Parkend Colliery

Overview

Edward Protheroe's group of pits at Parkend in the Forest of Dean, Park End Main, Parkend Royal and the Castlemain pumping shaft, the biggest producer in Dean in 1856; integrated with New Fancy from the 1880s, it stopped raising coal in 1929 and served New Fancy as an emergency exit and pumping station until 1944.

History

Parkend Colliery worked the Parkend gale near the village of Parkend in the Forest of Dean. Edward Protheroe, one of the biggest coal owners there, held interests in the gale from about 1820 until his death in 1857, and by 1827 his pits included Park End Main, Park End Royal and Castlemain, as well as New Fancy a mile to the north-east. Output rose from 31,364 tons in 1841 to 86,973 tons in 1856, the highest in Dean that year.

The pits closed in 1880 in a slump of the coal trade but, under Thomas Deakin's management, were soon prosperous again, and working was integrated with New Fancy, the two averaging 80,000 tons a year in the 1880s. In 1887 the Parkend Royal branch, an extension of the ironworks' furnace branch, joined the Severn and Wye Railway near Coleford Junction. Castlemain, 476 feet deep, was the pumping shaft, with a 72-inch Cornish engine installed in 1877; the deeper of the two Parkend Royal shafts reached 590 feet. The workings were in the Supra-Pennant group, including the three-foot Parkend High Delf. Under Parkend Deep Navigation Collieries Ltd the colliery worked the Rockey and Starkey seams, employing 200 in 1900. On 4 September 1902 four colliers were drowned by an irruption of water from old workings, the manager, who also acted as surveyor, having failed to check his plans against the surface.

Parkend stopped producing coal in 1929 but stayed connected underground to New Fancy as an emergency exit, with Castlemain used for pumping and ventilation, until the final closure in 1944. The site of Parkend Royal became a forestry depot; the mine offices survive as Castlemain Mill, and the shafts have been capped.

Geology

Upper Coal Measures of the Supra-Pennant group, including the three-foot Parkend High Delf, the Rockey and the Starkey.

Workings

Park End Main, two Parkend Royal shafts and the Castlemain pumping shaft (476 feet) with a 72-inch Cornish engine of 1877; an incline and from 1887 the Parkend Royal railway branch.

Closure

Coal production ceased in 1929; the pit remained connected to New Fancy as an emergency exit, with Castlemain pumping and ventilating, until New Fancy closed in 1944.

What remains

The site of Parkend Royal is a forestry depot; the mine offices survive as Castlemain Mill; the shafts were capped and the site levelled around 2013.

Brick foundations near Castlemain shaft, parts of a steam pumping or winding engine set in the ground, the former mine offices, and overgrown tips.

Related mines

• New Fancy Colliery — Physical link: Parkend was worked as one with New Fancy from the 1880s and stayed connected underground as its emergency exit and pumping station until 1944.

Recorded claims

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

• By 1827 Edward Protheroe's Parkend pits included Park End Main, Park End Royal and Castlemain. ¹
• The Parkend pits produced 86,973 tons of coal in 1856, the highest in Dean that year. ¹
• Castlemain pumping shaft was 476 feet deep and the deeper Parkend Royal shaft 590 feet. ¹
• Four colliers were drowned at Parkend Royal on 4 September 1902 by an irruption of water from old workings shown inaccurately on the plans. ²
• Parkend ceased to produce coal in 1929 but remained connected to New Fancy as an emergency exit until 1944. ^1,3
• A BGS plan covers New Fancy and Parkend Royal with Castlemain and neighbouring pits, abandoned in 1944. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Parkend Colliery (Forest of Dean Local History Society) — Forest of Dean Local History Society
2. (primary) Parkend Royal Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (observational) Parkend Colliery (Derelict Places, 2013) — Derelict Places
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21847308: New Fancy and Parkend Royal, Brick, Castlemain, Crown, Ivy Moorhead, abandoned 1944 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026