Hindley Green Colliery

Overview

John Scowcroft & Co.'s group of pits on the southern edge of Hindley and Hindley Green, near Wigan, worked from the 1850s until 1936. A firedamp explosion in its Arley mine killed 62 on 25 November 1868.

History

The Hindley Green collieries lay along the southern outskirts of Hindley and Hindley Green, three and a half miles east-south-east of Wigan. The oldest, Stonehouse Colliery, was worked by Thomas and Thomas Fisher in 1855 and by Thomas Fisher in 1859-60. Springs Colliery was begun about 1864, and John Scowcroft & Co. worked it from 1865. The company went on to hold Stonehouse, the Grammar Pit and the Engine Pit, with the California pit later paired with the Engine.

On 25 November 1868 a firedamp explosion in the Arley mine killed 62 (see Disasters, below). A shot fired to enlarge a pony road set off another explosion at the Springs Pit on 15 November 1871 (see Disasters, below). On 12 December 1877 a fall of roof killed the collier William Duggan and his son, a drawer.

In the 1900s the pits raised gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal. By 1915 they worked the Arley, Haigh Yard, Six Feet, Five Feet and Four Feet for manufacturing coal and employed 1,405 people in five pits. In 1923 they employed 1,202 and raised 250,000 tons. Stonehouse had closed before 1914. The other pits closed one after another from 1924, and the collieries were abandoned in April 1936.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures: the Arley, a fiery seam, with the Haigh Yard, Six Feet, Five Feet and Four Feet.

Workings

A group of pits worked as one concern: Stonehouse, Springs, Grammar, Engine and California. In 1915 the returns list Arley Springs, Arley Yard, California and Engine, Grammar, and Springs Six Feet.

Closure

Stonehouse closed before 1914; the remaining pits closed one after another from 1924, and the collieries were abandoned in April 1936.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Strangeways Hall Colliery — Both owned by Crompton & Shawcross Ltd after it bought the Scowcroft pits in 1901.

Disasters & major incidents

• Hindley Green Colliery explosion, 1868
  25 November 1868 · Explosion · 62 fatalities
  On 25 November 1868 firedamp exploded in the Arley mine at John Scowcroft & Co.'s Hindley Green Colliery near Wigan, killing 62 men and boys. Gas had gathered in a stopped slant and was fired by the flame of a blown-out gunpowder shot next to it.
• Springs Colliery explosion, 1871
  15 November 1871 · Explosion · 6 fatalities
  Shortly before 11 p.m. on 15 November 1871 firedamp exploded in the Arley mine at John Scowcroft and Co.'s Springs Pit, Hindley Green, after a shot was fired to bring down roof while enlarging a pony road. Six men and boys were killed on the north-east side, the fireman was badly burned, and eleven ponies died.

Recorded claims

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

• Springs Colliery was begun about 1864 and worked by John Scowcroft & Co. from 1865. ¹
• Five pits employed 1,405 in 1915 and 1,202 in 1923. ²
• The pits closed successively from 1924 and were abandoned in April 1936. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Hindley Green Collieries — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Hindley Green Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Hindley Green Colliery Explosion - Wigan - 1868 — Northern Mine Research Society

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