Haywood Colliery

Overview

A Forest of Dean colliery near Cinderford, its gale awarded to Moses Teague in 1841 and opened with William Crawshay. It worked the Coleford High Delf from two cross-cuts in the shaft, took in the Addis Hill and Smith's Delight gales in 1873, and ended in a sequence of liquidations: 1882, 1888, and the plant auctioned in 1890.

History

The Haywood gale was awarded in 1841 to Moses Teague, who was opening a colliery there in association with William Crawshay. The Coleford High Delf Seam of the Pennant Group was eventually worked from two cross-cuts driven off the shaft, at 210 feet and 362 feet. Two high-pressure engines were at work, a ten-inch winder and an eighteen-inch pump, and output rose from 1,510 tons in 1841 to 5,428 tons in 1845. After 1863 the colliery was served by Crawshay's own private tramroad, which ran from Buckshaft Iron Mine at Ruspidge to St Annals Iron Mine near Cinderford. The Littledean Woodside Coal Co. was formed by 1873 to work Haywood together with the Addis Hill and Smith's Delight gales, and about then a narrow gauge line of two feet seven and a half inches was built to interchange sidings off the Whimsey branch of the Great Western's Forest of Dean line. It did not prosper. Output was 2,344 tons in 1880; the company was soon in financial difficulty and went into liquidation in 1882. A new concern, the Haywood Colliery Co. Ltd, was formed in 1886 and wound up in 1888, and the plant was auctioned off in 1890.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coleford High Delf Seam of the Pennant Group, the principal coal of the Forest of Dean basin, on the eastern side of the coalfield near Cinderford. The seam was reached from the shaft by two cross-cuts at different depths, which is the Forest pattern where the measures dip steeply into the basin.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A shaft with two cross-cuts to the Coleford High Delf at 210 feet and 362 feet, worked with a ten-inch high-pressure winding engine and an eighteen-inch pumping engine. Coal went out first by Crawshay's private tramroad from Buckshaft to St Annals after 1863, and from about 1873 by a two foot seven and a half inch gauge line to interchange sidings off the Whimsey branch.

Closure

The Littledean Woodside Coal Co. went into liquidation in 1882; the Haywood Colliery Co. Ltd, formed in 1886, was wound up in 1888; the plant was auctioned in 1890.

What remains

No description of what survives has been found. The site is in the Forest of Dean near Cinderford, on ground where the gales and their tramroads have largely gone back to woodland.

None identified in the sources consulted.

Redevelopment

None recorded in the sources consulted.

Related mines

• Addis Hill Colliery — The Addis Hill gale was absorbed into Haywood after 1873, when the Littledean Woodside Coal Company took both, and its coal was raised through the Haywood Pit.

Nearby mines

• Trafalgar Colliery — 1.3 km SE, Forest of Dean
• All Profit Colliery — 1.5 km NW
• Northern United Colliery — 1.6 km W
• Addis Hill Colliery — 1.7 km N
• Lightmoor Colliery — 1.8 km E, Forest of Dean

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

Recorded claims

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

• The Haywood gale was awarded in 1841 to Moses Teague, who in association with William Crawshay was opening a colliery there; the Coleford High Delf Seam was eventually worked from two cross-cuts in the shaft at 210 ft and 362 ft. ¹
• Two high-pressure engines were at work, a ten-inch winder and an eighteen-inch pump, and output rose from 1,510 tons in 1841 to 5,428 tons in 1845; 2,344 tons were produced in 1880. ¹
• After 1863 the colliery was served by Crawshay's private tramroad from Buckshaft Iron Mine at Ruspidge to St Annals Iron Mine near Cinderford, and from about 1873 by a 2 ft 7½ in gauge connection to interchange sidings off the Whimsey branch of the Great Western's Forest of Dean line. ¹
• The Littledean Woodside Coal Co. was formed by 1873 to work Haywood with the Addis Hill and Smith's Delight gales and went into liquidation in 1882; the Haywood Colliery Co. Ltd was formed in 1886, wound up in 1888, and the plant auctioned in 1890. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Haywood Colliery — Forest of Dean Local History Society
2. (secondary) Forest of Dean Coal Mining: Haywood — Lightmoor Press / Forest of Dean coal mining

Record created: 8 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026