Whinney Hill Colliery

Also known as	Altham Whinney Hill Colliery
Location	On the Burnley coalfield between Clayton-le-Moors and Altham, about 700 m from Clayton-le-Moors and two kilometres from Accrington., Lancashire — 53.7680, -2.3734 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	from By 1894
Maximum depth	Unknown.
Operators	Altham Colliery Company (1894–1910)

Overview

One of the Altham Colliery Company's pits on the Burnley coalfield, between Clayton-le-Moors and Altham, linked underground to the company's Moorfield Colliery, where 68 men and boys were killed in 1883.

History

Whinney Hill worked the shallow coals of the Burnley coalfield on the edge of Clayton-le-Moors, and belonged to the Altham Colliery Company, whose registered office was in Accrington. The government Lists of Mines show it under that company from 1894 through to 1910, all of those years under the same manager, George Elce, who ran the company's Great Harwood, Moorfields and Whinney Fan pits as well. It was a substantial pit: 184 men underground and 44 at the surface in 1894, 173 and 45 in 1896, 179 and 56 in 1905, and 221 and 53 in 1910, when the company as a whole employed more than twelve hundred. It was connected underground to Moorfield Colliery, a mile or so to the north-east, the pit where a methane explosion on 7 November 1883 killed 68 men and boys and injured 39 more. By the 1923 Colliery Year Book the company listed only one mine, Altham, and Whinney Hill no longer appeared in it.

Geology

The shallow seams of the Burnley coalfield, the Lower and Upper Mountain Mines being the coals worked at the company's neighbouring Moorfield pit.

Workings

Shafts on the hill between Clayton-le-Moors and Altham, connected underground to Moorfield Colliery.

Closure

Whinney Hill was still at work in 1910 with 274 people. It had gone from the Altham Colliery Company's list by 1923, when the company returned a single mine under the name Altham.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

Moorfield Colliery — Linked underground to Whinney Hill and worked by the same company under the same manager.

Nearby mines

Moorfield Colliery — 1.4 km NE
Aspen Colliery — 2.5 km SW
Hapton Valley Colliery — 3.9 km E
Habergham Colliery — 6.2 km NE
Gannow Colliery — 6.7 km E

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

Recorded claims

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

Whinney Hill was worked by the Altham Colliery Company of Accrington, which returned it in the Lists of Mines for 1894, 1896, 1900, 1905 and 1910. ¹
George Elce managed Whinney Hill throughout those years, together with the company's Great Harwood, Moorfields and Whinney Fan pits. ¹
The pit employed 184 below ground and 44 at the surface in 1894, and 221 below and 53 above in 1910. ¹
Whinney Hill was linked underground to Moorfield Colliery. ²
The colliery stood between Clayton-le-Moors and Altham, about 700 m from Clayton-le-Moors. ³
By the 1923 Colliery Year Book the Altham Colliery Company listed a single mine, Altham, and Whinney Hill was no longer among its collieries. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Durham Mining Museum: Altham Colliery Co., Ltd. (reference)

The company's collieries, managers and employment figures as returned in the Lists of Mines from 1894 to 1910 and the 1923 Colliery Year Book.

View source

Northern Mine Research Society: Moorfield Colliery (reference)

The neighbouring pit Whinney Hill was linked to underground, its seams, its owners and the explosion of 1883.

View source

Sources

(primary) Altham Colliery Co., Ltd. (Durham Mining Museum company record) — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Moorfield Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
(secondary) Altham Whinney Hill Colliery, Altham, Hyndburn, Lancashire — Mindat (Hudson Institute of Mineralogy)

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026