Clifton Hall Colliery

Clifton Hall Colliery was one of two coal mines in Clifton (the other was Wet Earth Colliery) on the Manchester Coalfield, historically in Lancashire which was incorporated into the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England in 1974.

The colliery, owned by Andrew Knowles and Sons,[1] was located in the Irwell Valley, just off Lumn's Lane and had extensive railway sidings on the London and North Western Railway's Clifton Branch. It was connected to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal by a ¼-mile long tramway.[2]

History

It is thought that the colliery was operating by 1820 and its tramway is shown on a parliamentary plan from 1830 and on an 1845 map. In the 1880s the colliery had two mine shafts with wooden headgear, one for winding men and materials and a furnace ventilation shaft, and a brick engine house. Ventilation by furnace was replaced in 1886.[3] Production of coal ended 9 November 1929 but a shaft was retained for ventilation at Wheatsheaf Colliery in Pendlebury.[4]

Disaster

Clifton Hall disaster memorial, St Augustine's churchyard

On 18 June 1885, an explosion in the Trencherbone mine killed 178 men and boys,[2][5] to whom there is a monument in St. Augustine's churchyard in Pendlebury where 64 victims were buried. It is thought that the explosion was caused by firedamp igniting on contact with a candle.

Thomas Worrall (underlooker), 16-year-old George Hindley (blacksmith) and George Higson (fireman) were part of a team who descended into the mine immediately after the explosion. They received the Albert Medal in recognition of their heroism.[6] Worrall received a first class medal and the Salford Humane Society Gold Hundred Medal. This award and Mine Rescue medals belonging to R. Johnson and F. Burtonwood and a Gold Chain inscribed to George Hindley were stolen from Lancashire Mining Museum in Buile Hill Park, Pendleton, Salford.

References

  1. ↑ Andrew Knowles & Sons Ltd., Durham Mining Museum, retrieved 2011-01-26
  2. 1 2 Townley 1995, p. 212
  3. ↑ Preece 1986, pp. 17–19
  4. ↑ Townley 1995, p. 217
  5. ↑ "The Diocese of Manchester: Handling problems in partnership", English Heritage, retrieved 4 July 2006
  6. ↑ "The Albert Medal - List of Recipients (Mining incidents)", Heroes of Mine, retrieved 4 July 2006

Bibliography

  • Preece, Geoff (1985), Coalmining in Salford, A Photographic Record, City of Salford Cultural Services, ISBN 0-901952-12-5 
  • Townley, C. H. A.; Appleton, C. A.; Smith, F. D.; Peden, J. A. (1995), The Industrial railways of Bolton, Bury and the Manchester Coalfield, Part Two, The Manchester Coalfield, Runpast, ISBN 1-870754-32-8 

Coordinates: 53°30′59″N 2°18′47″W / 53.516393°N 2.313177°W / 53.516393; -2.313177

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