Hindley Field Colliery

Overview

A colliery beside the Westleigh line south of Hindley, near Wigan, whose Nos. 1 and 2 Pits were sunk about 1866 and Nos. 3 and 4 about 1880; Norris and Lees and the Hindley Field Coal Company worked it, with up to 612 men, until the last two pits were abandoned in 1927.

History

Hindley Field Colliery lay immediately west of the London and North Western Railway's Westleigh line, 610 metres south of the Eccles, Wigan and Tyldesley line, about three and a half miles south-east of Wigan. Nos. 1 and 2 Pits were sunk about 1866 and Nos. 3 and 4 were completed about 1880; the Durham Mining Museum gives the colliery's opening as 1869.

Norris and Lees held it from 1869 to 1875 and again from 1885 to 1890, with the Hindley Field Coal Company recorded between, and the Hindley Field Coal Company Ltd owned it from 1895. It raised gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Arley, Furnace, Ravine and Yard seams, and later the Four Feet, Seven Feet, Haigh Yard and Ince Four Feet. The workforce grew from 335 in 1894 to 596 in 1910 and 612 in 1915, and was 525 in 1923. Thirty-seven deaths are recorded, all single. Nos. 1 and 2 Pits were abandoned before 1927, and Nos. 3 and 4 on 30 March 1927.

Geology

Lancashire coal measures, worked in the Arley, Furnace, Ravine, Yard, Four Feet, Seven Feet, Haigh Yard and Ince Four Feet seams.

Workings

Four shafts: Nos. 1 and 2 Pits sunk about 1866 and Nos. 3 and 4 completed about 1880.

Closure

Nos. 1 and 2 Pits were abandoned before 1927 and Nos. 3 and 4 on 30 March 1927; the Durham Mining Museum gives closure as 1925.

What remains

Unknown.

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 Durham Mining Museum gives Hindley Field's working life as 1869 to 1925. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Hindley Field Nos. 1 and 2 Pits were sunk about 1866 and Nos. 3 and 4 completed about 1880. ¹
• Norris and Lees worked Hindley Field in 1869-1875 and 1885-1890; the Hindley Field Coal Company Ltd owned it from 1895. ^2,1
• Hindley Field Colliery employed 612 people in 1915. ²
• Hindley Field Nos. 3 and 4 Pits were abandoned on 30 March 1927. ¹
• The Durham Mining Museum gives Hindley Field's working life as 1869 to 1925. (disputed) ²
• A BGS plan records Hindley Field's workings in the Arley seam. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Hindley Field Collieries (NMRS Wigan coalfield, G. Hayes collection) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Hindley Field Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21870983: Hindley Field, Arley — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026