Collins Green Colliery

Overview

A St Helens coalfield colliery beside the Liverpool and Manchester line, where Mercer and Evans began sinking in 1873. Four shafts stood about forty yards apart on a north-west to south-east line, the deepest two reaching 516 m to the Lower Florida seam. It closed in 1931 employing 256 people — but its shafts did not stop working: pumping stations were built there in 1878 to supply St Helens with drinking water, and the town's water is still drawn from the disused shafts.

History

There were shafts on the site from an early date, and the colliery was owned by Mercer and Evans by 1855. They began sinking the modern shafts in 1873 alongside the London and North Western Railway's Liverpool to Manchester line, two and a half miles south-east of St Helens and about three-quarters of a mile from Bold colliery. By the 1870s the colliery was appearing in the Inspector's reports under the ownership of the Collins Green Colliery Company, and by the 1880s that company also worked Bold.

The sinking was not without cost. In November 1875 a large bucket of water being wound up the shaft went down instead, carrying bricks and stonework with it; every man in the shaft was injured and two — Matthew Hampson and James McDonald — were killed. A roof fall in 1940 killed two more, though by then the colliery itself had closed.

It shut in 1931 with 256 people employed. The water outlasted the coal: in 1878 St Helens Corporation wanted to increase the town's supply of drinking water and pumping stations were built at the colliery to provide it. Drinking water for the town is still pumped from the disused shafts, and the quality is excellent.

Geology

The St Helens coalfield, part of the Lancashire measures. The deep shafts went to the Lower Florida seam at 516 m. The rock that mattered after 1931 was the ground the shafts pass through rather than the coal: the disused shafts have proved a lasting source of clean water for St Helens.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Four shafts sunk about forty yards apart along a north-west to south-east line. No. 1, the downcast, was 4.88 m in diameter and 516 m deep to the Lower Florida seam, and No. 2, the upcast, was 4.3 m across and the same depth. No. 3 was 4.4 m across and 88 m deep, and No. 4 was 2.7 m across and the same depth as No. 3. Pumping stations were added in 1878 to draw drinking water for St Helens.

Closure

The colliery closed in 1931, employing 256 people at the end. The site did not fall out of use: the shafts continued as a water source for the town and still are.

What remains

The colliery is gone as a coal working but drinking water for St Helens is still pumped from the disused shafts, and the water is described as of excellent quality.

The disused shafts, still pumped for St Helens' drinking water.

Related mines

• Bold Colliery — The Collins Green Colliery Company worked Bold as well from the 1880s, and the two pits stood about three-quarters of a mile apart; Collins Green is named on the Bold record.

Disasters & major incidents

• Collins Green Colliery roof fall, 1891
  29 September 1891 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  Two timbermen raising the bars of a main road at Collins Green Colliery were killed on 29 September 1891 when the last low bars gave way and the roof came down with them.
• Collins Green Colliery roof fall, 1940
  14 February 1940 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  Seven men were relocating a turbine in the main level of the Collins Green Pit at Bold when a section of roof collapsed on them on 14 February 1940, injuring two and completely burying five; three were dug out alive over the following hours but two, including the overman's own father, died after more than thirty hours under the fall. Two rescuers were awarded the Edward Medal.

Recorded claims

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

• There were shafts on the site from an early date and the colliery was owned by Mercer and Evans in 1855; they began sinking the modern shafts in 1873, and by the 1870s the colliery appeared in the Inspector's reports under the Collins Green Colliery Company, which by the 1880s also worked Bold. ¹
• Four shafts were sunk about forty yards apart on a north-west to south-east line: No. 1, the downcast, 4.88 m across and 516 m deep to the Lower Florida seam; No. 2, the upcast, 4.3 m and the same depth; No. 3, 4.4 m and 88 m deep; and No. 4, 2.7 m and the same depth as No. 3. ²
• In November 1875 a large bucket of water being wound up the shaft went down instead, carrying bricks and stonework; all the men in the shaft were injured and two, Matthew Hampson and James McDonald, died. ¹
• St Helens Corporation wanted to increase the town's drinking water supply in 1878 and pumping stations were made at the colliery to meet it; drinking water for the town is still pumped from the disused shafts and the water is of excellent quality. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Colliery scrapbook 2: accidents and incidents in St Helens collieries — Coal Mining History Resource Centre
2. (secondary) List of collieries in Lancashire since 1854 — Wikipedia

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