Summersales Colliery

Overview

A small colliery at Highfield, Pemberton, on the western edge of Wigan, opened by drift in 1938 and given a shaft in 1944-45 to work the last shallow reserves of Pemberton Colliery. Connected underground to Pemberton and notoriously wet, it outlived the main colliery by twenty years and closed in 1966.

History

By the late 1930s the reserves of Pemberton Colliery were running out, and the first drift at Summersales, at Highfield, was driven in 1938 to work what remained of the Pemberton coal at shallow depth, beneath the Bankes family's Winstanley estate. The Summersales pit, 12 feet across, was sunk in 1944-45, its upcast shaft in front of Sumners Hall; it was 80 feet from shaft bottom to bank, and a 30 horsepower electric winder, worked by the banksman with push buttons, raised two 8 cwt tubs in 25 seconds. The mine was electrically equipped from the start, with endless-rope and direct-rope haulage, and four Mather and Platt centrifugal pumps; it was very wet, four tons of water being pumped for every ton of coal. It was connected underground to Pemberton Colliery.

Coal was bagged under chutes at the pit and taken away by lorry to homes and businesses. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947, and when the main Pemberton colliery closed Summersales carried on alone; pithead baths were built there in 1952. Its last workings, in the Arley, Trencherbone (Wigan Six Feet) and Wigan Four Feet, were abandoned in 1966 and the colliery closed. The structures were demolished and houses built on the site; the baths and buildings by Smithy Brook were later used by small businesses.

Geology

Lancashire coalfield: the Arley (Orrell Four Feet), Trencherbone (Wigan Six Feet) and Wigan Four Feet seams at shallow depth.

Workings

A drift of 1938 and a 12-foot upcast shaft sunk 1944-45; connected underground to Pemberton Colliery.

Closure

Closed in 1966 (NMRS: March 1966); the Arley, Trencherbone and Wigan Four Feet plans are dated 1966. NMRS's NCB list dates its start to 1937.

What remains

The colliery was demolished and the site built over with houses.

Redevelopment

Housing; the pit baths and surrounding buildings by Smithy Brook were reused by small businesses.

Related mines

• Pemberton Colliery — Pemberton Colliery Co. pits, connected underground; Summersales worked Pemberton's last shallow reserves.
• Winstanley Colliery — Both worked coal under the Bankes family's Winstanley estate.

Recorded claims

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

• Summersales was opened towards the end of the Second World War to work the remainder of the Pemberton reserves at shallow depth. ¹
• The first drift was made in 1938; the Summersales pit, 12 feet in diameter, was sunk in 1944-45. ^2,3
• A 30 horsepower electric winder under the banksman's push-button control wound two 8 cwt tubs in 25 seconds, 80 feet from shaft bottom to bank. ²
• The mine was very wet: four tons of water were raised for every ton of coal. ³
• Summersales was connected underground to Pemberton Colliery. ³
• Pemberton's main colliery closed in 1946 but Summersales worked until 1966. ^4,1,3
• The Summersales Trencherbone (Wigan Six Feet) workings were abandoned in 1966. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Orrell, Winstanley & Pemberton — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Pemberton Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Summersales Colliery Upshaft — Wigan Buildings
4. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Summersales, King, Low Venture, Mill, Park: Trencherbone, 1966 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026