Peelwood Colliery

Overview

A Tyldesley Coal Company pit whose builders had to sink an entirely separate shaft, the Daisy Pit, just to reach shallower coal after a geological fault got in the way of the original workings.

History

The Tyldesley Coal Company began sinking Peelwood Colliery's shafts in 1878, and the colliery opened in 1883, sited east of Shakerley Lane on the south side of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Manchester-to-Southport line, where the company had its own siding. Two vertical shafts, each 13 feet in diameter and 30 yards apart, were sunk to the Trencherbone mine at 335 yards, worked by longwall methods, while the shallower Seven Feet (Black and White) mine was worked by room-and-pillar; other seams reached over the colliery's life included the Three Feet, Four Feet, Cannel, Plodder and Haigh Yard mines. A geological fault to the north of the workings — the Coxe, or Wharton Hall, Fault — proved troublesome enough that the company sank an entirely separate shaft, the Daisy Pit, specifically to access shallower coal seams cut off by it. The colliery's surface plant included four Lancashire boilers and a 12-foot Schiele ventilating fan circulating 120,000 cubic feet of air a minute. Employment grew from 262 underground and 104 surface workers in 1896 to 319 underground and 72 surface by 1923. Peelwood Colliery closed in 1929.

Workings

Two 13-foot-diameter shafts, 30 yards apart, sunk to the Trencherbone mine at 335 yards (worked longwall) and the shallower Seven Feet (Black and White) mine (worked room-and-pillar); a separate shaft, the Daisy Pit, was sunk to reach seams cut off by the Coxe (Wharton Hall) Fault.

Closure

Closed in 1929.

Recorded claims

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

• The Tyldesley Coal Company began sinking Peelwood's shafts in 1878, opening in 1883, with two 13-foot-diameter shafts 30 yards apart reaching the Trencherbone mine at 335 yards. ¹
• The Coxe (Wharton Hall) Fault to the north of the workings cut off shallower seams, requiring the company to sink an entirely separate shaft, the Daisy Pit, to reach them. ¹
• The colliery's surface plant included four Lancashire boilers and a 12-foot Schiele ventilating fan circulating 120,000 cubic feet of air a minute, with twin-cylinder winding engines at each shaft. ²
• Employment grew from 262 underground and 104 surface workers in 1896 to 319 underground and 72 surface by 1923; the colliery closed in 1929. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Peelwood Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Peelwood Colliery (1883-) — NMRS — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 September 2026