Speedwell Newbridge Colliery

Overview

A Forest of Dean colliery on the Speedwell gale at Ruardean Hill, first worked in the 1730s and developed properly only from 1881, when Goodrich Langham leased the west wing and, with Searle money behind him, worked the Coleford High Delf seam up to more than 13,000 tons a year. The partnership broke up in 1892 after a fight over the old shaft the colliery breathed through, and the plant was sold off in 1897.

History

The Speedwell gale, near Tresser Mill on Ruardean Hill, was first worked in the 1730s. By 1835 New Bridge Pit and Speedwell New Level were being advertised for sale, and in 1837 the New Bridge coal work consisted of a water pit galed to the High Delf and a land pit thirty yards deep; in 1841 Samuel Baker and William Frankis, both of Gloucester, held the coal in the Hill Delf vein lying under Ruardean and Harrow Hills in the land of the Speedwell New Bridge Level. The colliery proper dates from the end of 1881, when Goodrich Langham of Coleford took a lease of its west wing and opened it with advances from Richard Searle of Newport; in February 1885, on Langham's assurance that the colliery was open and fit to put out coal, Searle's son Edgar Hayden Searle joined him in partnership as Langham & Co. The unused rails of the Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway were brought into use from Whimsey to the colliery. Output rose for three and a half years and passed 13,000 tons in 1889. Ventilation was the weak point: the colliery drove an airway to the disused Ruardean Hill Pit, and towards the end of 1890 T. B. Brain, owner of the neighbouring Pluckpenny gale, claimed that pit as his and blocked it with a cover. The partners fell out, and the partnership was dissolved in December 1892. Searle carried on, bought Pluckpenny from Brain in January 1893, and laid down more sidings and screens for an output that had for some time been over 4,000 tons a month, while Langham, who held the east wing, pressed for payment for the coal in the barrier between them. Financial trouble followed, and the colliery equipment was sold off in 1897. The sidings stayed in use by other collieries and coal merchants until 1937, and in 1916 the east wing was leased to Albert Jones, who worked it with the neighbouring Harrow Hill ground.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coleford High Delf seam, the coal at the base of the Pennant Group in the Forest of Dean coalfield, called the Hill Delf vein in the 1841 grant.

Workings

The early work was a water pit galed to the High Delf and a land pit thirty yards deep, alongside the Speedwell New Level. From 1881 the colliery was worked as two wings, west and east, held separately, with a barrier of coal between them. Ventilation depended on an airway driven to the disused Ruardean Hill Pit until that pit was covered over in 1890; the Pluckpenny Level, aimed at the same pit to drain it, missed on the crop side. Langham & Co. applied in February 1890 for leave to burn coke, and in 1893 Searle added sidings and screens to handle more than 4,000 tons a month. Coal left by rail over rails recovered from the unused Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway to Whimsey on the Forest of Dean branch. A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'New Speedwell No 2 / New Speedwell' in the Coleford High Delf, abandoned on 11 May 1957, may record a later working of the same gale.

Closure

Financial problems after the partnership broke up led to the sale of the colliery equipment in 1897. Working did not end there for the gale as a whole: the east wing was leased to Albert Jones in 1916, the colliery sidings were used by others until 1937, and a New Speedwell working in the same seam has an abandonment plan dated 1957, though whether that is this colliery's ground is not settled.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Addis Hill Colliery — 1.1 km E
• All Profit Colliery — 1.2 km S
• Northern United Colliery — 2.2 km S
• Haywood Colliery — 2.5 km SE
• Foxes Bridge Colliery — 3.2 km S

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

People

• Albert Jones · lessee, from 1916 — Took a lease of the east wing in 1916, alongside the Prosper gale at Harrow Hill.
• Goodrich Langham · lessee, 1881–1893 — Leased the west wing at the end of 1881 and opened it; partner in Langham & Co. from 1885 until its dissolution in 1892, and afterwards held the east wing.
• Goodrich Langham · proprietor, 1885–1892 — via the operator record Langham & Co.
• Edgar Hayden Searle · partner, from 1885 — Joined Langham in partnership in February 1885; after the dissolution in 1892 carried the colliery on, bought the Pluckpenny gale in 1893 and extended the sidings and screens.
• Edgar Hayden Searle · proprietor, 1885–1892 — via the operator record Langham & Co.

What's uncertain

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

• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'New Speedwell No 2 / New Speedwell', in the Coleford High Delf and abandoned on 11 May 1957, may be a later working of this gale; the catalogue entry does not say so. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

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

• The Speedwell gale was first worked in the 1730s, near Tresser Mill on Ruardean Hill. ^1,2
• At the end of 1881 Goodrich Langham of Coleford leased the west wing and opened it with advances from Richard Searle of Newport; Searle's son Edgar Hayden Searle joined him as Langham & Co. in February 1885. ^1,2
• Output passed 13,000 tons in 1889, and by 1893-94 had for some time been running at over 4,000 tons a month. ^1,2
• The colliery's airway ran to the disused Ruardean Hill Pit until late 1890, when T. B. Brain, owner of the Pluckpenny gale, claimed the pit and blocked it with a cover. ²
• The Langham & Co. partnership was dissolved in December 1892; Searle continued and bought the Pluckpenny gale in January 1893. ^1,2
• Financial problems led to the colliery equipment being sold off in 1897; its sidings stayed in use by other collieries and coal merchants until 1937. ¹
• The unused rails of the Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway were brought into use from Whimsey as far as the colliery. ¹
• A Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'New Speedwell No 2 / New Speedwell', in the Coleford High Delf and abandoned on 11 May 1957, may be a later working of this gale; the catalogue entry does not say so. (uncertain) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Speedwell Newbridge Colliery — Forest of Dean Local History Society
2. (secondary) Speedwell Newbridge (Forest of Dean coal mining notes) — Forest of Dean Local History Society, hosted on lightmoor.co.uk
3. (primary) Abandonment plan SW267, NEW SPEEDWELL NO 2 / NEW SPEEDWELL (Coleford High Delf), abandoned 1957 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue

Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 18 September 2026