Copy Pit Colliery

Overview

A Cliviger colliery beside the Burnley-Todmorden railway, begun as a drift in 1830, with shafts sunk to the Arley in 1860. It gave its name to the Copy Pit railway route and closed in March 1964.

History

Copy Pit began in 1830 as a drift beside the Todmorden-Burnley turnpike, now the A646 Burnley Road, a little south-east of Holme Chapel in Cliviger, near Walton Copy Farm. The Jobling family owned it. When the railway came alongside, the Cliviger Coal and Coke Company expanded it, with sidings, screens and coke ovens. In 1860 the company sank two shafts 88 metres (96 yards) to the Arley, mostly through glacial sand and gravel. A central engine house wound both single-cage shafts at once, four men to a cage, and a Cornish beam engine pumped the wet strata. A furnace ventilated it, later through a cupola chimney on the hillside. Tubs crossed Burnley Road on a gantry to the colliery's own sidings, and the pit gave its name to the railway route from Burnley to Todmorden. Its only housing was Copy Row, seven cottages.

The Arley was worked out by 1940, but drifts to the Dandy, opened in the 1930s, kept the colliery going with pillar-and-stall working. The National Coal Board took over in 1947, with 52 men below ground and 17 on the surface, and replaced the tubs with conveyor belts. It built pithead baths and a canteen, opened in 1953, and brought in longwall coal cutters in 1957 and monorails in 1960. In its last full year 157 men produced 57,995 tons. The colliery closed in March 1964, the sidings were lifted by 1969, and Lancashire County Council landscaped the derelict site in 1981.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures of the Burnley coalfield under glacial sand and gravel: the Arley at 96 yards, then the Dandy from drifts.

Workings

A drift of 1830; two shafts of 1860 wound together from a central engine house; a Cornish beam pumping engine; furnace ventilation with a hillside cupola chimney; drifts to the Dandy from the 1930s; a gantry over Burnley Road to sidings on the railway.

Closure

Closed in March 1964, with salvage completed that month; the sidings were removed by 1969.

What remains

The colliery site was landscaped by Lancashire County Council in 1981.

Redevelopment

Landscaped in 1981.

Related mines

• Railway Pit — Both worked by the Cliviger Coal Company beside the Copy Pit line.
• Union Pit — Both worked by the Cliviger Coal Company beside the Copy Pit line.

Recorded claims

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

• Began in 1830 as a drift beside the Todmorden-Burnley turnpike. ¹
• Two shafts were sunk 88 metres (96 yards) to the Arley in 1860. ^2,1
• The colliery gave its name to the Copy Pit railway route between Burnley and Todmorden. ^3,1
• The NCB brought conveyors in 1947, pithead baths and canteen in 1953 and longwall cutters in 1957. ^2,1
• Closed in March 1964; the site was landscaped in 1981. ^2,1
• Its Dandy workings, planned with Maidens Cross and Walton, are dated 1964. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Copy Pit Summit and the collieries formerly served by the Copy Pit route — Disused Stations
2. (secondary) Copy Pit Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Burnley Coalfield — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
4. (primary) Mine plan: Copy, Air, Maidens Cross, Pumping, Walton, Dandy — British Geological Survey

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