Woodpark Colliery

Overview

A Bardsley colliery near Ashton-under-Lyne that grew from the Deep Pit of the older Copperas House Colliery around 1836, took the Woodpark name about 1860, and was worked by the Chamber Colliery Company and then the National Coal Board until March 1955.

History

Woodpark grew out of the Deep Pit of the older Copperas House Colliery at Bardsley, near Ashton-under-Lyne, and appears to date from around 1836. Until about 1860 it was counted as part of Fairbottom Colliery, and by 1850 a tramway 1.42 km long carried its coal to a basin on the Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne Canal. Messrs Leeses and Booth worked it under the Woodpark name between 1860 and 1865, alongside Fairbottom. The Black Mine, 1.2 metres thick, was worked at a depth of 355 metres at the Deep Pit, and in July 1859 two men were killed by a fall of roof in the Black Mine at the Woodpark pits, where the ground was creeping (see Disasters, below). The seam was nearly worked out by 1869, when the Fairbottom Colliery Company took over, and in 1873 the Earl of Stamford and Warrington agreed with the Lees family that the remaining Two Foot and Peacock mines could be worked. The Chamber Colliery Company was running the colliery by 1880, and it was one of that company's seven pits. When the Two Foot and Peacock were exhausted in 1899 the shafts were deepened to the Old Man Mine, worked until about 1918. Cross-measures drifts driven through the Chamber Fault in 1911 opened the Roger Mine, worked from 1912 to 1947; the New Mine replaced the Old Man by 1920, part of the Great Mine was worked from 1938 to 1944, and then the Arley. Under the National Coal Board the Colonel Mine was worked from 1947 and the Arley given up in 1950. In 1954 Wood Park produced 89,000 tons of coal and employed more than 400 people, but its remaining reserves lay nearer to Ashton Moss and Bradford collieries, and it was closed in March 1955 so that they could be worked from those pits.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Oldham Coalfield: the Black Mine (1.2 m), Two Foot, Peacock, Old Man, Roger (reached through the Chamber Fault), New, Great, Arley (Royley) and Colonel mines.

Workings

The Deep Pit of the former Copperas House Colliery, its shafts deepened in 1897-99 to the Old Man Mine; cross-measures drifts through the Chamber Fault from 1911; a 1.42 km tramway to the Ashton Canal by 1850.

Closure

Closed in March 1955; its remaining reserves were worked from Ashton Moss and Bradford collieries instead.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bradford Colliery — Woodpark's remaining reserves were worked from Bradford Colliery after it closed in 1955 (NMRS).
• Chamber Colliery — Both were pits of the Chamber Colliery Company, which ran Woodpark from about 1880 (NMRS; Wikipedia).
• Fairbottom Colliery — Woodpark was grouped as part of Fairbottom Colliery before about 1860, and Leeses and Booth worked both (NMRS).
• Heys Colliery — Both worked by Leeses and Booth of Ashton-under-Lyne, who held Woodpark in 1860-65.
• Oak Colliery, Hollinwood — Both were among the Chamber Colliery Company's seven pits (Wikipedia, Oldham Coalfield).

Disasters & major incidents

• Woodpark Colliery roof fall, 1859
  11 July 1859 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  A collier and a drawer were killed on 11 July 1859 by a fall of roof in the Black Mine at the Woodpark pits near Ashton-under-Lyne, where the ground was creeping.

Recorded claims

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

• Woodpark was based on the Deep Pit of the older Copperas House Colliery and appears to date from around 1836; the Woodpark name first appears around 1860. ¹
• By 1850 the colliery was linked to a basin on the Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne Canal by a tramway 1.42 km long. ¹
• The 1.2 metre Black Mine was worked at a depth of 355 metres at the Deep Pit. ¹
• Wood Park was one of the Chamber Colliery Company's seven pits. ^2,1
• Wood Park Colliery produced 89,000 tons of coal in 1954 and had more than 400 employees. ²
• Woodpark closed in March 1955 because its remaining reserves were nearer to Ashton Moss and Bradford collieries. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Woodpark Colliery (1836-1955) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Oldham Coalfield — Wikipedia
3. (primary) Mine plan: WOODPARK BARDSLEY (DEEP OR DIAMOND, OLD VICTORIA), BRIDGE, DOCK, Black seam, abandoned 1864 (feature 21870680) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Edwin Taylor, Woodpark, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) 1850s A: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026