Shortwood Colliery

Overview

Shortwood, near Pucklechurch in the Bristol coalfield, worked the Hard Vein with a handful of men — ten of them in the 1900 return. Handel Cossham bought it in 1871 and sank a new shaft, after which it was known as Parkfield South Pit, and by 1899 it was kept only for pumping and ventilation. It went down with Parkfield in 1936. Its worst recorded accident is much older: two men drowned in the shaft in 1852 when water came in from old workings for which there were no plans.

History

The colliery is thought to have been sunk in the late eighteenth century, and the deaths recorded here reach back to the early 1850s. On 6 December 1852 two colliers were drowned in the shaft by water from old workings (see Disasters, below). Samuel Bennett, 33, fell down the pit on 21 January 1853 when the engine wheels broke, and T. Buxton, a banksman of 25, fell down the shaft from the surface in November 1858.

In 1871 the colliery was acquired by Handel Cossham, who was already working Parkfield a little to the south. Cossham sank a new shaft here and the working became known as Parkfield South Pit. Cossham died in 1890 and his pits were sold; Parkfield and its satellites went to Bristol United Collieries, which formed the Bedminster, Easton, Kingswood and Parkfield Collieries Ltd to manage them, and in 1914 to Sir Frank Beauchamp of the Radstock collieries, under the East Bristol Collieries Ltd.

The Mines Inspectors' returns show how small Shortwood had become by then. It employed 32 people in 1896 and ten in 1900, working the Hard seam, and 92 in 1905. By 1899 it was being used only for pumping and ventilation for the larger pit.

Parkfield closed on 15 August 1936, flooding having become a problem and pumping costs having risen against falling reserves, and Shortwood went with it.

Geology

Shortwood worked the Bristol coalfield near Pucklechurch. The seam returned throughout is the Hard, given as the Hard Vein in 1905. The neighbouring Parkfield shaft was 840 feet deep but worked only the upper series of veins — the Hard, the Top, the Hollybush and the Great — and the coal was good enough for gas manufacture as well as house use.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A shaft of unrecorded depth reaching back to the eighteenth century, and a second sunk by Handel Cossham after 1871 which gave the working its later name of Parkfield South Pit. From 1899 the pit was used only for pumping and ventilation for Parkfield.

Closure

Shortwood closed with Parkfield on 15 August 1936, the larger pit having become uneconomic as flooding worsened, pumping costs rose and reserves fell.

What remains

No account of the colliery site as it stands today is recorded. Brandy Bottom Colliery, part of the same Parkfield complex, is a scheduled ancient monument.

Related mines

• Parkfield Colliery — Both Handel Cossham collieries, carried on together by the Kingswood and Parkfield Colliery Company.

Disasters & major incidents

• Shortwood Colliery inrush, 1852
  6 December 1852 · Flooding / Inundation · 2 fatalities

  Water from old workings broke into the shaft at Shortwood Colliery, near Pucklechurch, on 6 December 1852 and drowned two colliers; there were no plans of the old workings and no precautions.

  On 6 December 1852 water from old workings broke into Shortwood Colliery, near Pucklechurch in the Bristol coalfield, and two colliers, William Davis, 19, and Eli Rogers, 33, were drowned in the shaft. Rogers left a wife and two children. The inspector's note was blunt: there had been no plans of the old workings and no precautions against them.

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 BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Shortwood' (catalogue WM452, Two Feet & Randles, dated 1970); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Shortwood was acquired in 1871 by Handel Cossham, owner of the nearby Parkfield Colliery, and a new shaft was sunk, the working becoming known as Parkfield South Pit. By 1899 it was being used only for pumping and ventilation, and it closed along with Parkfield in 1936. ¹
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Shortwood' (catalogue WM452, Two Feet & Randles, dated 1970); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ²
• In 1852 the colliery was worked by Wethered, Cossham and Bendall. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Parkfield Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: SHORTWOOD — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (primary) Colliery accident, Shortwood, 6 December 1852 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Shortwood Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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