Nelson Pit was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield from the 1830s or 1840s in Shakerley , Tyldesley , Greater Manchester , then in the historic county of Lancashire , England.
17-659: Originally named Shakerley Colliery , the pit was sunk on land leased from Ellis Fletcher and worked by Nathan Eckersley in 1851. In 1861 the colliery passed to William Ramsden who owned Messhing Trees Colliery half a mile to the south. A shaft was sunk to 840 feet and the pit produced house coal from the Trencherbone mine . The colliery was renamed after 1880. The shaft was deepened to the Arley mine at 1486 feet. Nelson Pit closed in 1938. Shakerley Colliery and Messhing Trees were owned by William Ramsden's Shakerley Collieries . The colliery
34-694: Is the Mountain mine. The Lower Coal measures were worked north-east of a line from High Crompton to Greenacres and the Middle Coal Measures to the south-west. The deepest seam in the Middle Coal Measures is the Royley mine which is equivalent to the Arley mine of the Manchester Coalfield . The coal seams dipped in the direction of central Manchester and were broken by numerous faults including
51-590: The Carboniferous Period. Some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages , and extensively from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century until the last quarter of the 20th century. The Coal Measures lie above a bed of Millstone Grit and are interspersed with sandstones , mudstones , shales , and fireclays . The Lower Coal Measures occupy
68-513: The Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. The Coal Measures lie above a bed of Millstone Grit and are interspersed with sandstones , mudstones , shales , and fireclays and outcrop in the Oldham district . The Gannister Beds or Lower Coal Measures occupy the high ground of the West Pennine Hills above Oldham where the most productive seam
85-712: The Irwell Valley and the Rossendale Valley anticline . The Coal Measures generally dip towards the south and west. Numerous other smaller faults affect the coalfield. The Upper Coal Measures are not worked in the Manchester Coalfield. The early coal pits were dug to the shallow seams where they outcropped, particularly in the Irwell Valley and in Atherton . The early collieries were adits or bell pits exploiting
102-679: The Oldham Coalfield than the rest of the Manchester Coalfield. Workable seams are close to the surface and coal from the deep Roger mine was considered to be of the highest quality. The Upper Coal Measures above the Worsley Four Foot mine, known as the Parker mine, are worked in this part of the coalfield and known as the Bradford Group, above which is the Ardwick Group. The coal seams of
119-740: The Bradford Group are the Two Foot, Doctor, New, Yard, Bradford Foor Foot, Three Quarters and Charlotte mines, the Charlotte being closest to the surface. The Openshaw mine above the Charlotte was worked for fireclay. Below the Bradford Group and the Parker mine are the Top, Middle and Deep mines and 60 feet (18 m) below them, the Roger mine. The Top, Middle and Deep mines correspond to the Major, Bland and Ashton Great mines in
136-528: The Coal Measures are separated by layers of gritstones , sandstones , shales and mudstones of varying thicknesses. The mines were frequently named after their thickness – Yard, Three Quarters – or given local names in the areas in which they were first worked. At Atherton it formed good quality steam coal. The eastern part of the coalfield under Manchester is isolated from the rest. The sequence of coal seams corresponds more closely with that of
153-587: The Oldham Coalfield. The Crumbouke mine in the western coalfield is the Roger mine in central Manchester. Oldham Coalfield The Oldham Coalfield is the most easterly part of the South Lancashire Coalfield . Its coal seams were laid down in the Carboniferous period and some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages and extensively from the beginning of
170-532: The Oldham Edge, Chamber, Oak and Great Faults. Coal was got in "Lennardyne" (Crompton) in 1552 and 70 years later Richard Radcliffe left his coal mines in Chadderton to his son. In A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain finished in 1727, Daniel Defoe described "...Coals...upon the top of the highest hills" around Oldham. The coal seams were close to the surface and coal was easy to get. Exploitation of
187-553: The Worsley Four Foot Mine. Deeper mines were sunk when steam engines were developed to pump water from the shafts. Most collieries to the east of the Pendleton Fault had closed before 1929. A group of independent companies formed Manchester Collieries in 1929, to work the reserves of the coalfield. In this part of Lancashire a coal seam is referred to as a mine and the coal mine is a colliery or pit. The beds of coal in
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#1732873236753204-504: The high ground of the West Pennine Moors above Bolton and are not worked in the Manchester Coalfield. The most productive of the coal measures are the lower two thirds of the Middle Coal Measures where coal is mined from seams between the Worsley Four Foot and Arley mines. The deepest and most productive collieries were to the south of the coalfield. The coalfield is affected by the northwest to southeast aligned Pendleton Fault along
221-545: The local coal seams led to the rapid development of early steam-powered cotton mills and 65 had been built in Oldham by 1825. More than 40 collieries were operation in 1841 and the Chamber Colliery Company had seven pits in the 1890s. The early collieries were adits , accessing the coal from outcrops on the side of a hill at Crompton Moor, Oldham Edge and Werneth, employing up to a dozen workers. Shallow pits sunk from
238-544: The scene of a disaster on 2 October 1883; six men died when the cage rope broke. The colliery was sold to Manchester Collieries in 1935 and abandoned in October 1938. 53°31′20″N 2°27′51″W / 53.5223°N 2.4643°W / 53.5223; -2.4643 Trencherbone mine The Manchester Coalfield is part of the South Lancashire Coalfield , the coal seams of which were laid down in
255-659: The square inch known as Fairbottom Bobs . It is preserved in the USA in the Henry Ford museum. From the middle of the 19th century the output of the coalfield was sold locally to cotton mills and factories and for domestic use. Platt Brother owned the Jubilee Colliery in Crompton and Butterworth Hall Colliery in Milnrow. Bower Colliery in Chadderton was sunk between 1860 and 1863 on
272-426: The surface with wooden headstocks were recorded in the late 1600s. These collieries had two shafts to aid ventilation. The Chamber Colliery Company's pits were sunk around 1750 by James Lees and the company was formed in 1877. James Watt installed a Newcomen steam pumping engine at the company's Fairbottom Colliery in the late 18th century. It was an atmospheric engine working at the low pressure of 1.5 lb. to
289-571: Was isolated from the main roads and railway and access to it was via a toll road , Shakerley Lane, connecting it to the Bolton to Leigh turnpike which continued to charge tolls until 1948. After the opening of the Tyldesley Loopline in 1864, William Ramsden built a mineral railway to link his collieries to the main line east of the Tyldesley Coal Company 's sidings. The colliery was
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