Princess Royal Colliery

Overview

A Forest of Dean colliery whose gale was first granted in 1842 but which passed through a string of unprofitable owners for half a century before the Princess Royal Colliery Co. Ltd, formed in 1891, finally made it one of the Forest's most productive pits, closing in 1962.

History

The Princess Royal gale, covering the Park Gutter site, was first granted to the Priest brothers in 1842, but proved unprofitable and passed through a succession of owners — Thomas Dyke from 1855, the Bristol & Forest of Dean Coal Co. from 1860, and Samuel Morgan from 1865 to 1870 — before the Princess Royal Colliery Co. Ltd was formed in 1891 to operate both the Park Gutter site and the neighbouring Flour Mill pit. The Severn and Wye Railway extended its Oakwood Branch to the Park Gutter pits at Whitecroft in 1890-91, and coal production from the Yorkley Seam began in 1897. Between 1914 and 1915 the Park Gutter shaft was deepened to 617 feet to reach the Coleford High Delf Seam, with a dipple driven a further 1,500 feet beyond that; an underground connection to Flour Mill followed in 1916, though mining there continued only until 1928. A serious water incursion from the neighbouring Norchard Colliery in 1925 led, after legal proceedings, to Princess Royal acquiring a controlling interest in Norchard itself. By the 1930s the colliery was producing around 300,000 tons of coal a year with some 1,300 employees, and in 1938 its original steam winding equipment was replaced with electric machinery, with pumps clearing around 2,700 gallons of water a minute. Underground development in the 1950s failed to find new reserves worth the investment, and the colliery closed on 30 March 1962.

Workings

The Park Gutter shaft, deepened to 617 feet in 1914-15 to reach the Coleford High Delf Seam via a 1,500-foot dipple, connected underground to the neighbouring Flour Mill pit from 1916; worked the Yorkley Seam from 1897.

Closure

Closed on 30 March 1962 after underground development work in the 1950s failed to find further reserves worth developing.

What remains

The colliery's 1939 pithead baths, a starkly modernist brick-and-concrete building built for the Miners' Welfare Committee with 816 lockers, mostly survived for some years afterward but has since been largely demolished despite preservation efforts; only some lower rooms remain, now home to a colony of lesser horseshoe bats.

Brick-built pithead baths and offices (now semi-derelict, and mostly demolished) and the remains of the colliery's spoil tip survive at the site.

Related mines

• Norchard Colliery — The Princess Royal Colliery Company bought a controlling interest in Norchard specifically because floodwater from Norchard's own workings had inundated Princess Royal's mine in 1925 — a genuine shared-hazard acquisition, not mere proximity.

Recorded claims

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

• The Princess Royal gale was granted to the Priest brothers in 1842, passing through Thomas Dyke (from 1855), the Bristol & Forest of Dean Coal Co. (from 1860) and Samuel Morgan (1865-1870) before the Princess Royal Colliery Co. Ltd was formed in 1891. ¹
• The Park Gutter shaft was deepened to 617 feet between 1914 and 1915 to reach the Coleford High Delf Seam via a 1,500-foot dipple, and was connected underground to the Flour Mill pit from 1916. ¹
• By the 1930s the colliery produced around 300,000 tons of coal a year with about 1,300 employees; steam winding equipment was replaced with electric machinery in 1938. ¹
• The colliery's 1939 pithead baths, built for the Miners' Welfare Committee with 816 lockers, were mostly demolished despite preservation efforts; surviving lower rooms are now home to a colony of lesser horseshoe bats. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Princess Royal Colliery — Forest of Dean Local History Society — Forest of Dean Local History Society
2. (secondary) Pithead baths of former Princess Royal Colliery — The Twentieth Century Society — The Twentieth Century Society

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