Field Lane Colliery, Gawthorpe

Overview

Joshua Greaves's two-shaft colliery at Gawthorpe, Ossett, offered for sale after his death in 1861 and closed about 1877, where the pumping-engine man fell to his death after the rope lowering him was cut.

History

Field Lane Colliery stood at Gawthorpe, Ossett, near the Flying Horse public house. It was worked by the Ossett coal master Joshua Greaves, and after his death in 1861 it was offered for sale in February 1862. The sale notice described a colliery powered by a steam engine and working a three-foot seam at a depth of 30 yards, held under three leases, two running to 1877 and one to 1881. It appears to have closed when the two leases ran out in 1877.

It had two shafts, one for pumping and the downcast air, the other for the upcast and for drawing coal. The only way to the bottom of the pumping shaft was a windlass and rope with a man-loop, a wooden bar about thirty inches long slung from a hemp rope. Richard Broad, nineteen, who had charge of the pumping engine, was lowered on it to repair the pump clack; as he was drawn back up, within half a yard of the platform, the loop's rope parted and he fell to the bottom, dying a few hours later. The jury at the Shoulder of Mutton Inn, Gawthorpe, found that the rope had been cut, and returned an open verdict.

A plan titled Field Lane (Street Side) records workings, probably in the Top Haigh Moor, abandoned in 1849. The Greaves family also worked Streetside Colliery, behind the Red Lion on Dewsbury Road, which Abraham Greaves held until his death in 1843 and Joseph and Joshua Greaves after him.

Geology

West Yorkshire coal measures: a three-foot seam at 30 yards, probably the Top Haigh Moor.

Workings

Two shafts: a pumping and downcast shaft, reached by windlass and man-loop, and an upcast and drawing shaft; a steam engine.

Closure

Offered for sale in February 1862 after Joshua Greaves's death; it appears to have closed when two of its three leases expired in 1877. Workings under the title Field Lane (Street Side) were abandoned in 1849.

What remains

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• It closed when two of its leases expired in 1877. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Joshua Greaves worked Field Lane Colliery until his death in 1861, and it was offered for sale in February 1862. ¹
• In 1862 it had a steam engine and a three-foot seam at 30 yards, under three leases expiring in 1877 and 1881. ¹
• It closed when two of its leases expired in 1877. (uncertain) ¹
• The engine man Richard Broad fell to his death when the rope of the shaft man-loop parted; the inquest jury found it had been cut and returned an open verdict. ¹
• Workings titled Field Lane (Street Side), probably in the Top Haigh Moor, were abandoned in 1849. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Ossett coal mining (Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town) — ossett.net
2. (primary) BGS mine plan: FIELD LANE (STREET SIDE), probably Top Haigh Moor, abandoned 1849 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026