Chanters Colliery

Location	Hindsford, Atherton, Greater Manchester — 53.5061, -2.4831 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	1850 (sunk); coal from 1854–1966
Maximum depth	600 yards (Arley seam, from 1901)
Operators	Fletcher, Burrows and Company (1850–1947), National Coal Board (1947–1966)
Status	Researched

Overview

A Fletcher, Burrows and Company colliery at Hindsford, Atherton, whose 1966 closure ended deep coal mining in the town altogether — a working life marked in its final decade by a fatal gas explosion caused by a single electrician's mistake.

History

Chanters Colliery was sunk in 1850 by Fletcher, Burrows and Company, the Atherton-based family firm (John Fletcher's own family business, joined by the Liverpool entrepreneur Abraham Burrows as a partner in the 1870s) that also sank the nearby Gibfield and Howe Bridge collieries. Coal was raised from 1854, and the shafts were deepened to reach the Arley seam at 600 yards in 1901. The colliery was nationalised into the National Coal Board in 1947. On 6 March 1957, an electrical fault sparked a gas explosion that killed eight men (see Disasters, below). Chanters continued working for almost another decade afterward, finally closing in 1966 — the closure that ended deep coal mining in Atherton for good.

Workings

Shafts deepened to reach the Arley seam at 600 yards in 1901.

Closure

Closed in 1966, ending deep coal mining in Atherton altogether.

Disasters & major incidents

Chanters Colliery Explosion, 1957
6 March 1957 · Explosion · 8 fatalities
Gas that had accumulated in Chanters Colliery's No. 2 drift after a roof fall five days earlier was ignited by an electrical arc when an electrician twisted a switch's cover plate onto a live busbar, killing eight men.

Recorded claims

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

Chanters Colliery was sunk in 1850 by Fletcher, Burrows and Company, an Atherton family coal-mining firm that also sank the nearby Gibfield and Howe Bridge collieries; coal was raised from 1854, with shafts deepened to reach the Arley seam at 600 yards in 1901. ^1,2
Chanters Colliery closed in 1966, ending deep coal mining in Atherton altogether. ¹
Chanters Colliery was nationalised into the National Coal Board in 1947, along with the rest of Fletcher, Burrows and Company's collieries. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Chanters Colliery Explosion — NMRS (report)

Full account of the 1957 disaster, with named victims and the inspector's findings.

View source

Sources

(secondary) Chanters Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
(secondary) Fletcher, Burrows and Company — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 September 2026