Greyfield Colliery

Overview

The Earl of Warwick's colliery in Greyfield Wood near Clutton, opened in 1833, one of Somerset's most important pits by 1889, and closed in 1911 after a flood from old workings.

History

Greyfield Colliery lay in what is now Greyfield Wood, west of High Littleton, in the Somerset coalfield; until 1956 the ground was in Clutton parish. Small pits had worked here before: in 1825 the diarist John Skinner noted coal being found at 26 fathoms in Gravel's Field, probably the Old Greyfield Pit near the entrance to the wood. On 9 March 1833 the Earl of Warwick leased John Savage Cameron the right to sink a pit and search for coal under his Clutton estate for 40 and a half years, for a tenth of the coal, and the partners' venture, at first called the Clutton New Coal Works, became the Greyfield Coal Company.

Sinking was slow and costly: in 1842 a new 90 horsepower engine had been erected but the shaft had still not reached the Bottom vein. The colliery raised 11,900 tons in 1846. Without a road to the pithead, coal went down a tramroad incline to a depot near Greyfield House and on to Paulton Basin on the Somerset Coal Canal, and the pit struggled for years. Charles Hollwey was appointed manager in 1848.

The railway through Hallatrow in 1873 rescued it. When the lease ran out the Earl took the colliery over, and at his instigation a siding from Clutton station was completed in 1876; the locomotive Francis, nicknamed the Coffee Pot, worked it from 1885. By 1889 Greyfield raised 60,000 tons a year and was one of the most important collieries in Somerset. It became the Greyfield Colliery Co. Ltd about 1900, and employed 731 in 1905.

On 14 September 1909 water from old workings broke into the Streak Vein. Two men were trapped for a while before reaching the shaft, and six pit ponies drowned in the Dabchick Vein. A district closed at the end of that year, and on 28 May 1911 the colliery closed and 152 men and boys were given notice; most went to Burchells.

Geology

Somerset coalfield. The colliery worked the New Vein, Dabchick, Peacock and Streak veins; the Mooresland shaft, joined to Greyfield underground, reached the Radstock series at 231 feet. Old workings in the district held water that broke into the Streak Vein in 1909.

Workings

Four shafts: a square winding shaft with wooden guides, a circular 10-foot winding shaft with wire-rope guides probably sunk in the 1860s, a ventilation shaft to the north and a pumping shaft with a Cornish beam engine. The deepest coaling shaft was 900 feet. A drift called the Cuckoo led to the bottom of the Mooresland shafts, about 200 yards north-east, whose output came through to Greyfield; Mooresland and the Cuckoo drift were abandoned on 4 June 1904. A brickworks stood beside the winding shafts until about 1909.

Closure

After the inrush of 14 September 1909 the water was cleared in a fortnight, but a district was closed on 31 December 1909 and the whole colliery on 28 May 1911. Salvage work went on for some months and machinery went to Burchells, which was itself flooded in 1920 by water from the Greyfield workings.

What remains

The site lies in Greyfield Wood, now a Woodland Trust wood of ancient woodland and new planting. Large spoil heaps and some colliery buildings remain, and carved 'diallers' stones' that marked underground survey points stood in the wood until some were taken away.

Spoil heaps, some colliery buildings and surveyors' marker stones in Greyfield Wood.

Redevelopment

The colliery ground has become part of Greyfield Wood.

Recorded claims

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

• By an indenture of 9 March 1833 the Earl of Warwick granted John Savage Cameron the rights to sink a pit and search for coal under his Clutton estate for 40 and a half years, for a tenth of the coal raised. ¹
• Greyfield Colliery was at first known as Clutton New Coal Works. ^2,1
• In 1846 Greyfield raised 11,900 tons of coal, and by 1889 60,000 tons a year. ²
• A siding from Clutton Station to Greyfield Colliery was completed in 1876, and the locomotive Francis, nicknamed the Coffee Pot, was introduced in 1885. ²
• Employment was 370 in 1894, 731 in 1905 and 371 in 1910. ³
• On 14 September 1909 water from old workings broke into the Streak Vein; two men were trapped for a while and six pit ponies drowned in the Dabchick Vein. ²
• On 28 May 1911 the whole colliery was closed and 152 men and boys were given notice. ²
• Work at Greyfield began in 1833 and ended in 1911; large spoil heaps and some buildings are still visible. ⁴
• Greyfield Colliery Co. Ltd's directors in 1923 included the Earl of Warwick and Lord Brooke of Warwick Castle. ⁵
• Part of Greyfield Wood was once Greyfield Colliery, which closed in 1911. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Greyfield Colliery - High Littleton and Hallatrow Parish Records — High Littleton and Hallatrow History
2. (secondary) Greyfield Colliery - Graces Guide — Grace's Guide
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Grayfield Colliery (UK) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Coal Mining in Clutton - Clutton History Archive — Clutton History Group
5. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Greyfield Colliery Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum
6. (secondary) Greyfield Wood — Wikipedia

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 1 October 2026