Coppull Colliery

Overview

John Hargreaves's colliery at Coppull, near Chorley, working the fiery Arley mine, where a collier's candle fired gas on 20 May 1852 and thirty-six men and boys died. The Rainhill locomotive Sans Pareil served there as a stationary boiler; the pit was later known as Hic Bibi.

History

Coppull Colliery lay in a valley in Coppull, south of Chorley, west of the River Yarrow, and belonged to John Hargreaves. Hargreaves had taken over the older Burgh Colliery on the hillside east of Birkacre when its owners failed in 1841, and Coppull was its successor, one of the pits and shafts known together as the Coppull collieries; it had a branch from the main line that the North Union Railway had opened through the village in 1838. It worked the Arley mine, a fiery seam. After an explosion at Burgh in 1846 a new shaft, 210 yards deep, was sunk about 1847 to improve the ventilation, with a level of 360 yards to the Coppull shaft.

In 1852 the upcast and downcast shafts were both twelve feet across, but the small furnace at the pit bottom was seldom lit, the stoppings were of coarse coal and rubbish, and the colliers and drawers had to find their own safety lamps, so that many worked by candle rather than lose their place. On 20 May 1852, where pillars were being taken out, a fall of roof cut off the air and gas gathered. The fireman kept the morning shift back, but a collier went in with a candle. Ninety men got out, many burnt or overcome; thirty-six men and boys died.

The locomotive Sans Pareil, which had run against the Rocket at Rainhill in 1829, spent some years at the colliery as a stationary boiler. The Arley workings were abandoned in 1862, when the engine went for preservation. The colliery was then renamed Hic Bibi and passed through several owners, working the Pemberton seams at its Nos. 1 and 2 pits until 1876; Hic-bibi was returned under the Ellerbeck Coal and Cannel Company in 1880 and closed in that decade, after which its fireclay fed a brickworks that the Ellerbeck company ran until 1959.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Lancashire coalfield; the colliery worked the Arley mine, a fiery seam, and the fireclay with it was later used for brickmaking.

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

Workings

Upcast and downcast shafts 12 feet in diameter, with a further ventilation shaft of about 1847, 210 yards deep, joined to the Coppull shaft by a level of 360 yards; a second level of 280 yards at right angles was called the shunt. Pillars were being removed in 1852. A small furnace at the pit bottom was seldom used.

Closure

The Arley and the seams above it were abandoned in 1862. Under the name Hic Bibi the Coppull pits then worked the Pemberton seams, abandoned in 1876, and Hic-bibi was still returned under the Ellerbeck Coal and Cannel Company in 1880; it is said to have closed in that decade.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Burgh Colliery — John Hargreaves's Coppull Colliery, west of the Yarrow, succeeded Burgh.
• Ellerbeck Colliery — As Hic Bibi the colliery was returned under the Ellerbeck Coal and Cannel Co. in 1880, and the Ellerbeck company ran the brickworks on its fireclay until 1959.

Disasters & major incidents

• Coppull Colliery explosion, 1852
  20 May 1852 · Explosion · 36 fatalities
  A little before 7 a.m. on 20 May 1852 John Hargreaves' Coppull Colliery fired after men went into workings where a roof fall had cut off the air, killing 36. The pit had almost no ventilating power, and the colliers, who had to buy their own safety lamps, often worked with candles.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The colliery was renamed Hic Bibi Colliery in the 1860s, had several owners and closed in the 1880s; its fireclay then supplied a brickworks run by the Ellerbeck Collieries Company until 1959. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was the property of John Hargreaves. ^1,2,3
• John Hargreaves took over Burgh Colliery in 1841, and Coppull Colliery was its successor, west of the River Yarrow. ³
• A shaft 210 yards deep was sunk about 1847, after an earlier explosion, to increase the ventilation. ^4,2
• The colliery worked the fiery Arley mine. ^2,3
• On 20 May 1852 an explosion of firedamp, lit by a candle, killed 36 men and boys; 90 escaped. ^1,2,3
• The Rainhill locomotive Sans Pareil spent some years as a stationary boiler at Coppull Colliery. ³
• The colliery closed in 1862. ³
• The colliery was renamed Hic Bibi Colliery in the 1860s, had several owners and closed in the 1880s; its fireclay then supplied a brickworks run by the Ellerbeck Collieries Company until 1959. (disputed) ¹
• Hic-bibi, Coppull, was returned under the Ellerbeck Coal and Cannel Co. in 1880. ⁵
• The Yard, Bone, Smith and Arley seams at Coppull were abandoned in 1862. ⁶
• Coppull (Hic Bibi) Nos. 1 and 2 pits abandoned the Pemberton Five Feet, Two Feet and Four Feet seams in 1876. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Coppull — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Coppull Colliery Explosion - Coppull - 1852 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) The Pits of Pall Mall: A Brief History of Coal Mining in Chorley — Chorley and South Ribble History
4. (secondary) List of mining disasters in Lancashire — Wikipedia
5. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre
6. (primary) Mine plan: COPPULL, Yard, Bone, Smith and Arley seams, abandoned 1862 (feature 21940847) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue
7. (primary) Mine plan: COPPULL (HIC BIBI) NOS. 1 2, Pemberton Five Feet, Two Feet and Four Feet, abandoned 1876 (feature 21910603) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue

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