Whitebirk Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Whitebirk, Blackburn, sunk in 1870-72 to 408 feet by the Darwen Mining Company and later worked by the Over Darwen co-operative society and W. H. Shaw & Co. Its Lower Mountain was abandoned in June 1895 and the Upper Mountain a year later.

History

Whitebirk Colliery stood beside the Red Lion at Whitebirk, east of Blackburn, on the Peel estate. Boring in 1865 proved coal, and from 1870 the Darwen Mining Company sank two shafts to 408 feet, working round the clock for eighteen months. In January 1885 a collier opened his lighted safety lamp to give a friend a light; the gas exploded and set the mine on fire, burning two men, though all 80 underground escaped.

The company went into voluntary liquidation in 1883, and on 31 March 1883 the Over Darwen Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd took over the lease. It worked out the coal under the Peel estate and moved on under the Hole House estate, working the Lower Mountain with 140 men and boys and five engines on the pit bank. In 1890 the society passed the lease to William Henry Shaw & Co., who celebrated with a dinner for their 118 employees; the lease itself was held from the Petre family of Dunkenhalgh. The Lower Mountain was abandoned on 12 June 1895 and the Upper Mountain a year later, after water broke in. The coal and fireclay works stayed, fed after about 1903 by Shaw's three-mile aerial ropeway from Belthorn to Knuzden, until the firm moved to Waterside in 1909. Rishton Colliery broke into the old Whitebirk workings in 1941.

Geology

Lower Coal Measures: the Lower Mountain and Upper Mountain seams, with fireclay.

Workings

Two shafts to 408 feet; five engines on the pit bank; workings under the Peel and Hole House estates; a brick and fireclay works on site, later fed by an aerial ropeway from Belthorn.

Closure

The Lower Mountain was abandoned on 12 June 1895 and the Upper Mountain in 1896 after an influx of water; the works on the site closed in 1909.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Rishton Colliery — Rishton's workings broke into the old Whitebirk workings in 1941.

Recorded claims

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

• Sunk by the Darwen Mining Company from 1870, two shafts to 408 feet. ¹
• The lease passed to the Over Darwen Industrial Co-operative Society in 1883 and to W. H. Shaw & Co. in 1890. ¹
• In January 1885 a lamp opened underground ignited gas and set the mine on fire; all 80 men escaped. ²
• The Lower Mountain was abandoned on 12 June 1895 and the Upper Mountain a year later. ^1,3
• Its Top mine plan is dated 1896. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Coal Mining in the area — Cotton Town (Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council)
2. (secondary) Rishton Colliery — Cotton Town (Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council)
3. (primary) Mine plan: Whitebirk, Lower Seventy Yards — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) Mine plan: Whitebirk, Top — British Geological Survey

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