Bullgill Colliery

Overview

A West Cumberland colliery at Bullgill, near Maryport, whose pits worked from 1859; under the Bullgill Coal Company it employed nearly 300 in 1905 and was abandoned in September 1910.

History

Bullgill Colliery lay at Bullgill, north-east of Dearham and about four miles north-east of Maryport, beside the Maryport and Carlisle Railway. Bullgill grew up as a mining community: the Ellen Pit was sunk in 1859, and the colliery's abandonment plans cover the Ash, Broadmeadow, Bullclose, Crosby, Damside, Eliza, Ellen, Jane and Lodge pits. Crosby Villa, half a mile to the north-west, was built in the 19th century to house its miners and those of a neighbouring pit.

By 1900 the Bullgill Coal Company Ltd owned it, raising coking, gas, household and steam coal and some fireclay. It employed 239 people in 1900, 165 of them underground, rising to 285 in 1905, and worked the Metal Band, Rattler Band, Ten Quarters and Thirty Inch seams. Its managers were Henry Johnson in 1900, W. S. Johnson in 1902, H. P. Bell in 1905 and Joseph Foy in 1910.

Employment had fallen to 183 by 1910, and the Ten Quarters, Yard, Little Main, Rattler, Metal and Thirty Inch seams were abandoned that September. The closure is the subject of a West Cumbrian dialect poem attributed to Gordon Nicholl, which follows the colliery's men, and its pony, to the neighbouring pits.

Geology

The Ten Quarters, Yard, Little Main, Rattler, Metal and Thirty Inch seams of the West Cumberland coalfield, with fireclay.

Workings

A group of pits, among them the Ash, Broadmeadow, Bullclose, Crosby, Damside, Eliza, Ellen, Jane and Lodge, with a three-decked cage in use by 1900.

Closure

The remaining seams were abandoned on 10 September 1910.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• The Ellen Pit was sunk in 1859. ¹
• Employed 285 people in 1905, 195 of them underground. ²
• Owned by the Bullgill Coal Company Ltd in 1900. ^2,3
• Joseph Foy was manager in 1910. ⁴
• The Ten Quarters, Yard, Little Main, Rattler, Metal and Thirty Inch seams were abandoned in September 1910. ^5,6
• Crosby Villa was built in the 19th century to house its miners. ⁷
• A West Cumbrian dialect poem attributed to Gordon Nicholl describes its closure about 1910. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Bullgill — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Bullgill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Fatal accident record: George Routledge, Bullgill, 1902 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Bullgill Colliery: Colliery Management (prior to 1970) — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines: Bullgill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
6. (primary) Bullgill, Ash, Broadmeadow, Bullclose, Crosby, Damside, Eliza, Ellen, Jane and Lodge Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan 5553, abandoned 10 September 1910) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
7. (secondary) Crosby Villa — Wikipedia

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