Stoneclough Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Stoneclough in Kearsley, in the Irwell valley south-east of Bolton, worked from 1854 to 1901 through a scatter of pits including Little Hey, Riverside, Cotton Tree, Rawson and Starkie. It belonged first to Knowles and Stott and last to the Stoneclough Colliery Company, employed 390 people in 1894, and ended its life soon after a firedamp explosion in July 1901 killed four men, its manager among them.

History

Stoneclough Colliery worked the coal under Kearsley, on the north bank of the Irwell, from 1854 until 1901. Its owners are recorded as Knowles and Stott and, in its last years, the Stoneclough Colliery Company. It was not one shaft but a group of pits spread across the township: the accident returns name the Little Hey pit, with its engine pit, cannel pit and Yard Mine pit, the Riverside, Railway side, Cotton Tree, Rawson, Starkie, Singing Clough and Ringley Fold pits, and the surviving plans add Ballistre, Clough, Jackson Row and Paper Mill. Between them they worked the Trencherbone, the Cannel, the Little and the Yard mines, and later the Plodder. A branch tramroad carried coal from the colliery to a canal basin at Giant's Seat.

The mines inspectors recorded a steady toll at Stoneclough from the 1850s: falls of roof and coal in the Trencherbone and Cannel mines, firedamp explosions in the Little Hey cannel pit and the Riverside pit, a broken shaft rope at the Little Hey Yard Mine pit in 1862 that killed two, and a powder spark in 1863 that killed a father and son together. In 1894 the colliery returned two sets of figures, 390 people in one and 44 in another, raising household, manufacturing, coking and steam coal; by 1896 it was down to 26 and working only the Plodder, and in 1900 it employed 85.

On 8 July 1901 four men, the manager John Howarth among them, died in a firedamp explosion in the Plodder (see Disasters, below). The colliery closed the same year.

Geology

The Trencherbone, Cannel, Little, Yard and Plodder mines of the Lancashire Coal Measures in the Irwell valley.

Workings

A group of pits across Kearsley: Little Hey (engine, cannel and Yard Mine pits), Riverside, Railway side, Cotton Tree, Rawson, Starkie, Singing Clough, Ringley Fold, Ballistre, Clough, Jackson Row and Paper Mill, with a branch tramroad to a canal basin at Giant's Seat.

Closure

Closed in 1901, the year of the explosion that killed the manager and three others.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Stoneclough Colliery fall of coal, 1861
  18 September 1861 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  Two colliers named Atherton were killed together by a fall of coal while holing in the Trencherbone mine at Stoneclough on 18 September 1861.
• Stoneclough Colliery rope accident, 1862
  31 December 1862 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 2 fatalities
  Two men died at Stoneclough Colliery on the last day of 1862 when the wire shaft rope broke at the Little Hey Yard Mine pit.
• Stoneclough Colliery explosion, 1901
  8 July 1901 · Explosion · 4 fatalities
  Four men, the colliery manager among them, died at Stoneclough Colliery in Kearsley on 8 July 1901 when firedamp they were trying to clear by waving their waistcoats was fired, probably at a candle.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery worked from 1854 to 1901. ¹
• Its owners were Knowles and Stott and later the Stoneclough Colliery Company. ^1,2
• Plans survive of the Stoneclough, Ballistre, Clough, Cotton Tree, Little Hey, Jackson Row, Paper Mill, Railway, Rawson and Starkie pits in the Plodder and Yard mines. ^3,4
• In 1894 the colliery returned 390 people employed in one return and 44 in another; in 1900 it employed 85, working the Plodder. ¹
• A branch tramroad ran from Stoneclough Colliery to a canal basin at Giant's Seat. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Stoneclough Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) John Howarth, manager, Stoneclough, 8 July 1901 (accident record) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) STONECLOUGH, BALLISTRE, CLOUGH, COTTON TREE, HEY LITTLE, JACKSON ROW, PAPER MILL, RAILWAY, RAWSON, STARKIE pits, Plodder and Yard: abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) STONECLOUGH, Plodder: abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (secondary) Albert Lawrence, collier, Stoneclough, 8 July 1901 (accident record) — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026