Rudland Colliery

Rudland Colliery, Bransdale

This extensive spread of nearly 270 pits, in near parallel rows, runs north-eastwards from around Rudland Farm up to and beyond Westside Road on Rudland Rigg. Another group of around 140 pits around the summit of Rudland Rigg formed Upper Rudland Colliery. At times the larger group of pits was also split into Rudland and Rudland Farm Collieries, the latter presumably being around Rudland Farm and the former being higher up the moor. They were combined in August 1780 when William Sturdy took the farm of Rudland Colliery, at the lower end of the moor, from Thomas Duncombe (NYCRO ZEW IV 13/1 – 01/08/1780). He was to pay £100 per acre wherever the seam of coal was 30 inches thick, or in proportion more or less according to the thickness of the seam, and Duncombe was to have unlimited coal at the rate of 2s 4d a chaldron. Sturdy was still working the coal at the end of 1801.

The regularly-spaced spreads of shafts, so well illustrated at Rudland, have often been interpreted as bell pits, but one of the provisions of Sturdy’s grant was that he had to “leave pillars of coal between the bords at least a yard thick”. This unambiguous statement proves that by 1780, and probably long before then, they were using some form of bord and pillar working. No mention is made of pillar removal, which suggests that the yard­wide pillars were intended to prevent the surface being broken up by subsidence.

In 1791  Seaton altered the rate used to pay Duncombe for the coal raised.  This had been based on £40 per acre when the seam was 12 inches thick, but was then adjusted more or less in proportion to the actual seam thickness. He had concluded, however, that, when consideration was given to the nature of the coal and particularly the prices paid for working and getting it, the above rule does not seem to be a fair proportion (NYCRO ZEWIV 13/1 – Memorandum). For instance:

In consequence of this, Sturdy’s seam at Rudland, which was 8½  inches thick and according to the above rule would have been £28 6s 8d per acre, was rated at £30. Blakey would have been £46 13s 4d but was rated at £50. At Ankness, however, it should have been £66 13s 4d, but was rated at £80 per acre. Considering the hardness of the coal and the bad roads leading to Ankness, Seaton considered this too high. Nevertheless, because it had been rated too low in the previous year, he felt they ought to pay that sum for that year. Sturdy’s seam at Rudland, on the other hand, was very even and regular, and, Seaton believed, very productive. The colliery was also in a much better location for selling its coal than any of the others, and local settlements took coal for lime burning and domestic use (Owen, 1970).

Lime burning was a seasonal trade, however, which either ended or was very much diminished in winter. This brought wages down and caused men to leave the pits in search of better prospects. The owners, by 1793 had steadily increased prices from seven shillings to nine shillings and four pence per chaldron, claimed this was done under pressure for better wages from the men. Seaton, who opined that the colliery owners were also adding a higher proportion for their profits, said that the men were working between seven and eight hours per day and that a good hand could earn between 18 and 25 shillings per week.

Members of the Green family sank two pits at Rudland in the early twentieth century and worked them in conjunction with their smallholding (Whitaker, 1969). Their shaft, which was seven yards deep, was six feet long by three feet six inches wide, presumably between timbers. They drove bords, which were from four to six feet wide and around three feet high, for 15 to 18 yards into the twelve-inch seam. The roof was poor, especially near old workings, and prone to falls. Like the earlier miners had been, they were also troubled by build-ups of carbon dioxide in the workings.

Coal, for lime burning, was taken by horse and cart to their principal market at Mell Bank Quarry. Any surplus was sold in local villages such as Gillamoor and Fadmoor. Mining ended around 1914 when old workings were met.