Higham Colliery

Overview

A Silkstone-seam colliery at Higham, west of Barnsley, listed from 1854 and owned in 1860 by Messrs Charlesworth, when an explosion killed thirteen men and boys. It was later the Silkstone and Dodworth company's, and its shaft pumped for Dodworth Colliery into the 1980s.

History

Higham Colliery lay at Higham, west of Barnsley, and worked the Silkstone seam. It is listed from 1854 and in 1860 was the property of Messrs Charlesworth. The Silkstone here was fiery: in 1857 gas from the goaves lit at the ventilating furnace and killed every horse in the pit, though the furnaceman, the only man below, was got out.

On 15 February 1860 the seam fired at the northern edge of the workings, at the foot of a steep incline where pillars were being taken out between three parallel faults, with goaves on every side and poor air. The colliers carried locked Davy lamps, all found in good order afterwards, but the boys who drove the horses were allowed candles to within twenty yards of the furthest goaf. Thirteen men and boys were killed, one lad found burnt beside his lantern. After the verdict of accidental death Messrs Charlesworth banished naked lights from the Silkstone seam altogether.

In 1880 the colliery was returned under the Silkstone and Dodworth Coal and Iron Company, and a plan of its Silkstone workings records abandonment in 1881; one list has it unlisted from 1870 to 1887, standing from 1897 and gone by 1899. From 1900 to 1945, and again from 1986 to 1988, the Higham shaft served as a pumping station, and a drift at Higham carried coal from Redbrook Colliery up a belt to the screens at Dodworth. A sinking engine from the colliery is kept at Wortley Top Forge.

Geology

The Silkstone seam of the South Yorkshire Coal Measures, a fiery seam here, cut in the northern workings by three large parallel faults.

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

Workings

Pillar workings in the Silkstone seam, reached at the northern limit by a steep incline, with large goaves and a ventilating furnace; horses hauled underground. The shaft later called the Higham Shaft, or New Furnace Shaft, served as a pumping station.

Closure

The Silkstone workings are recorded as abandoned in 1881; a list of Yorkshire collieries carries Higham to 1899, standing from 1897. The shaft was kept for pumping from 1900 to 1945 and from 1986 to 1988.

What remains

A horizontal single-cylinder geared sinking and winding engine from the colliery is preserved under cover at Wortley Top Forge.

Related mines

• Dodworth Colliery — Both were the Silkstone and Dodworth Coal and Iron Company's in 1880, and the Higham shaft later pumped for Dodworth, with a drift at Higham carrying coal to its screens.

Disasters & major incidents

• Higham Colliery explosion, 1860
  15 February 1860 · Explosion · 13 fatalities
  On the afternoon of 15 February 1860 gas from the goaves fired at a boy's candle at the northern limit of Messrs Charlesworth's Higham Colliery, near Barnsley, killing thirteen men and lads. The colliers had locked Davy lamps, but the horse drivers were allowed candles within yards of the goaves.

Recorded claims

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

• Higham is listed as a colliery from 1854 to 1899, not listed from 1870 to 1887 and standing from 1897 to 1900. ¹
• In 1860 the colliery was the property of Messrs Charlesworth. ²
• In 1857 gas from the goaves ignited at the ventilating furnace and killed all the horses. ²
• An explosion in the Silkstone seam on 15 February 1860 killed thirteen men and boys. ^1,2
• After the 1860 inquest Messrs Charlesworth banned naked lights from the Silkstone seam. ²
• In 1880 Higham was returned under the Silkstone and Dodworth Coal and Iron Co. ³
• The Silkstone seam at Higham was abandoned in 1881. ⁴
• The Higham shaft was used as a pumping station from 1900 to 1945 and from 1986 to 1988. ^1,5
• A horizontal single-cylinder geared sinking and winding engine from Higham Colliery is preserved at Wortley Top Forge. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Coal Mines in Yorkshire 1854 onwards (H) - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Higham Colliery Explosion - Barnsley - 1860 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre
4. (primary) Mine plan: HIGHAM, Silkstone seam, abandoned 1881 (feature 21857083) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue
5. (secondary) Higham, South Yorkshire — Wikipedia
6. (observational) Wortley Top Forge - Higham Colliery sinking engine (Chris Allen, 2023) — Geograph Britain and Ireland

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