Victoria Colliery, Rainford

Overview

A Rainford colliery recorded from 1855, worked by the Victoria Colliery Company, whose site became an engineering works about 1900 and later an oil works served by rail until 1961.

History

Victoria Colliery was at Rainford, north of St Helens. It first appears in the inspector's report in 1855. In December 1863 Peter Robinson was killed when the chain of the hoppet carrying him down the shaft broke thirty yards from the top. A plan of the 'Rainford, Victoria' workings in the Five Feet (Park), Rushy Park and Arley seams carries the date 1868. By 1879 the colliery belonged to the Victoria Colliery Company, with William Wardle as its certificated manager; three men had been killed there between 1873 and 1878.

Its Nos. 3 and 5 pits were joined by a siding to the railway a short distance north of Rainford Village station. James Roden, aged 44, was killed by a half-ton stone in the Rushy Park mine in 1887. The colliery was still working in 1888 and went into liquidation in 1891, but a Victoria Colliery Company Limited was working a Victoria pit at Rainford in the following decade: Henry Mullen, 18, was fatally injured there in 1903, and Robert Walsh, 29, was killed repairing an airway in 1905. About 1900 an engineering firm was set up on the colliery site, and the siding connection was renewed in 1905. The engineering works later became an oil works, which used the railway until August 1961.

Geology

The Five Feet (Park), Rushy Park and Arley seams of the Lancashire coalfield.

Workings

Nos. 3 and 5 pits, with a railway siding north of Rainford Village station; workings in the Five Feet (Park), Rushy Park and Arley seams.

Closure

The colliery company went into liquidation in 1891, though a Victoria Colliery Company Limited worked a pit of the name at Rainford until at least 1905; an engineering firm was established on the site about 1900.

What remains

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• The colliery went into liquidation in 1891. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Victoria Colliery, Rainford, first appears in the inspector's report in 1855. ¹
• In 1879 it belonged to the Victoria Colliery Company, with William Wardle as certificated manager. ¹
• Its Nos. 3 and 5 pits were connected to the railway a short distance north of Rainford Village station. ²
• The colliery went into liquidation in 1891. (disputed) ²
• A Victoria Colliery Company Limited was working a Victoria pit at Rainford in 1903 and 1905. ^3,4
• About 1900 an engineering firm was established on the colliery site; it later became an oil works that used the railway until 1961. ²
• A plan of the Rainford, Victoria workings in the Five Feet (Park), Rushy Park and Arley seams is dated 1868. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Victoria Colliery (NMRS accidents and incidents in Lancashire collieries) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Rainford Village railway station (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) NMRS deaths and accidents database: Henry Mullen, Victoria (a), Rainford, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) NMRS deaths and accidents database: Robert Walsh, Victoria (a), Rainford, 1905 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: RAINFORD, VICTORIA, Five Feet (Park), Rushy Park and Arley, 1868 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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