Sutton Heath Colliery

Overview

A Sutton, St Helens colliery of James Radley's and later the Sutton Heath and Lea Green company, working from the 1850s until 1932, where strikers marched in 1881 and stoned the police in 1893.

History

Sutton Heath Colliery stood at the corner of Sutton Heath Road and Eltonhead Road, then called Mill Lane, in the Sutton district of St Helens. Accidents were reported there from 1858. It belonged to James Radley, the coal owner who also held Lea Green, Nutgrove and Thatto Heath collieries and in 1873 became the fourth mayor of St Helens. The inspector listed two pits in 1873. It later passed to Radley's widow, Fanny Prescott Radley, and from 1890 belonged to the Sutton Heath and Lea Green Collieries Company, when about 140 men worked there.

The pits worked the Ravenhead Main Delph, the Main Delph, the Higher Delf and the Pigeon House seams. In December 1875 fire broke out underground; the men were sent up, the ponies brought out and flooding was planned before the fire died back. On 28 December 1881 gas in the Main Delph of No. 3 pit fired at a candle and Hugh Platt died of his burns; the manager, William Hopton, was charged with inadequate ventilation, and the magistrates dismissed the case. Daniel Tilley was killed by gas from old workings in 1885. In 1909 two sinkers widening the No. 2 shaft fell sixty yards to their deaths when their scaffold tilted.

The colliery stood at the centre of several disputes. Its men struck against Radley in October 1873. During the 1881 strike some miners went on working at Sutton Heath, and on 9 February 1,500 colliers planned to march there from Croppers Hill; the magistrates called in a troop of the 5th Dragoon Guards, who with the police kept the peace. On 19 October 1893, in the lockout, a crowd of about 500 trying to stop strike-breakers stoned eighty police, flung boxes of coal into the reservoir and threw stones down the shaft before the police charged and scattered them.

In its later years Sutton Heath served as a pumping pit. It closed in 1932. The railway shed at Sutton Heath stayed in use until 1953, because the brickworks behind the colliery offices still needed the branch line.

Geology

Coal seams of the St Helens district of the Lancashire coalfield: the Ravenhead Main Delph (Wigan Four Feet), the Main Delph, the Higher Delf and the Pigeon House.

Workings

Two pits in 1873; the No. 2 and No. 3 pits are named later. Seams worked included the Ravenhead Main Delph, Main Delph, Higher Delf and Pigeon House.

Closure

Used for many years as a pumping pit before closing in 1932; its later workings were drawn on combined plans with Lea Green, Eltonhead, King, Old Queen and Sutton Manor.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Lea Green Colliery — Both were James Radley's collieries in Sutton and from 1890 belonged to the Sutton Heath and Lea Green Collieries Company; their later workings share combined abandonment plans.

What's uncertain

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

• Sutton Heath Colliery is first mentioned in 1867. (disputed) ³

Recorded claims

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

• Sutton Heath Colliery belonged to James Radley, who also held Lea Green, Nutgrove and Thatto Heath collieries. ^1,2
• In 1873 the inspector listed Sutton Heath with two pits, owned by James Radley. ²
• Sutton Heath Colliery is first mentioned in 1867. (disputed) ³
• An accident at Sutton Heath Colliery was reported in January 1858. ²
• In the 1890s it belonged to the Sutton Heath and Lea Green Colliery Company, with about 140 men. ²
• In February 1881 striking colliers planned to march from Croppers Hill to Sutton Heath, where some men were still working, and cavalry were called to the town. ³
• On 19 October 1893 a crowd of about 500 stoned eighty police at Sutton Heath Colliery. ³
• Sutton Heath Colliery closed in 1932. ^3,1
• Abandonment plans of Sutton Heath cover the Pigeon House and Ravenhead Main (Wigan Four Feet) seams. ^4,5,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lea Green Colliery (1870s-1964), An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St Helens — Stephen Wainwright, Sutton Beauty & Heritage
2. (secondary) Sutton Heath Colliery (NMRS accidents and incidents in Lancashire collieries) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Coal Mining in Sutton, St Helens — Sutton Beauty and Heritage
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: SUTTON HEATH, Pigeon House seam — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: SUTTON HEATH, Ravenhead Main (Wigan Four Feet) seam — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: LEA GREEN ELTONHEAD KING OLD QUEEN SUTTON HEATH SUTTON MANOR, Trencherbone, abandoned 1964 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026