Wilson Wood Colliery

Overview

An Ingleton colliery sunk by the Serjeantsons in 1853, drowned in 1866, pumped out and restarted by William Bracewell in 1872-74, and closed by his trustees in 1887.

History

Wilson Wood Colliery was begun by the Serjeantson family, lords of the manor of Ingleton, in 1853 and was working by 1855, taking the Four Foot, Yard and Six Foot seams. Its shaft was 180 feet deep, and the coal, six feet thick, lay at an angle of 16 degrees. Ponies hauled the tubs 400 yards along an underground tramway to the shaft. An older shaft opposite, sunk in 1842 by a speculator who soon went bankrupt, became Wilson Wood's upcast. When John Singleton was killed at the pit in 1865 a remembrance service was held underground.

One Sunday night in October 1866 a feeder broke into the workings. Though the pumps ran day and night the water rose ten yards up the shaft, two ponies were drowned and the pit was given up, throwing many men out of work. In 1872 William Bracewell, a Lancashire mill-owner who wanted coal for his mills at Barnoldswick and Colne, bought the colliery. He pumped out some 58 million gallons, rebuilt the surface plant with new pumping engines and had the pit producing again in 1874, and he made bricks there too. He died in 1885, and in 1887 his trustees, after selling much of the plant, turned off the pumps and closed the colliery.

Geology

Ingleton coalfield Coal Measures: the Four Foot, Yard and Six Foot seams, dipping at 16 degrees.

Workings

A 180-foot shaft with an older shaft opposite as upcast; pony haulage along an underground tramway; steam pumping, rebuilt with new engines in 1872-74; a brickworks.

Closure

Flooded and abandoned in October 1866; pumped out and reopened by 1874; closed in 1887 when the trustees stopped the pumps.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• New Ingleton Colliery — Successive collieries of the Ingleton coalfield; the New Ingleton company bought the old Ingleton interests.

Recorded claims

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

• Begun in 1853, working from 1855, on the Four Foot, Yard and Six Foot seams. ^1,2,3
• The shaft was 180 feet deep and the six-foot coal lay at 16 degrees. ²
• It flooded and was abandoned in 1866. ^1,2
• William Bracewell bought it in 1872, pumped out some 58 million gallons and had it producing again in 1874. ^1,2
• His trustees closed it in 1887; its Six Feet plan is dated 1887. ^1,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ingleton Coal — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) An introduction to Ingleton coalfield and colliery (J. Bentley, Contrebis 20) — Lancaster Archaeological and Historical Society
3. (secondary) Ingleton Coalfield — Wikipedia
4. (primary) Mine plan: Ingleton Gin, Wilson Wood, Winning, Six Feet (Deep) — British Geological Survey

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