Gillhead Colliery

Overview

A small West Cumberland colliery near Flimby which spent most of its life employing between thirty and fifty men, and sold ganister and fireclay alongside its coal. It was worked by Lucock & Carlton in the 1860s and Richard Graves in the 1880s, passed to the United Steel Company and then to the National Coal Board in 1947, and expanded sharply from 1940 — 181 men that year, 229 by 1950 — before closing in 1959. A fall of stone killed two teenage hewers here in August 1872.

History

Gillhead was a small pit for most of its existence. Lucock & Carlton had it in the 1860s and Richard Graves in the 1880s — the official 1880 List of Mines names him as owner of the Gillhead pit at Maryport. Coal is returned from 1882, fireclay from 1883 and ganister from 1900, and for half a century the returns describe the coal as manufacturing coal: it went to industry, not to grates. The workforce barely moved. Thirty-eight men in 1894, forty-two in 1896, forty-one in 1900, forty-five in 1902, thirty-eight in 1905, forty-three in 1910, twenty-nine in 1915, and back to around fifty in the 1920s. Then the war changed it: 181 in 1940, 184 in 1945, and 229 in 1950 under the National Coal Board, which had taken over from the United Steel Company at nationalisation in 1947. The output grades changed too — by 1950 Gillhead was selling coking, gas and household coal, and by 1955 steam and manufacturing coal as well. It employed 169 in 1955 and 140 in 1959, and closed that year. The Thick Sill seam had already been abandoned in 1944.

Geology

The West Cumberland Coalfield inland of the Solway coast. Gillhead worked the Lickbank and Little Main seams in 1905 and the Thick Sill, abandoned in 1944. What distinguishes it from the neighbouring collieries is what it sold besides coal: fireclay from 1883 and ganister — a hard siliceous sandstone burnt for furnace linings — from 1900 to the mid-1930s. A pit of forty men selling three products is working the whole section, not just the coal in it.

Workings

A shaft colliery of modest size, with tub haulage and a cage. The inquest records give the shape of it: a shifter killed at a mouthing in the shaft by the ascending cage in 1891, an engineman killed by a boiler explosion on the surface in 1883, men crushed by tubs. The Thick Sill workings, at post town Flimby, were abandoned in 1944 and their plan catalogued that year; the plans of abandoned mines are now held by the Coal Authority.

Closure

Gillhead closed in 1959, still employing 140 people — three times what it had carried through most of its working life. It was a National Coal Board pit by then, having passed from the United Steel Company at nationalisation in 1947.

What remains

No specific present-day description of the site has been established from the sources read.

No surviving surface structure has been identified from the sources read.

Nearby mines

• Flimby Colliery — 1.2 km NE
• Workington Colliery — 6.3 km SW
• Moresby Colliery — 12.5 km S
• Brayton Domain Colliery — 14.1 km NE
• Crossgill Mine — 14.5 km S

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Disasters & major incidents

• Gill Head Colliery fall of stone, 1872
  17 August 1872 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  A fall of stone at Gill Head Colliery near Flimby on 17 August 1872 killed two hewers, William Ismay, aged 18, and Andrew Poole, aged 19. It was the worst single accident recorded at a pit that employed fewer than fifty men for most of its life.

Recorded claims

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

• Gillhead Colliery was owned by Lucock & Carlton in the 1860s, Richard Graves in the 1880s and the United Steel Co. Ltd in the 1940s, passing to the National Coal Board in 1947. It closed in 1959. ¹
• The colliery employed 38 in 1894, 42 in 1896, 41 in 1900, 45 in 1902, 38 in 1905, 43 in 1910, 29 in 1915, 53 in 1921, 51 in 1925 and 38 in both 1930 and 1935. ¹
• Employment jumped to 181 in 1940 and 184 in 1945, reached 229 in 1950 under the National Coal Board, and stood at 169 in 1955 and 140 in 1959, the year the colliery closed. ¹
• The returns list fireclay from 1883 and ganister from 1900 alongside the coal, which is described as manufacturing coal from 1894; by 1950 the colliery was selling coking, gas and household coal and by 1955 steam and manufacturing coal as well. ¹
• The colliery worked the Lickbank and Little Main seams in 1905; the Thick Sill was abandoned in 1944 and its plan catalogued that year under the post town of Flimby. ^1,2
• On 17 August 1872 a fall of stone at Gill Head killed two hewers, William Ismay, aged 18, and Andrew Poole, aged 19. The Durham Mining Museum records the accident as a single occurrence with two lives lost, and names the company as M. Laycock. ³
• Seven deaths are recorded at the colliery. Joseph Nixon, an engineman of 25, was killed by the explosion of a steam boiler on 5 August 1883. Thomas Wilkinson, a shifter of 49, put his head through the fence at a mouthing in the shaft on 25 September 1891 and, though warned by another man, was caught by the ascending cage. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Gillhead Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines for Gillhead Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Colliery Accident, 17th August 1872, Gill Head — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plans catalogue: Gillhead — British Geological Survey

Record created: 6 September 2026 · Last researched: 7 September 2026