Mesne Lea Colliery

Overview

Peter Nightingale and Co.'s colliery off Walkden Road, Worsley, sunk in 1824, whose shaft reached the Rams Seven Feet mine at 180 yards. In May 1867 an explosion there killed seven, the fireman among them.

History

Mesne Lea Colliery lay in Worsley, its old pit sunk in 1824 off Walkden Road. By the 1860s it belonged to Peter Nightingale and Company. Its shaft was 180 yards deep to the Rams Seven Feet mine, and about 140 men worked in that part of the colliery, starting at six in the morning. The pit was thought safe, little firedamp having been met, and the men worked with candles.

The fireman's duty was to examine the workings before the men went in, and it was the custom for them to wait at the pit bottom while he did so. On the evening of 29 May 1867 a new cut-through had been made, but it was small, and the flexible tubing used in place of brattice had been stowed in the previous cut-through, so that through the night the air could not pass. The next morning a man went in with a naked light ahead of the fireman's inspection, and at half past six the gas fired at the far end of the jig brow. Seven died, among them the fireman, Enoch Yates. The inspector, Joseph Dickinson, thought a door might have been left open in the night, and the inquest jury asked that the fireman be given time to finish his round before the men went down.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures of the Worsley district: the Rams Seven Feet mine, reached at 180 yards.

Workings

A shaft of 180 yards to the Seven Feet mine; workings ventilated by cut-throughs with flexible tubing in place of brattice; a jig brow.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Mesne Lea Colliery explosion, 1867
  30 May 1867 · Explosion · 7 fatalities
  At 6.30 a.m. on 30 May 1867 gas that had gathered overnight in the Rams Seven Feet mine at Peter Nightingale and Co.'s Mesne Lea Colliery, Worsley, fired when a man went in with a naked light ahead of the fireman's morning examination. Seven were killed.

Recorded claims

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

• The old pit at Mesne Lea was sunk in 1824 off Walkden Road. ¹
• The shaft was 180 yards deep to the Seven Feet mine, and 140 men worked in that part of the colliery. ²
• On 30 May 1867 firedamp in the Rams Seven Feet mine fired when a man went in before the fireman's inspection; seven were killed. ^1,2,3
• A new cut-through was too small for the air because flexible tubing had been stowed in the previous one. ^2,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) List of mining disasters in Lancashire — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Mesne Lea Colliery Explosion - Worsley - 1867 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Mesne Lea, 30 May 1867 — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026