Whiston Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Whiston, near Prescot, opened in 1855 and worked by the Wigan and Whiston Coal Company, in a township mined since the sixteenth century. Its Main Delf seam fired spontaneously, and an explosion while a fire was being walled off killed seven men in February 1878. It closed in 1901.

History

Whiston Colliery lay at Whiston, near Prescot, on the south-western edge of the Lancashire coalfield. Coal had been got in the township since at least 1521, and a Whiston mine bought one of the first steam pumping engines in the North West in 1719, when the pits of Prescot and Whiston held the Liverpool market before the Sankey Canal let the St Helens collieries in. The colliery of that name was opened in 1855 by John Yates and Company and passed to the Wigan and Whiston Coal Company, whose manager for the ten years to 1878 was a Mr Makinson.

The Main Delf seam in No. 1 pit was liable to spontaneous combustion and had been catching fire for some years. The inspector, Henry Hall, had advised the owners to take engineering advice, and some twenty mining engineers were consulted; the answer was to wall each fire off behind brick stoppings. On Sunday 17 February 1878 a fireman reported an explosion in the Main Delf. While the manager and his men were building a stopping and bringing sand up the jigger brow a second explosion came from behind it, and a third as he went back in. Seven men died, among them the fireman Abel Wall. The inquest was held at Huyton Quarry.

In 1894 Nos. 1 and 2 pits employed 537 people, 460 of them underground, and 511 in 1896; by 1900 the number was 219, and the colliery, latterly S. W. Higginbottom's, closed in 1901. A local account gives 1897. Cronton Colliery was opened nearby in 1915, on the site of the old Halsnead pit.

Geology

Coal Measures of the south-west Lancashire coalfield. The Main Delf seam was liable to spontaneous combustion; plans survive for the Main Delf (Plodder), Little Delf (Arley), Tenlands, Lower Bug, Discovery, Pasture and Rushy Park seams at Whiston.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two pits, Nos. 1 and 2. The Main Delf in No. 1 pit was worked from jigger brows, and its fires were shut off behind brick stoppings.

Closure

The workforce fell from 511 in 1896 to 219 in 1900 and the colliery is recorded as closing in 1901; the Prescot Museum gives 1897.

What remains

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Whiston Colliery explosion, 1878
  17 February 1878 · Explosion · 7 fatalities
  On Sunday 17 February 1878 an explosion at Whiston Colliery, near Prescot, killed seven men who were sealing off a fire caused by spontaneous combustion in the Main Delf. The jury returned accidental death and praised the manager's efforts.

What's uncertain

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

• Whiston Colliery closed in 1897. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Coal mining at Whiston is first recorded in 1521, and a Whiston mine bought one of the earliest steam pumping engines in the North West in 1719. ^1,2
• The colliery opened in 1855. ³
• The owners were John Yates and Company, the Wigan and Whiston Coal Co., Ltd., and S. W. Higginbottom. ³
• The Main Delf seam had been liable to fires from spontaneous combustion for some years, dealt with by brick stoppings. ⁴
• On Sunday 17 February 1878 explosions in the Main Delf of No. 1 pit, during the building of a stopping, killed seven men. ^4,3
• Nos. 1 and 2 pits employed 537 people in 1894, 511 in 1896 and 219 in 1900. ³
• The colliery closed in 1901. ³
• Whiston Colliery closed in 1897. (disputed) ¹
• Plans of the Main Delf (Plodder) seam at Whiston are held in the mine plans catalogue. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Local Coal Mining (Prescot Museum information sheet) — Prescot Museum
2. (secondary) Whiston, Merseyside — Wikipedia
3. (primary) Whiston Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Whiston Colliery Explosion - Whiston - 1878 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) Mine plan: WHISTON, Main Delf (Plodder) seam (feature 21871528) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026