, which is what extended Brackley's life to 1964; both were Bridgewater collieries at Little Hulton.
• Mosley Common Colliery — Both Bridgewater Trustees collieries, and two of only three ex-Bridgewater pits still working at nationalisation in 1947; Brackley's direct-current plant was converted and its power then drawn from Mosley Common.
• Sandhole Colliery — The third of the three ex-Bridgewater collieries still at work in 1947, alongside Brackley and Mosley Common; Sandhole (Bridgewater) closed in 1962, Brackley in 1964.
• Wharton Hall Colliery — Wharton Hall's reserves were taken over by Brackley Colliery when coal winding stopped in December 1927 (NMRS).

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The Bridgewater Trustees developed Brackley Colliery in 1878 according to Engole's history of the Bridgewater collieries, and in 1879 according to the Northern Mine Research Society and Grace's Guide; the 1879 date also attaches to the installation of the No. 1 winding engine and headgear. (disputed) ^1,2,3

Recorded claims

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

• The Bridgewater Trustees developed Brackley Colliery in 1878 according to Engole's history of the Bridgewater collieries, and in 1879 according to the Northern Mine Research Society and Grace's Guide; the 1879 date also attaches to the installation of the No. 1 winding engine and headgear. (disputed) ^1,2,3
• Both shafts went down to the Arley Mine at 294 yards, and No. 1 was sunk on to 390 yards in a vain attempt to prove the Mountain Mine of the Lower Coal Measures. ¹
• Output rose from 142,000 tons a year in the early 1930s to 394,000 tons by 1942 after the Plodder Mine was reopened on modern lines in 1938, with output per man-shift rising from 19 hundredweight in 1934 to 32.4. ¹
• Brackley was hemmed in by old workings, and its life was extended to 1964 by the allocation of the remaining takes of Ashton's Field and Wharton Hall collieries from the late 1920s. ^1,3
• Brackley was one of only three ex-Bridgewater collieries still working at nationalisation in 1947, with Bridgewater (Sandhole) and Mosley Common; Bridgewater closed in 1962, Brackley in 1964 and Mosley Common in 1968. ²
• Employment reached 1,464 in 1923 and stood at 1,286 in 1954, when the Arley, Plodder and Smith seams were being worked. ⁴
• A Semet-Solvay coke oven plant was erected in the early 1900s and worked until about 1929, its gas supplied into the town mains; steelwork from the demolished plant was reused to roof the boilers at Bedford Colliery. ¹
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Brackley' (catalogue NW551, Five Quarters, dated 1964). ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Brackley Colliery (1879-1929) — Northern Mine Research Society (read via a 2024 Wayback Machine capture)
2. (secondary) Bridgewater Collieries — Engole
3. (secondary) Brackley Colliery — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
4. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Brackley Colliery — Durham Mining Museum, from the Mines Inspectors Reports and the Lists of Mines
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: BRACKLEY — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
6. (observational) Brackley Street, Walkden (photographed 2013) — Wikimedia Commons

Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026