Haydock Colliery

Overview

A large complex of at least twenty collieries worked across Haydock, Lancashire, under a single dominant operator, Richard Evans & Co, from the mid-nineteenth century until nationalisation — a history marked by some of the worst mining disasters in English history, above all the Wood Pit explosion of 1878, which killed 189 men and boys.

History

Coal had been worked in the Haydock area from at least the eighteenth century under the Leghs of Lyme, the major local landowners. Around 1830, operations were run by the partnership of Thomas Legh and William Turner, whose collieries were connected to the Sankey Canal by horse-drawn tramway and, from 1831, to the growing railway network via a branch to the Warrington and Newton Railway at Newton Junction. Richard Evans, a London printer, bought a share in the district's Edge Green Colliery at Golborne in 1830; he later bought out Turner's share of the Legh partnership, trading as Turner & Evans, and on Turner's death in 1847 took full control, renaming the business Richard Evans & Sons. Evans and his sons, Joseph and Josiah, went on to become the dominant operator of the whole Haydock district, running at least twenty collieries at various times, converting the firm to a public limited company, Richard Evans & Co Ltd, in 1889, and remaining independent until the 1947 nationalisation of the coal industry. By 1890 the company was working eight collieries simultaneously; by 1947 its four principal pits — Golborne, Lyme, Wood and Old Boston — together employed 3,195 men underground and 557 on the surface. The complex's history was repeatedly marked by disaster: an 1831 explosion at Edge Green Colliery killed up to twelve men, with six more killed there the following year; the Queen Pit was struck by two separate explosions within seven months of each other — one on 30 December 1868 that killed around two dozen men, and a second, far larger explosion on 21 July 1869 that killed 56-57 more (see Disasters, below, for both); Old Boston lost eight men in a shaft-sinking accident on 29 June 1900; and Lyme Pit was hit by an explosion in February 1930 that killed thirteen. Worst of all was the Wood Pit explosion of 7 June 1878, one of the deadliest mining disasters in English history, which killed 189 men and boys (see Disasters, below). The Haydock Foundry, part of the same enterprise, built steam locomotives for its own colliery railways — six 0-6-0 well tanks, an early user of piston valves, built between 1868 and 1887 — one of which, Bellerophon, survives today at the Foxfield Railway. Old Boston closed in 1952 after an underground fire, later serving as an NCB training centre until 1989; Lyme Pit, the last of the group's principal collieries still working, closed in March 1964, and most of the wider complex's remaining pits had closed by the mid-1970s.

Workings

At least twenty collieries at various times under a single dominant operator; the four principal pits at nationalisation (Golborne, Lyme, Wood and Old Boston) alone employed nearly 3,800 men. Old Boston reached 476 yards across three shafts; Lyme Pit reached 395 yards across three shafts, its sinking begun in 1876 but stalled for decades by water until production finally began in 1922.

Closure

The complex wound down piecemeal rather than at a single closure: Old Boston closed in 1952 after an underground fire, and Lyme Pit — the last principal colliery still working — closed in March 1964, with most of the wider group of Haydock pits gone by the mid-1970s.

What remains

A single-cylinder beam engine from Haydock's pits is preserved at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, and the surviving Haydock Foundry locomotive Bellerophon is at the Foxfield Railway. Part of the former colliery land now forms the Lyme and Wood Pits Country Park.

Disasters & major incidents

• Queen Pit Explosion, 1868
  30 December 1868 · Explosion · 26 fatalities
  An explosion at the Queen Pit, part of the Haydock Collieries complex, killed around two dozen men and boys after a blown-out shot ignited accumulated firedamp in an area with damaged ventilation cloth.
• Queen Pit Explosion, 1869
  21 July 1869 · Explosion · 57 fatalities
  A second, much larger explosion at Haydock's Queen Pit, less than seven months after the December 1868 explosion at the same pit, killed 56-57 men and boys after a shot ignited firedamp released by a roof fall in a working known as Pilkington's place.
• Wood Pit Explosion, 1878
  7 June 1878 · Explosion · 189 fatalities
  An underground gas explosion at Wood Pit, Haydock, killed 189 men and boys — one of the deadliest mining disasters in English history, and the worst to strike the Haydock Collieries complex.

Recorded claims

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

• Richard Evans bought into Edge Green Colliery in 1830, later bought out William Turner's share of the Legh & Turner partnership, and took full control on Turner's 1847 death, building the firm into the dominant operator of the whole Haydock district and converting it to a public company, Richard Evans & Co Ltd, in 1889. ¹
• By 1890 the company was working eight collieries simultaneously; by nationalisation in 1947 its four principal pits (Golborne, Lyme, Wood and Old Boston) employed 3,195 men underground and 557 on the surface between them. ¹
• Edge Green Colliery lost up to twelve men in an explosion in May 1831 and six more the following year; Old Boston lost eight men in a shaft-sinking accident on 29 June 1900; Lyme Pit was hit by an explosion in February 1930 that killed thirteen. ¹
• The Haydock Foundry built six 0-6-0 well-tank steam locomotives for the complex's own colliery railways between 1868 and 1887, an early user of piston valves; one, Bellerophon, survives at the Foxfield Railway. ¹
• Old Boston closed in 1952 after an underground fire; Lyme Pit, the last of the group's principal collieries, closed in March 1964, with most of the wider complex gone by the mid-1970s. ¹
• Wood Pit, the site of the 1878 disaster, was one of at least twenty collieries operated by Haydock Collieries, and itself consisted of the linked Ravenhead and Florida mines. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Haydock Collieries — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Wood Pit Explosion — Haydock — 1878 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 September 2026