Ince Hall Deep Pit

Overview

A deep Lancashire pit near Hindley station, owned by A. F. Haliburton in 1851 and known as the Deep Pit, the Arley Mine or Brown's Pit, where a firedamp explosion killed thirteen men and boys on 22 December 1851.

History

In 1851 the Ince Hall pit near Hindley station belonged to A. F. Haliburton. It went by several names: the Deep Pit, the Arley Mine and Brown's Pit. Its shaft is given as 1,242 feet deep, and over a hundred men and boys went down it for the morning shift.

At about six on the morning of Monday 22 December 1851, half an hour after the shift had descended, firedamp exploded in the south-west workings. Thirteen were killed, among them the underlooker George Pigot, 65, a father and his two sons, and several drawers of fifteen; the youngest was eleven. A boy who survived told the inquest he believed props had been drawn from old workings, letting the roof fall and release gas onto the men's candles. The inquest at the Red Lion Inn, Hindley, returned a verdict of accidental death.

The Ince Hall Coal and Cannel Company's pits, among them the Arley Pit where explosions killed fifty in 1853 and eighty-nine in 1854, lay about a mile east of Wigan by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. How this pit near Hindley related to them is unknown, as are its opening and closure.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures. The pit was also called the Arley Mine; the seam it worked is otherwise unrecorded.

Workings

A single deep shaft with workings running at least 550 yards from the pit eye; the 1851 explosion was in the south-west district, lit by candles.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Ince Hall Deep Pit explosion, 1851
  22 December 1851 · Explosion · 13 fatalities
  About six on the morning of Monday 22 December 1851, half an hour after more than a hundred men and boys had gone down A. F. Haliburton's Deep Pit at Ince Hall, near Hindley station, firedamp exploded in the south-west workings. Thirteen were killed, six of them boys of fifteen or younger.

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 Deep Pit was 1,242 feet deep. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• In 1851 the pit was the property of A. F. Haliburton. ^1,2
• It was variously called the Deep Pit, the Arley Mine and Brown's Pit, and stood near Hindley station. ¹
• The Deep Pit was 1,242 feet deep. (uncertain) ³
• A firedamp explosion on 22 December 1851, ignited by a naked light, killed thirteen. ^3,1,2
• The inquest at the Red Lion Inn, Hindley, returned a verdict of accidental death. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ince Hall Colliery Explosion - Wigan - 1851 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Ince Hall, 22 December 1851 — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) List of mining disasters in Lancashire — Wikipedia

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026