Speedwell Colliery

Overview

One of the three biggest pits of the old Kingswood coalfield, worked for over two centuries in seams so narrow they could never really compete with the coalfields that replaced Bristol's own — and so completely built over since that almost nothing of it can be seen today.

History

Speedwell was one of a cluster of small coal mines in the Kingswood district of east Bristol, worked from the early 18th century, alongside its close neighbours Deep Pit and Belgium, the three largest of the Kingswood collieries. Ownership passed through a series of companies as the district consolidated: Wethered & Cossham held it by 1875, the Kingswood & Iron Co. by 1880 and the Kingswood & Parkfield Coal Co. by 1885, before Bristol United Collieries acquired Deep Pit, Speedwell, Parkfield and South Pit collieries together in 1900. A goods-only railway connected the Kingswood collieries and the nearby Peckett and Sons locomotive works, known as the Atlas Locomotive Works, to the Midland Railway at Kingswood Junction. Coal extraction at Speedwell continued until the colliery closed in 1936.

Geology

Speedwell worked the Bristol and Somerset Coalfield's Coal Measures, but its seams were narrow, which made the coal here consistently less profitable to extract than that of the larger, thicker-seamed coalfields of South Wales, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire that increasingly competed with it through the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Workings

Coal, brickmaking clay and associated industries clustered together in Speedwell: as well as the collieries themselves there were coke works and brick and tile factories nearby, with the Peckett and Sons locomotive works forming part of the same small industrial district and sharing its railway connections.

Closure

Speedwell closed in 1936, its narrow seams no longer able to compete economically with larger British coalfields.

What remains

The Speedwell area has been almost entirely redeveloped for housing since the colliery's closure, and little physical evidence of the mine survives above ground.

Little to nothing visible; the site lies beneath later housing development.

Redevelopment

Redeveloped for housing; the former colliery landscape has been almost entirely erased.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Speedwell was worked from the early 18th century as one of the three largest Kingswood collieries, alongside Deep Pit and Belgium. ¹
• Ownership passed through Wethered & Cossham (1875), the Kingswood & Iron Co. (1880) and the Kingswood & Parkfield Coal Co. (1885) before Bristol United Collieries acquired Deep Pit, Speedwell, Parkfield and South Pit collieries together in 1900. ²
• The coalfield's narrow seams made it consistently less profitable than the larger coalfields of South Wales, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. ¹
• Speedwell closed in 1936. ¹
• The area has been almost entirely redeveloped for housing, with little physical evidence of the colliery surviving. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (secondary) Speedwell, Bristol — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Bedminster, Easton, Kingswood and Parkfield Collieries — Grace's Guide

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026