California Pit, Aspull

Overview

The Kirkless Hall Coal and Iron Company's colliery at Pennington Green, between Aspull and Hindley, sunk to the Cannel Mine in 1848 and deepened to the Arley at 315 yards in 1860. In 1865 the winding rope came off the drum and eight men and boys fell 270 yards.

History

California Colliery stood at Pennington Green, on Hall Lane, between Aspull and Hindley. Its two shafts were sunk to the Cannel Mine in 1848 and deepened to the Arley Mine at 315 yards in 1860. It belonged to the Kirkless Hall Coal Company, later the Kirkless Hall Coal and Iron Company, which owned several pits, coke works and ironworks near the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Aspull, and from 1865 to the Wigan Coal and Iron Company.

Coal was wound by a twin-cylinder vertical engine built by James Nasmyth of Patricroft, with 24-inch cylinders and a conical drum 18 feet across at its widest, raising two-deck cages that each carried two six-hundredweight tubs a deck. The pit was ventilated by a furnace, and steam came from four egg-ended boilers.

On 12 September 1865, at the end of the shift, the round wire rope slipped off the drum as a cage of eight men and boys was being raised; the rope was broken or cut, and the cage fell 270 yards to the sump, killing all eight. The colliery closed in 1891, though it seems to have been reworked for a time by Crompton and Shawcross under J. E. Rayner.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures of the Wigan field: the Cannel Mine, reached in 1848, and the Arley Mine at 315 yards.

Workings

Two shafts; a Nasmyth twin-cylinder vertical winding engine with an 18-foot conical drum; two-deck cages; furnace ventilation; four egg-ended boilers.

Closure

Closed in 1891; it appears to have been reworked for a time afterwards by Crompton and Shawcross under J. E. Rayner.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Kirkless Hall Colliery — Both worked by the Kirkless Hall Coal and Iron Company.

Disasters & major incidents

• California Pit shaft accident, 1865
  12 September 1865 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 8 fatalities
  On 12 September 1865, as eight men and boys rode up the California Pit of the Kirkless Hall Coal and Iron Company at Aspull, near Wigan, the wire rope slipped off the drum onto the engine shaft and was cut. Within thirty yards of the top, they fell 270 yards to their deaths.

Recorded claims

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

• Two shafts were sunk to the Cannel Mine in 1848 and deepened to the Arley Mine at 315 yards in 1860. ^1,2
• The colliery was wound by a twin-cylinder vertical engine by James Nasmyth of Patricroft, with an 18-foot conical drum. ²
• On 12 September 1865 the rope came off the drum and a cage of eight fell 270 yards; all were killed. ^3,4,2
• The colliery closed in 1891. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) List of mining disasters in Lancashire — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) California Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) California Colliery Shaft Accident - Aspull - 1865 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Colliery Disaster: California, 12 September 1865 — Durham Mining Museum

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