Methley Junction Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Methley Junction, near Normanton, sunk by Benjamin Burnley from 1845 and worked by Henry Briggs's company for most of its life. It raised household coal from the Haigh Moor seam until 1903, then served the Whitwood and Savile pits for ventilation and man-riding.

History

Benjamin Burnley began sinking the shafts in 1845, and the pit was producing coal by 1851; the Durham Mining Museum gives its opening as 1854. The rows of terrace houses at Methley Junction were begun under the Burnleys, with a Primitive Methodist chapel, and the pit was managed for them by Thomas Rayner, the owners' son-in-law. The coal of the Methley area belonged to the Earl of Mexborough of Methley Hall, who was paid royalties on it. Henry Briggs's company bought the colliery from Burnley's trustees, the purchase being dated variously to 1859 and 1866.

The Haigh Moor seam lay 135 yards down, and by 1875 a 35-foot fan drew about 55,000 cubic feet of air a minute through the workings. An explosion on 9 December 1875 killed six men, after a fall of roof released gas that probably fired at a candle. The colliery employed 215 in 1894 and 318 in 1900, raising household coal, and in 1902 boys at the Junction and Savile pits were prosecuted for riding horses underground.

Severe flooding in the early 1900s led to the shafts being altered, and the Durham Mining Museum dates the colliery's closure to 1903. The shafts were altered and kept as a ventilation pit for the Whitwood and Savile mines and for man-riding to Whitwood. It was the only pit in the area still to have wooden headgear, and its coal had gone down a steeply graded incline to the Methley curve of the North Eastern Railway.

Geology

West Yorkshire Coal Measures: the Haigh Moor seam at 135 yards, and the Stanley Main.

Workings

Shafts sunk from 1845 with wooden headgear; a 35-foot ventilating fan by 1875; an incline, earlier rope-hauled, down to the Methley curve of the North Eastern Railway.

Closure

Coal winding ended after severe flooding in the early 1900s; the shafts were then kept for ventilation of the Whitwood and Savile mines and man-riding for Whitwood. A plan of the Stanley Main was deposited as abandoned in 1909.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Newmarket Colliery — Both among the pits of the Methley district named on the Methley mining memorial.
• Savile Colliery — Both Briggs pits; after flooding Methley Junction's shafts ventilated the Savile mine.
• Whitwood Colliery — Both Briggs pits; after flooding Methley Junction's shafts ventilated Whitwood and carried its men.

Disasters & major incidents

• Methley Junction Colliery explosion, 1875
  9 December 1875 · Explosion · 6 fatalities
  On 9 December 1875 a fall of roof released gas that exploded in the Haigh Moor seam at H. Briggs and Son's Methley Junction Colliery, near Normanton, killing six. The men went down with safety lamps but changed to candles later in the shift.

Culture

• Methley Mining Memorial (Art)
  Methley Junction is among the village pits the mining memorial commemorates.

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 colliery opened in 1854. (disputed) ²
• Burnley sold the colliery to Briggs and Co. in 1859. (disputed) ¹
• The Briggs company purchased Methley Junction Colliery in 1866 from the Burnley interest. (disputed) ^3,4

Recorded claims

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

• Benjamin Burnley began sinking the shafts in 1845 and the pit started producing coal in 1851. ¹
• The colliery opened in 1854. (disputed) ²
• Burnley sold the colliery to Briggs and Co. in 1859. (disputed) ¹
• The Briggs company purchased Methley Junction Colliery in 1866 from the Burnley interest. (disputed) ^3,4
• The Haigh Moor seam was 135 yards down, ventilated by a 35-foot fan. ⁵
• The colliery employed 215 in 1894 and 318 in 1900, raising household coal. ²
• Flooding in the early 1900s turned the pit into a ventilation and man-riding shaft for Whitwood and Savile; it was the only pit in the area with wooden headgear. ¹
• The colliery closed in 1903. ²
• A plan of the Stanley Main at Methley Junction was deposited as abandoned in 1909. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Methley Junction Colliery — Methley Village
2. (primary) Methley Junction Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Henry Briggs, Son & Co Ltd — Woodlesford (New Woodlesford)
4. (secondary) Briggs' Early Days — Methley Village
5. (secondary) Methley Junction Colliery Explosion - Normanton - 1875 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) Methley Junction: Stanley Main abandonment plan, 1909 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority

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