Mells Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Vobster, in the parish of Mells in the Somerset coalfield, opened in 1863, idle from 1881 to 1909, and the last of the Vobster pits to work, closing in 1943 after years of disputes over pay and conditions.

History

Mells Colliery lay at Vobster, in the parish of Mells near Frome, one of a group of pits there with Vobster, Vobster Old, Vobster Breach and Newbury collieries. It opened in 1863. The inspectors' lists record the dangers of its early years: a sinker killed by a shot that fired unexpectedly in 1865, a fifteen-year-old putter, apparently asleep across an incline, killed by the shoe of a sled in 1867, and a sinker who fell back down the sinking in 1871 while the pit was being deepened by fifty yards.

In April 1868, under Stephen Steeds and Company, an eighteen-year-old hitcher, John Cary, was fatally hurt when the cage he was boarding at a brow above the bottom inset went down instead of up; the onsetter below had misread the signals. The inquest returned manslaughter against the onsetter and a grand jury found a true bill, but at the Wells assizes the judge, reading the inspector's evidence that the pit had 'a complicated code of signals', stopped the trial. The inspector, Lionel Brough, cited the case in pleading for simple signals and against intermediate brows in shafts.

The colliery closed in 1881 and reopened in 1909, and sinking followed: in 1911 two chargemen were killed in separate falls when the kibbles they rode struck the buntons in the shaft. Its owners are listed as Mells Collieries Limited, the New Mells Colliery Company Limited and the Horner Trustees. In 1912 an examiner was suffocated under a fall of roof in the Firestone seam, and in July 1920 two men named Dowling were killed by a fall of stone in a heading (see Disasters, below). It employed 401 men in 1923, 272 in 1933 and 215 in 1940.

Mells was never very profitable, and there were many disputes about pay and working conditions. It outlived all the other Vobster pits, which had closed by the early 1900s, and finally closed in 1943. Some of its buildings and its spoil heap remain, the heap now hidden by trees.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Somerset coalfield around Vobster: the Great Course, Firestone, Little Course, Garden Course and Dungy Drift (New Vein) seams.

Workings

A shaft with a brow above the bottom inset (1868), deepened by fifty yards in 1871 and sunk further after the 1909 reopening; inclines worked with sleds underground; screens and sidings at the surface.

Closure

Closed in 1881 and reopened in 1909; closed finally in 1943, the year of the last abandonment plans.

What remains

Some of the colliery buildings remain, and the spoil heap survives, overgrown with trees.

Colliery buildings and a tree-covered spoil heap.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Mells Colliery fall of stone, 1920
  16 July 1920 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  Two men named Dowling were buried by a fall of stone in a heading at Mells Colliery, Vobster, on 16 July 1920; the manager stayed underground for twelve hours until both bodies had been recovered.

Recorded claims

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

• Mells Colliery opened in 1863, closed in 1881, reopened in 1909 and finally closed in 1943. ^1,2
• It was never very profitable, and there were many disputes about pay and working conditions. ¹
• The other Vobster-area pits all closed in the late 1800s or early 1900s; Mells worked until 1943. ²
• In April 1868 the hitcher John Cary was fatally injured when the cage descended instead of rising; the onsetter's manslaughter trial at Wells was stopped because the pit had 'a complicated code of signals'. ³
• In 1912 the colliery, at Vobster, was owned by Mells Collieries Limited. ^4,5
• The colliery employed 401 men in 1923, 272 in 1933 and 215 in 1940. ⁴
• Some of the buildings and the spoil heap remain; the heap is obscured by trees. ¹

Sources

1. (primary) Foundations of the Mendips: coal mining — collieries — British Geological Survey
2. (secondary) The Vobster area — British Geological Survey
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Mells, 3 April 1868 (John Cary) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Mells Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Albert William Steeds, Mells, 1912 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS mine plans: Mells, No. 1 / No. 2 / Garden Course, abandoned 1943 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026