Broughton Colliery

Overview

Sunk in 1835 a hundred yards from Broughton Hall, whose owner sank it. A second colliery, New Broughton, was opened south of the hall in 1883 and closed in 1910; the old one lasted until 1978, making it one of the longest-worked pits in Denbighshire.

History

The old Broughton colliery was sunk in 1835 by John Pearce and Richard Gough. Pearce owned the Broughton estate, and the shaft went down about a hundred yards from Broughton Hall itself, which is why the colliery is also called Broughton Hall. Another shaft was sunk a few hundred yards north of the hall later. The same partnership held the Southsea colliery and Broughton Forge. By the 1850s the business was in trading difficulties, and the collieries and the estate were taken over by Messrs Robertson and W. H. and C. E. Darby of the newly formed Broughton Coal Company. Flooding was a persistent problem and a new pumping engine went in in 1869. In 1883 Thomas Clayton of Bryn Mally Hall opened Broughton New colliery a couple of hundred yards south of Broughton Hall. In late 1885 Irishmen working at the Broughton and Plas Power Company's pits were mobbed and driven off by Welsh colliers, because they were willing to work for lower wages. The Inspector of Mines list of 1896 gives 223 men underground and thirty-three at surface at New Broughton under the manager G. F. Povah; by 1908 the New Broughton Colliery Company of Wrexham employed 270 underground and fifty-eight at surface under A. Elce. New Broughton closed in 1910. Broughton Hall, the old colliery, closed in 1978.

Geology

The colliery worked the Denbighshire coalfield around Broughton, west of Wrexham. Neither source names the seams, and flooding was enough of a problem to need a new pumping engine in 1869.

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

Workings

The old colliery of 1835 beside Broughton Hall, with a second shaft sunk a few hundred yards to the north; and Broughton New colliery of 1883, a couple of hundred yards south of the hall, worked as a separate concern.

Closure

Broughton New colliery closed in 1910; the old Broughton Hall colliery closed in 1978.

What remains

No account of the site as it is now was found in the sources read.

No account of surviving remains was found in the sources read.

Redevelopment

Not established.

Related mines

• Gatewen Colliery — Gatewen was opened in 1877 by the Broughton Coal Company, which had taken over the Broughton collieries and estate in the 1850s; the two were pits of the same concern.

Nearby mines

• Plas Power Colliery — 0.5 km SW
• Brynmally Colliery — 0.9 km SE
• Gatewen Colliery — 1.0 km SE
• Westminster Colliery — 1.5 km N
• Brymbo Colliery — 1.6 km W

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• The old Broughton colliery was sunk in 1835 by John Pearce and Richard Gough. Pearce owned the Broughton estate and the colliery was sunk just a hundred yards or so from Broughton Hall, so that the colliery is also referred to as Broughton Hall; another shaft was later sunk a few hundred yards to the north. The partnership also owned the Southsea Colliery and Broughton Forge. ¹
• By the 1850s the business was in trading difficulties, and the collieries and estate were taken over by Messrs Robertson, W. H. Darby and C. E. Darby of the newly formed Broughton Coal Company; because of flooding problems a new pumping engine was installed in 1869. ¹
• During 1883 Broughton New colliery was opened a couple of hundred yards to the south of Broughton Hall by Thomas Clayton of Bryn Mally Hall. The Inspector of Mines list of 1896 gives 223 men underground and thirty-three at surface at New Broughton under the manager G. F. Povah; by 1908 it was owned by the New Broughton Colliery Company of Wrexham, employing 270 underground and fifty-eight at surface under the manager A. Elce. New Broughton colliery closed in 1910. ¹
• In late 1885 Irishmen working at the Broughton and Plas Power Company's pits were mobbed and driven off by Welsh colliers, owing to their willingness to work for lower wages. ¹
• Welsh Coal Mines states that Broughton Hall, the old colliery, closed in 1978 — a date that would make a pit sunk in 1835 one of the longest-worked in the Denbighshire coalfield, and which nothing else read confirms. (uncertain) ¹
• The Broughton and Plas Power Coal Company's returns in the Colliery Year Books from 1894 to nationalisation list Gatewen, Plaspower and, from 1910, Vron — and no Broughton pit. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gatewen, Vron, Broughton and Coedpoeth collieries — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Broughton and Plaspower Coal Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026