Foggs Colliery

Overview

Andrew Knowles and Sons' single-shaft pit beside the Bolton arm of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal at Darcy Lever, worked from the 1820s or 1830s until 1912-13. Ten men died there in a fire and explosion in 1877, and ten more in 1907 when a cage fell down the shaft.

History

Foggs Colliery, also called Fogg's Pit, stood beside the Bolton arm of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal at Darcy Lever, near Bolton. Andrew Knowles and Sons sank it among a group of pits along the canal; the site is probably the 'Knowles' pit' of the 1840s Ordnance Survey, near Fogg's farm and cottages, sunk in the 1820s. A plan shows coal taken from the Four Foot Mine between 1835 and 1838. The single shaft reached a deep seam at 380 yards, given as the Arley by one account and the Cannel by another, which was worked out by 1838; the Doe or Seven Feet mine was worked at 320 yards, with its return air going up a separate shaft, probably the Victoria Pit. Coal went away by canal in box boats whose containers were lifted in and out, and the pit had a tall engine house for a vertical winding engine, a type the Knowleses favoured.

On 7 February 1877, when about 50 men and boys were employed and naked candles were used, the Doe mine workings filled with smoke from a fire that spread from the brattice cloth; ten men in the furthest workings died, and the pit had to be sealed (see Disasters, below). In its last twenty years Foggs worked the Doe, Five Quarters and Trencherbone mines with about 250 men underground and 80 at the surface. On 4 October 1907 an ascending cage carrying ten men collided with the descending cage in the downcast shaft, and fell to the bottom (see Disasters, below). NMRS gives the closure as May 1912; another account has it abandoned on 24 November 1913. The site is now open green space.

Geology

Seams of the Middle Coal Measures of the Manchester coalfield: the Four Foot, the Doe or Seven Feet at 320 yards (two coals separated by dirt, liable to spontaneous combustion), the Five Quarters and Trencherbone, and a deeper seam at 380 yards worked out by 1838; the rock below the Doe gave off gas in large volumes at neighbouring pits.

Workings

A single winding shaft, 16 feet 6 inches across by one account and 10 feet 6 inches by another, with back-to-back cages on pitch-pine conductors; return air by a separate upcast, probably the Victoria Pit; a vertical steam winding engine; canal loading by box boats.

Closure

NMRS gives closure in May 1912; Lewis Dawson's account gives abandonment on 24 November 1913, after the 1907 accident had marked the beginning of the end.

What remains

The site is open green space beside the old canal line, with little sign of the colliery.

Redevelopment

Green open space.

Disasters & major incidents

• Foggs Colliery fire, 1877
  7 February 1877 · Fire · 10 fatalities
  About ten in the morning of Wednesday 7 February 1877 smoke poured from the upcast at Foggs Colliery, Darcy Lever, as a fire swept the Doe mine workings. About forty men were wound up, but ten in the furthest workings were suffocated. Rescue parties with respirators were driven back, the pit was sealed, and a second explosion wrecked the surface the next morning; the last bodies were not recovered until July.
• Foggs Colliery cage accident, 1907
  4 October 1907 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 10 fatalities
  Just after four in the afternoon of 4 October 1907, as men were being wound up at the end of the shift, the ascending cage at Foggs Colliery, carrying ten men on its upper deck, struck the descending cage where they passed in the old downcast shaft. Its rope was pulled from the capping, the safety catches failed, and the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft, crashing into the water of the sump. All ten men were killed.

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 shaft reached the Arley mine at 380 yards, worked out by 1838. (disputed) ²
• The lowest workings, the Cannel, were at 380 yards and had not been worked for some time in 1877. (disputed) ³
• Foggs closed in May 1912. (disputed) ¹
• Foggs was abandoned on 24 November 1913. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Foggs Colliery stood beside the Bolton arm of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal at Darcy Lever and belonged to Andrew Knowles and Sons. ^1,2,3
• The shaft reached the Arley mine at 380 yards, worked out by 1838. (disputed) ²
• The lowest workings, the Cannel, were at 380 yards and had not been worked for some time in 1877. (disputed) ³
• In its last twenty years it employed about 250 men underground and 80 at the surface. ^1,2
• Foggs closed in May 1912. (disputed) ¹
• Foggs was abandoned on 24 November 1913. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Foggs Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Lewis Dawson, Coal Mining at Fogg's pit, Darcy Lever (Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Kingfisher Trail project 2016/17) — Lancashire Wildlife Trust
3. (primary) Liverpool Journal, 10 February 1877: Another terrible colliery accident near Bolton (transcribed on Old Mersey Times) — Old Mersey Times
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: FOGGS (Fivequarters) — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: FOGGS BYE CROP ENGINE (Four Feet, abandoned 1838) — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) NMRS deaths database: Peter Bleakley, Fogg's, 4 October 1907 — Northern Mine Research Society
7. (secondary) List of mining disasters in Lancashire — Wikipedia
8. (secondary) NMRS: Foggs Colliery Cage Accident, Bolton, 1907 — Northern Mine Research Society
9. (secondary) NMRS: Foggs Colliery Fire, Bolton, 1877 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026