Ravenhead Colliery

Overview

A St Helens pit sunk in the 1860s that spent most of the twentieth century feeding Pilkington's glassworks next door: about three quarters of its coal went to the local factories. It worked out its reserves and closed in October 1968.

History

Bromilow, Haddock and Company sank a new colliery at Ravenhead to a depth of 494 metres between 1866 and 1867. In 1876 the firms owning Ravenhead, St Helens and some smaller pits in the district merged to form the St Helens Collieries Company, which held it until nationalisation. What made Ravenhead unusual was its market. It sat beside Pilkington's glassworks, and around three quarters of its output went to the local Pilkington factories, a quarter was sold on to other customers and the rest was burnt by the colliery itself. In 1919 Pilkington bought new locomotives from Kerr Stuart of Stoke-on-Trent, and two of them — Grove and Fairfield, outside-cylinder four-coupled saddle tanks — became the first engines allocated to the colliery alone. The official returns show the pit working the Bastian, Higher, Main Delf, Yard and Four Feet mines, and in its last years the Arley, Flaggy Delf, Rushy Park and the Wigan Four and Five Feet, with fireclay raised alongside the coal by 1915. Employment was 655 in 1894 and 1,291 across Nos. 10 and 11 by 1954. The workable reserves were exhausted by October 1968 and the colliery ceased production, most of its four hundred and twenty men transferring to neighbouring pits.

Geology

The St Helens coalfield at the western end of the Lancashire measures, worked here through the Bastian, Higher, Main Delf, Yard and Four Feet mines and, later, the Arley, Flaggy Delf, Rushy Park and the Wigan Four and Five Feet. Fireclay was raised with the coal.

Workings

A shaft of 494 metres sunk between 1866 and 1867, with Nos. 10 and 11 returned together in the official lists by the 1950s. The colliery had its own locomotives from 1919, bought by Pilkington.

Closure

Ravenhead had exhausted its workable reserves by October 1968 and ceased production. Most of its men transferred to neighbouring collieries; the figures given are 420 or 450, depending on the source.

What remains

The colliery site is gone. A footbridge between the Ravenhead colliery ground and Thatto Heath still carries walkers across the line, and paths run from Ravenhead Road towards the site of the neighbouring Alexandra Colliery.

None of the colliery itself; footpaths and a bridge across its old ground.

Nearby mines

• Sherdley Colliery — 0.6 km SE
• Clock Face Colliery — 3.0 km S
• Bold Colliery — 3.4 km E
• Sutton Manor Colliery — 4.2 km E
• Collins Green Colliery — 4.3 km E

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Bromilow, Haddock and Company sank a new colliery at Ravenhead to a depth of 494 metres between 1866 and 1867. In 1876 the companies owning Ravenhead, St Helens and some smaller pits in the area merged to form the St Helens Collieries Co. Ltd. ¹
• Around seventy-five per cent of the colliery's production went to the local Pilkington factories, twenty-five per cent was sold to other customers and the remainder was used by the colliery itself. In 1919 Pilkington bought several locomotives from Kerr Stuart of Stoke-on-Trent, and two of them — Grove and Fairfield, outside-cylinder 0-4-0 saddle tanks — were the first engines allocated solely to the colliery. ¹
• The colliery had exhausted its workable reserves by October 1968 and ceased production, most of its men transferring to neighbouring pits. The numbers differ slightly between accounts: 420 men in one, 450 in another, and the closing date is given precisely as 18 October 1968. ¹
• The Durham Mining Museum's transcription of the Lists of Mines returns the colliery under the St Helens Collieries Co. Ltd and then the National Coal Board, working the Bastian, Higher, Main Delf and Yard mines and later the Arley, Flaggy Delf, Rushy Park and Wigan Four and Five Feet, with fireclay from 1915. Employment ran from 655 in 1894 to 1,090 at nationalisation, when it produced 260,000 tons, and 1,291 by 1954. ²
• Ravenhead was one of a crowd. Sutton Beauty and Heritage's survey of coal mining in Sutton and St Helens sets it among the pits worked across the township from the eighteenth century onwards, in a coalfield dense enough that the 1876 merger which created the St Helens Collieries Company swept up several smaller workings along with Ravenhead and St Helens themselves. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NCB Ravenhead — 8D Association
2. (secondary) Ravenhead Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Coal Mining in Sutton, St Helens — Sutton Beauty and Heritage

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026