Branthwaite Colliery

Overview

A small colliery at Branthwaite in west Cumbria, worked for coal, fireclay and ganister into the 1920s under the Workington Iron & Steel Branch of United Steel Companies Ltd. A fatal roof fall recorded in 1852 shows working at the site well before the surviving company records begin.

History

The earliest firm evidence for Branthwaite Colliery is a death: Thomas Whitehead, aged 37, was killed by a fall of roof on 8 June 1852, leaving a wife and five children. The colliery's continuous documentary record begins later, from the government Lists of Mines: by the 1900s it was owned by the Branthwaite Colliery Company, employing five men (four below ground, one on the surface) and producing household coal. Output and employment grew slowly over the next two decades — nine men in 1902, ten in 1905, twelve in 1910 — while fireclay (from 1902) and then ganister (from 1910) were added to the coal being raised. By 1921 the workforce had grown to twenty (sixteen below ground, four on the surface) under new ownership: the Workington Iron & Steel Branch of United Steel Companies Ltd, producing household and manufacturing coal. The Six Quarters seam is recorded as worked in 1921. The colliery closed in 1921, the last year it appears in the Lists of Mines.

Geology

Branthwaite Colliery worked the Coal Measures of the West Cumbria Coalfield. The British Geological Survey's regional memoir names it specifically as a source of ganister, sandstone worked from the Sixquarters Rock and used to manufacture refractory products for the local steelworks — matching the 'Six Quarters' seam the colliery's own Lists of Mines entry records as worked in 1921. The wider Harrington, Branthwaite and Clifton area also yielded siderite ('clay ironstone') nodules from the Coal Measures mudstones as a coal-mining by-product, though no source ties that iron working specifically to this colliery rather than others nearby.

Workings

The underground workings — shaft or drift, depth, seams beyond the Six Quarters/Sixquarters Rock — are not described beyond what was produced and by how many men each Lists of Mines year.

Closure

1921 is the last year the colliery appears in the government Lists of Mines; why it closed is not recorded.

What remains

Nothing is recorded of the site's present-day condition.

Recorded claims

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

• Thomas Whitehead, aged 37, was killed by a fall of roof at Branthwaite Colliery on 8 June 1852, leaving a wife and five children — the earliest dated fact found for the site. ¹
• Owned by the Branthwaite Colliery Co. in the 1900s, then by United Steel Cos. Ltd. (Workington Iron & Steel Branch) by the 1920s. ¹
• Produced household coal from 1900; fireclay was added from 1902 and ganister from 1910; by 1921 output was household and manufacturing coal, and the Six Quarters seam was recorded as worked. ¹
• Employment rose from 5 (1900) to 20 (1921), the great majority below ground throughout. ¹
• 1921 is the last year Branthwaite Colliery appears in the government Lists of Mines. ¹
• The British Geological Survey names Branthwaite Colliery [grid reference NY 059 253] as a source of ganister worked from the Sixquarters Rock for refractory manufacture at the local steelworks, and records siderite ('clay ironstone') worked as a coal by-product in the wider Harrington, Branthwaite and Clifton area. ²
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Branthwaite' (catalogue 7610, Little Main And Six Quarters, dated 1923). ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Branthwaite Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Geology of the west Cumbria district (Memoir for 1:50 000 Sheets 28 Whitehaven, 37 Gosforth, 47 Bootle) — British Geological Survey
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: BRANTHWAITE — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 14 September 2026