Burnt Hills Colliery

Overview

A small colliery at Clow Bridge, Dunnockshaw, worked by the executors of John Hargreaves from the 1840s on the Upper and Lower Mountain. Its tramroad joined the Hapton Valley system, which took over its workings about 1910; it closed in 1920.

History

Burnt Hills Colliery stood on the Burnley to Edenfield road, now the A682, at Clow Bridge in Dunnockshaw. The executors of John Hargreaves worked it from the 1840s, with nearby Porters Gate, on the Upper and Lower Mountain mines; in 1842 it employed 20 men and boys. By about 1863 a surface tramroad linked it to Porters Gate on the north side of the hill, and in 1880 this was extended to the Hapton Valley system, making a route of about three miles to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Gannow in Burnley. Burnt Hills also had a coal staithe of its own.

In 1892 it had two shafts 48 yards deep with a single-cylinder winding engine, and an underground engine drove a two-mile haulage that brought the coal out through a surface drift. After about 1910 its output was returned with Hapton Valley, whose redeveloped colliery had taken over the workings, and Burnt Hills and Porters Gate were closed in 1920.

Geology

Lower Coal Measures: the Upper and Lower Mountain mines.

Workings

Two 48-yard shafts with a single-cylinder winder; an underground engine driving a two-mile haulage to a surface drift; a coal staithe and a tramroad to Porters Gate and Hapton Valley.

Closure

Its workings were taken over by Hapton Valley about 1910, and it closed with Porters Gate in 1920.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Hapton Valley Colliery — Hapton Valley took over Burnt Hills' workings about 1910; their tramroads were joined in 1880.

Recorded claims

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

• Worked by the executors of John Hargreaves from the 1840s to 1920. ^1,2
• It employed 20 men and boys in 1842. ²
• In 1892 it had two 48-yard shafts and an underground engine driving a two-mile haulage. ^1,2
• Its tramroad was extended from Porters Gate to Hapton Valley in 1880. ^1,2
• Its Upper and Lower Mountain workings, planned with Porters Gate, were abandoned in 1920. ^1,3,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Burnley Coalfield — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Dunnockshaw — Wikipedia
3. (primary) Mine plan: Porters Gate and Burnt Hills, Lower Mountain — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) Mine plan: Porters Gate and Burnt Hills, Upper Mountain — British Geological Survey

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026