Pemberton Colliery

Overview

The Blundell family's colliery at Pemberton, south-west of Wigan, where the King and Queen pits, begun in 1867, reached the Arley mine at 629 yards. Among the largest collieries in Lancashire, it employed 2,800 at its 1913 peak; winding ended in November 1946, and Summersales pit worked until 1966.

History

Jonathan Blundell, a Liverpool merchant, began investing in coal at Orrell in the 1770s, and the family's mining spread to Pemberton. The Bye Pit and Engine Pit were sunk about 1820 (1815 by one account) to the Pemberton Four Feet mine, the Engine Pit pumped by a Haigh Foundry beam engine. In 1867 the King and Queen pits were begun, and the King reached the Arley mine at 629 yards on 2 September 1870; the Prince Pit followed from 1898, New Venture in 1910-13 and Summersales in 1944-45. Coke ovens, by-product works, brick and tile works and its own electricity from 1891 grew up around it. At its peak in 1913 it raised over 700,000 tons with 2,800 people, 270 ponies, 2,000 wagons and 17 miles of sidings.

An explosion in 1830 killed nine, and one at the King Pit on 11 October 1877 killed 36. The firm became Pemberton Colliery Co. Ltd in 1900, was reconstituted in 1929 and passed to the National Coal Board in 1947. Coal winding ended in November 1946 except at Summersales, which closed on 18 March 1966; pumping went on until 1959 and the washery handled opencast coal into the 1960s. In 1946 the Blundell family gave a carved oak memorial screen to St Matthew's Church, Highfield, for the area's miners.

Geology

Lancashire Coal Measures: from the Pemberton Four and Five Feet mines down through the Wigan Four, Five and Nine Feet, King and Cannel mines to the Orrell Five Feet and the Arley (Orrell Four Feet).

Workings

Bye and Engine pits (about 1820); King and Queen pits (1867-70, 18 and 16 feet in diameter, with German and English tubbing); Prince (1898-1901), New Venture (1910-13) and Summersales (1944-45); a Guibal fan of 1872; coke ovens, by-product and brick works; 17 miles of sidings.

Closure

Coal winding ended in November 1946 apart from Summersales, which closed on 18 March 1966; pumping continued until 1959 and the washery handled opencast coal into the 1960s.

What remains

The colliery remains were sold for scrap; after opencast working in the 1980s and removal of the spoil heaps, houses were built on the site.

Redevelopment

Opencast mining in the 1980s, then housing.

Disasters & major incidents

• Pemberton Colliery explosion, 1877
  11 October 1877 · Explosion · 36 fatalities
  On 11 October 1877 firedamp exploded in the Wigan Nine Foot mine of the King pit at Jonathan Blundell & Sons' Pemberton Colliery, killing 36 men and boys, among them the manager and two other officials who went to help. The jury blamed a blown-out shot in Rutter's place.

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 Bye Pit was sunk about 1820. (disputed) ¹
• Henry Blundell sank the Bye Pit in 1815. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The King Pit, begun in 1867, reached the Arley mine at 629 yards on 2 September 1870. ¹
• The Bye Pit was sunk about 1820. (disputed) ¹
• Henry Blundell sank the Bye Pit in 1815. (disputed) ²
• At its 1913 peak it raised over 700,000 tons and employed 2,800, with 17 miles of sidings. ²
• Explosions killed nine in 1830 and 36 at the King Pit in 1877. ^3,1,2
• Coal winding ended in November 1946 except at Summersales, which closed on 18 March 1966. ^1,2,4
• After opencast working in the 1980s the spoil was removed and houses built on the site. ²
• In 1923 the King Pit employed 1,145, the Prince 605 and the Queen 474; by 1954 the colliery was pumping only. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Pemberton Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Blundells Colliery — Wigan Buildings
3. (secondary) Pemberton Colliery Explosion - Wigan - 1877 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (observational) Pemberton Colliery, Wigan, 1970 — 28DaysLater
5. (primary) Pemberton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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