Lowca Colliery

Overview

A west Cumberland coastal colliery above the Solway Firth, where forty died in an explosion at John Pit in 1838 and fifteen at Harrington No. 10 Pit in 1946; it closed in 1968.

History

Lowca Colliery lies on high ground about three miles north of Whitehaven, close to the sea. Its earliest recorded workings are John Pit and the neighbouring Hodgson Pit, the property of Henry Curwen of Workington Hall, where an explosion of firedamp killed forty men and boys on 24 October 1838. Curwen's waggonway carried coal down to Harrington Harbour; leased by James Bain and partners, who also owned the Harrington Ironworks, it was shown on an 1864 map as Bain's Tramway, running to John and Hodgson Pits. The Durham Mining Museum records Blain, Blair & Paterson as owners in the 1860s and Sir James Bain & Co. in the 1880s. In 1909 the colliery, the ironworks and the mineral line became part of the newly formed Workington Iron & Steel Company, just as Harrington No. 10 Pit was about to start production; United Steel Companies owned the colliery from the 1920s until nationalisation in 1947.

The No. 10 downcast shaft, 20 feet across, and the No. 9 upcast, 16 feet, reach the Six Quarters Seam at 648 feet, and the Main Band Seam, 12 feet of coal, lies 350 feet below the surface at the shafts. Its workings run west for miles under the Solway Firth. In 1946 the colliery employed 770 people, 530 underground and 240 on the surface, 30 of them women. On 9 December 1946 an explosion of firedamp in the Main Band Seam killed fifteen men (see Disasters, below). The National Coal Board took over in 1947 and the colliery closed in 1968. Coal from Solway Colliery at Workington was still brought to its washery and coking plant until that colliery closed in 1973.

Geology

The Main Band Seam, 12 feet of coal with thin dirt partings, lay under a thick sandstone roof on a floor of fireclay and hard shale, 350 feet below the surface at the shafts; the deeper Six Quarters Seam lay at 648 feet. The workings were wet, and the Main Band was gassy.

Workings

The colliery worked through several pits: John Pit, Nos. 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12. At No. 10 the Main Band seam was reached by a long engine plane running west under the sea, and by 1946 four districts were being worked, some three and three-quarter miles from the shaft. Room-and-pillar working was mechanised from 1943 with Joy loaders, an arc shearer, belt and chain conveyors and shuttle cars, ventilated by auxiliary fans.

Closure

Harrington No. 10 Pit, the last, closed in 1968; the colliery railway serving it was worked by steam locomotives to the end. Nos. 7 and 11 pits closed in 1963 and No. 12 on 31 December 1931.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Solway Colliery — United Steel Companies owned both; Solway coal was washed and graded at the Harrington plant at Lowca and returned to the steelworks over the Lowca Light Railway.

Disasters & major incidents

• Lowca Colliery John Pit explosion, 1838
  24 October 1838 · Explosion · 40 fatalities
  An explosion of firedamp at John Pit, said to have been ignited by the light of the overman making his inspection, killed forty men and boys waiting at the pit bottom and in the shaft; the fireman and deputy afterwards went down alone before the men.
• Lowca Colliery explosion, 1946
  9 December 1946 · Explosion · 15 fatalities
  An explosion of firedamp in the mechanised Main Band workings under the Solway Firth killed fifteen men in No. 2 District; the official inquiry found the district's ventilation inadequate and concluded that an overman had opened a flame safety lamp in an inflammable mixture.

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 1910 as the year Harrington Colliery opened, against 1908 for the sinking of No. 10 Pit. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• An explosion of firedamp at John Pit on 24 October 1838 killed forty men and boys. ^1,2
• Harrington No. 10 Pit was first sunk in 1908. ³
• The Durham Mining Museum gives 1910 as the year Harrington Colliery opened, against 1908 for the sinking of No. 10 Pit. (disputed) ²
• The No. 10 downcast shaft is 20 feet across and the No. 9 upcast 16 feet; the pit bottom is in the Six Quarters Seam at 648 feet and the Main Band Seam lies 350 feet down. ^3,2
• In 1946 the colliery employed 770 people: 530 underground and 240 on the surface, of whom 30 were women. ^3,2
• Owned by Blain, Blair & Paterson in the 1860s, Sir James Bain & Co. in the 1880s, United Steel Companies in the 1920s and the National Coal Board from 1947. ²
• In 1909 Harrington Colliery, the ironworks and the mineral line to Lowca became part of the newly formed Workington Iron & Steel Company. ⁴
• An explosion of firedamp in No. 2 District of the Main Band Seam at 8.30 a.m. on 9 December 1946 killed fifteen men. ^5,2
• Harrington No. 10 Pit closed in 1968. ^2,4,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lowca Colliery John Pit Explosion - Whitehaven - 1838 - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Harrington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Harrington No. 10 Pit - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Harrington and Lowca Light Railway - Wikipedia — Wikipedia
5. (secondary) Harrington Pit Explosion, Lowca, 1946 - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (secondary) Lowca Light Railway - History — Cumbrian Railways Association

Record created: 29 September 2026 · Last researched: 29 September 2026