Phoenix Colliery

Overview

A Burtonhead Road colliery in St Helens, opened by Benjamin B. Glover in 1873, which by 1893 raised 300 tons a day from a two-foot seam with 211 men and closed in 1895.

History

Phoenix Colliery stood on Burtonhead Road, St Helens, on the Sutton side of the town near Ravenhead. Benjamin B. Glover opened it in 1873, when the inspector's report showed one pit being sunk. By 1893 it had two pits, 85 and 90 yards deep, with an advanced arrangement of winding, ventilating and haulage machinery, and raised 300 tons a day from the Lower Pigeon House seam, which was only two feet thick. It employed 211 men that year. Newspapers gave about 200 men in November 1893, and 35 men and a depth of 95 yards in December 1892.

On 16 February 1882 gas that had gathered overnight on the high side of a face in the Pigeon House seam of No. 1 pit fired at a collier's open candle, and John Carswell, aged 32, died of his burns. No gas had been met for about four years and the pit was worked with naked lights; the manager, Edward Schofield, told the inquest that safety lamps were used from then on. In 1891 the manager was fined after the inspector found two places, in some 2,000 yards of roadways, where the horses rubbed against the roof bars. The manager Samuel Urmson stood unsuccessfully in the West Sutton council election of November 1894. The colliery closed in 1895, the year its Pigeon House seam abandonment plans carry.

Geology

The Lower Pigeon House seam, about two feet thick.

Workings

Two pits, 85 and 90 yards deep in 1893, with mechanical winding, ventilation and haulage and some 2,000 yards of underground roads; No. 1 pit worked the Pigeon House seam.

Closure

Closed in 1895; the abandonment plans of its Pigeon House workings carry that year.

What remains

Unknown.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• In December 1892 the colliery had 35 men and was 95 yards deep. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Benjamin B. Glover opened Phoenix Colliery in 1873, when one pit was being sunk. ^1,2
• In 1893 it had two pits, 85 and 90 yards deep, raising 300 tons a day from the two-foot Lower Pigeon House seam with 211 men. ²
• In December 1892 the colliery had 35 men and was 95 yards deep. (disputed) ¹
• A gas explosion in the Pigeon House seam on 16 February 1882 killed John Carswell, after which safety lamps replaced candles. ²
• Phoenix Colliery closed in 1895. ^1,2,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Coal Mining in Sutton, St Helens — Sutton Beauty and Heritage
2. (secondary) Phoenix Colliery (NMRS accidents and incidents in Lancashire collieries) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: PHOENIX, Pigeon House seam, abandoned 1895 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026