Burchells Colliery

Overview

A shallow pit on a farm in the centre of Clutton, opened about 1911 to take on the men of flooded Greyfield Colliery, flooded itself from Greyfield's old workings in 1920, and closed in August 1921.

History

Burchells, also called Clutton Colliery, was opened on a farm in the centre of Clutton, Somerset, as Greyfield Colliery was failing. Greyfield had flooded in 1909 and closed in May 1911, and most of its 152 men and boys were taken on at Burchells. Salvaged machinery and equipment were transferred there too. A notice at Clandown Colliery listed the Burchells shaft as 148 feet deep. The workings were shallow and ran under the Great Western line from Frome to Bristol, so the men could hear trains passing overhead.

Coal was raised by a steam winding engine, but output was slow and variable. The miners often had their coal allowance cut to keep the boiler fed. Wartime subsidies kept it going, but they ended after the war. In 1920 the pit was flooded by an inrush from the old Greyfield workings. After the lockout of 1921, Burchells, the last mine in Clutton, closed in August 1921. Its reserves had proved neither significant nor economically viable.

Geology

Somerset Coalfield coal measures; seams not named in the sources.

Workings

A shallow shaft or drift of 148 feet with a steam winding engine, its workings running beneath the Frome-Bristol railway, with an air shaft and brick chimney in the woods.

Closure

Closed in August 1921 after the lockout, the reserves having proved uneconomic; it had been flooded from the old Greyfield workings a year earlier.

What remains

The pit entrance and spoil are heavily overgrown; the red-brick chimney of the air shaft stands in the woods.

The red-brick air-shaft chimney, the overgrown pit entrance and spoil.

Redevelopment

The pit site in the village centre is now a housing estate; the name survives in Burchells Close.

Related mines

• Greyfield Colliery — Took on Greyfield's men and machinery in 1911, and was flooded from its old workings in 1920.

Recorded claims

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

• Burchells Pit started work in 1911 and closed in 1921. ^1,2
• Most of the 152 men and boys given notice at Greyfield in 1911 were taken on at Burchells. ¹
• The Burchells shaft was 148 feet deep. ³
• The shallow workings ran under the Frome-Bristol railway, and the miners could hear trains overhead. ³
• It was flooded from the old Greyfield workings about a year before closing in August 1921. ^1,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Greyfield Colliery - Graces Guide — Grace's Guide
2. (secondary) Coal Mining in Clutton - Clutton History Archive — Clutton History Group
3. (secondary) Clutton Neighbourhood Plan, Appendix 34 — Bath and North East Somerset Council
4. (secondary) Mystery photograph: does this idyllic country setting look familiar? — Midsomer Norton, Radstock and District Journal

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026