Wyken Colliery

Overview

Wyken, three miles north-east of Coventry, worked the Two Yard, Rider, Ell and Slate seams from 1854 and had its own mineral railway to the London and North Western main line. The ground above it dropped: Wyken Slough, the largest body of water in Coventry, was formed by subsidence around 1860 and is still there. The colliery closed in 1915.

History

The Durham Mining Museum gives the colliery as opened in 1854 and closed in 1915, under the Wykin Coal Company and then the Wyken Colliery Co. It worked the Two Yard, Rider — spelt Ryder in the later returns — Ell and Slate seams for household, manufacturing and steam coal. It grew through the period the returns cover: 432 people in 1894, 401 in 1896, then 629 in 1900, 617 in 1905 and 724 in 1910. The proportion below ground rose sharply over the same years, from 286 of 432 in 1894 to 600 of 724 in 1910. The village grew with it: the population of Wyken went from 124 in 1901 to 321 in 1911, which the Victoria County History attributes to the greater numbers of miners. A mineral railway was built to serve the colliery by the London and North Western Railway, branching off its Coventry to Nuneaton line. Its course is now a footpath running north-west of the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury. The deaths recorded here are of the ordinary kind and are noted by seam, which is unusual and useful. William Henry Bird, a dayman of 56, was building a pack in a stall in the Slate coal on 19 May 1904 after setting extra timber when a large fall of roof killed him; his body could not be recovered for five hours. John Bolton, a stallman of 49, was cutting a prop out of a waste in the Ryder seam in May 1905 when the roof fell on him, the ringer and chain not being in use at the time; he died three days later. Frederick Barnesley, a roadman of 22, was crushed between the top of a full tub and the roof of the roadway in the Ell coal in December 1907, trying to get out of the way of a tub that had fallen over. Wyken Slough, also called Wyken Pool, was formed by subsidence around 1860 and is the largest body of water in Coventry.

Geology

Wyken worked the Warwickshire coalfield on the Coventry side. The seams returned are the Two Yard, the Rider or Ryder, the Ell and the Slate — the same four the neighbouring Exhall Colliery took. The workings were shallow enough for the ground above to subside, and Wyken Slough was formed that way around 1860.

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

Workings

A colliery served by its own mineral railway, built by the London and North Western Railway off its Coventry to Nuneaton line. Shaft depths have not been found in the sources read for this record. The inspectors' accounts of deaths here name the seam in each case, which places work in the Slate, Ryder and Ell coals in the 1900s.

Closure

The Durham Mining Museum gives the closure as 1915.

What remains

Wyken Slough, the subsidence pool formed around 1860, is the largest body of water in Coventry and remains. The course of the colliery's mineral railway is a footpath immediately north-west of the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury, and the Sowe Valley Path runs through the Wyken Croft Nature Park nearby.

The trackbed of the mineral railway, now a footpath, and Wyken Slough.

Related mines

• Coventry Colliery — Warwickshire coalfield pits on the Coventry side.
• Exhall Colliery — Neighbouring Warwickshire pits north-east of Coventry, working the same four seams — the Ell, Rider, Slate and Two Yard.

Nearby mines

• Exhall Colliery — 2.8 km N, Warwickshire
• Newdigate Colliery — 5.0 km NW, Warwickshire
• Griff Colliery — 5.6 km N, Warwickshire
• Coventry Colliery — 6.0 km W, Warwickshire
• Daw Mill Colliery — 7.6 km W, Warwickshire

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.

• Wyken Slough, or Wyken Pool, was formed by subsidence around 1860 and is the largest body of water in Coventry. ¹
• A mineral railway was built to serve Wyken Main Colliery by the London and North Western Railway, branching off their Coventry to Nuneaton line. Its course is now a footpath immediately north-west of the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury. ²
• The population of Wyken rose from 124 in 1901 to 321 in 1911, which the Victoria County History attributes to the greater numbers of miners. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) The City of Coventry: the outlying parts of Coventry, Wyken and Caludon — Victoria County History, A History of the County of Warwick, Volume 8 (1969)
2. (observational) Hawkesbury: Former Wyken Colliery Mineral Railway (Geograph 2755209) — Geograph Britain and Ireland, Nigel Cox
3. (secondary) Wyken Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026