Gerards Bridge Colliery

Overview

An early St Helens colliery beside the canal at College Street, recorded from 1805, worked by Speakman, Caldwell and Co. from the 1830s and raising 50,000 tons a year in the 1860s. An explosion and fire killed eight in 1847; it last appears in the inspectors' lists in 1873.

History

Gerards Bridge Colliery stood beside College Street, near the canal, in St Helens. It appears in 1805 as 'Gerrotts Bridge' and again in 1829 in connection with the railways. By the late 1830s it was owned by Speakman, Caldwell and Co., later recorded as Caldwell and McCormack. Its seams included the Main Delf, the Sir John, the Rushy Park and the Bastions, all represented in its surviving plans.

On a Wednesday morning, 2 June 1847, an explosion at seven o'clock left eight men and boys, working 1,000 yards from the shaft, suffocated with three ponies; five of them were John Matthew and his sons. The men had been given safety lamps but preferred candles, and the coal took fire and was still burning fiercely the next day. Further deaths followed in the 1850s from falls and firedamp, and in 1858 men were jailed for smoking underground. In the 1860s the colliery raised some 50,000 tons a year, all sent by rail. It closed in the 1870s, last appearing in the inspector's report for 1873 under William Middlehurst.

Geology

St Helens Coal Measures: the Main Delf (Wigan Four Feet), Sir John, Rushy Park, Bastions (Wigan Two Feet) and Arley seams.

Workings

Shaft workings extending at least 1,000 yards from the shaft; coal sent by railway.

Closure

Closed in the 1870s; last listed in the inspector's report for 1873, owned by William Middlehurst.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery appears in 1805 as 'Gerrotts Bridge' and was owned by Speakman, Caldwell and Co. by the late 1830s. ¹
• On 2 June 1847 an explosion suffocated eight men and boys working 1,000 yards from the shaft. ^1,2,3
• In the 1860s the colliery raised about 50,000 tons a year, all transported by railway. ¹
• It last appeared in the inspector's report for 1873, owned by William Middlehurst. ¹
• Plans of Gerards Bridge record the Main Delf, Rushy Park, Bastions, Sir John and Arley seams. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gerrards Bridge Colliery (accidents and incidents) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Gerards Bridge Colliery Explosion - St Helens - 1847 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Gerard's Bridge, June 1847 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Gerards Bridge, St Helens Main Delf, Ravenhead Main Delf, Bastian and Rushy Park — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026