John Pit

Overview

A Standish Lower Ground colliery begun about 1836, revived for cannel in the 1850s and deepened by the Wigan Coal & Iron Company to the Haigh Yard at 359 yards. It worked until 1954, latterly through the Standish Hall Drift, with Taylor Pit as its upcast.

History

John Pit lay at Standish Lower Ground, about a mile and three-quarters west of the West Coast Main Line and 1,100 yards north of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The Standish Coal Company sank a shaft about 1836 to the Wigan Four Feet at 129 yards, but abandoned it within ten years. The Standish & Shevington Cannel Company then sank two shafts to the Cannel and was raising cannel by 1858. The Wigan Coal & Iron Company took over in 1865 and in 1871 deepened No. 1 Pit, the downcast and coal-winding shaft, to the Haigh Yard at 359 yards. No. 2 Pit, the upcast, went to the Cannel at 277 yards. The Pemberton seams beyond the Shevington Fault were reached by tunnels.

A twin-cylinder horizontal engine between the shafts wound a double-deck cage in No. 1 and a counterbalance cage in No. 2, under wooden headgears. A furnace at No. 2 ventilated the pit until 1920, when the workings were linked through the Pemberton Five Feet to Taylor No. 2 Pit, which became the common upcast with a fan. The lower seams were worked out by 1932, and both shafts were filled and sealed at about 180 yards. The colliery passed to the Wigan Coal Corporation in 1930 and the National Coal Board in 1947. In its last years it worked the Ince Four Feet, Ince Seven Feet, Pemberton Yard and Pemberton Two Feet from the Standish Hall Drift, and it closed in 1954. A 1920 war memorial for the men of John Pit and Taylor Pit stands in a stone cairn on the edge of Birley Wood, built by the miners from stone brought out of John Pit.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures cut by the Shevington Fault: the Wigan Four, Five and Six Feet, Cannel, King and Haigh Yard in the shafts; the Pemberton Yard, Five Feet, Two Feet and Four Feet beyond the fault; the Ince Four and Seven Feet from the drift.

Workings

No. 1 Pit (10 feet, downcast and coal winding, to 359 yards) and No. 2 Pit (upcast, to 277 yards), both later sealed at about 180 yards; a twin-cylinder horizontal winder between the shafts; tunnels through the Shevington Fault; furnace ventilation to 1920, then through Taylor No. 2 Pit; the Standish Hall Drift in the 1950s.

Closure

The lower seams were exhausted by 1932 and the shafts sealed; working continued from the Standish Hall Drift until the colliery closed in 1954.

What remains

The 1920 war-memorial cairn of John Pit and Taylor Pit stands on the edge of Birley Wood, off Wigan Lower Road; its original plaque was removed after the pit closed.

The memorial cairn, built of stone from John Pit.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Taylor Colliery — Linked underground from 1920; Taylor No. 2 Pit was John Pit's upcast.

Recorded claims

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

• First sunk about 1836 by the Standish Coal Co. to the Wigan Four Feet at 129 yards, and abandoned within ten years. ¹
• No. 1 Pit was deepened to the Haigh Yard at 359 yards in 1871. ¹
• From 1920 it was ventilated through Taylor No. 2 Pit via the Pemberton Five Feet. ¹
• Closed in 1954. ^2,1
• Its 1920 war-memorial cairn on the edge of Birley Wood was built by the miners from stone brought out of John Pit. ^2,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) John Pit Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Wigan Coal and Iron Co., Taylor Pit And John Pit - WW1 (Original Memorial Structure) — Imperial War Museums War Memorials Register
3. (secondary) Wigan Coal and Iron, Taylor Pit and John Pit (original memorial) — War Memorials Online

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