Heys Colliery

Overview

The Kenworthy brothers' three-shaft colliery on Mossley Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, working the steep and fiery New Mine. Explosions killed six in 1851 and forty in 1857, and it closed in the early 1860s.

History

Heys Colliery stood on Mossley Road, close to the centre of Ashton-under-Lyne. Its No. 1 downcast and colliery buildings lay north of Mossley Road and south of Herries Street, a second shaft near the corner with Whiteacre Road and a third south of Mossley Road. It was begun by three Kenworthy brothers, James, John and George, with Samuel Swire, trading as Kenworthy and Swire; Swire withdrew in 1835 and the brothers carried on as John Kenworthy and Brothers.

Of its five seams, the Two-feet Mine at 160 yards and the New Mine at 225 yards were being worked in 1857. The New Mine, about three feet thick and dipping one in two, was the deepest and most fiery, reached by a 460-yard engine incline. Explosions killed six in March 1851 and forty on 31 July 1857, when gas fired near the underground boilers.

After James and George Kenworthy died the partnership was dissolved in 1860, and the colliery probably closed between 1860 and 1864; the 1888 Ordnance Survey marks old shafts on the site.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures on an anticline with steep sides: five seams, of which the Two-feet Mine at 160 yards and the New Mine at 225 yards were worked in 1857, the New Mine about three feet thick and dipping one in two.

Workings

Three shafts, two downcast and one upcast; a 460-yard engine incline on a one-in-two dip; underground boilers driving the incline engine; pillar and stall working.

Closure

The Kenworthy partnership was dissolved in 1860 (gazetted in 1864), and the colliery is thought to have closed then; the Durham Mining Museum gives 1869.

What remains

Old shafts were marked on the site on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Heys Colliery explosion, 1851
  17 March 1851 · Explosion · 6 fatalities
  On 17 March 1851 an explosion of firedamp at John Kenworthy and Brothers' Heys Colliery, Ashton-under-Lyne, killed one man outright and injured eight, five of whom died. Six years later the same colliery lost forty men in a single explosion.
• Heys Colliery explosion, 1857
  31 July 1857 · Explosion · 40 fatalities
  At 1.25 p.m. on 31 July 1857, at the end of the dinner hour, flames burst from the flues of the underground boilers at John Kenworthy and Brother's Heys Colliery, Ashton-under-Lyne, and an explosion followed that killed everyone on the brow, forty men and boys.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The colliery opened in 1855 and closed in 1869. (disputed) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was begun by the Kenworthy brothers with Samuel Swire, who withdrew in 1835. ¹
• In 1857 the Two-feet Mine at 160 yards and the New Mine at 225 yards were worked, the New Mine dipping one in two. ^2,1
• Explosions killed six on 17 March 1851 and forty on 31 July 1857. ^2,3,4
• The partnership was dissolved in 1860 and the colliery probably closed between 1860 and 1864. ¹
• The colliery opened in 1855 and closed in 1869. (disputed) ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Heys Colliery Disasters, Ashton-under-Lyne — Pitt Dixon
2. (secondary) The Heys Colliery Explosion - Ashton-under-Lyne - 1857 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Heys Colliery Explosion - Ashton-under-Lyne - 1851 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Heys Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026