Colliery Profile
NCB Public Relation Department. June 1980.
The colliery is situated near the village of Sutton Manor on the southern fringe of St. Helens and is near Widnes and Warrington and Liverpool.
The sinking of the No 1 shaft 18 feet in diameter started in May 1906 and was completed in December 1909 to a depth of 1,823 ft to just below the Wigan series of seams.
The No.2 shaft was begun in July 1906 and is 22 feet in diameter. The Wigan seams were reached in December 1910. The sinking was resumed in April 1912 and the shaft was the deepened at 18 feet in diameter to a total depth of 2,343 ft to just below the Arley seam.
An underground staple shaft 13 feet in diameter between Nos.1 and 2 shaft levels was completed in 1912.
A third shaft was started in 1914 but due to the first World War sinking was suspended at a depth of 180 feet. This shaft was subsequently filled in.
The colliery reorganised in the period 1952-7 during which time the No 1 shaft was deepened by 683 feet to provide the downcast ventilation to the lower level and eliminate the staple shaft. during the same period, the No 2 shaft was deepened by 183 feet to permit the installation of new shaft winding equipment.
In the spring of 1968, there was another reorganisation when the coal production ceased in the No.1 pit and all the work was concentrated in the economic faces in the No.2 pit. The scheme meant a reduction of 400 men in the workforce. The No.1 shaft is still used for the essential ventilation and winding operations. In April 1973, a £200,000 development scheme was announced to open up further reserves in the Barrows Green area of the colliery in the Wigan Four Feet, Higher Florida, and Trencherbone seams. The scheme involved the driving of two 1,150 yard underground roadways through a major geological fault, together with associated improvements to underground manriding, conveying and control systems, and will extend the life of the colliery.
Production is obtained from two faces in the Wigan Four Feet Seam. The colliery employs over 850 men and the coal is marketed locally to power stations, general industry and the domestic market. Methane gas is piped from the coal faces and used in the steam generating plant on the surface.
The colliery is situated on Jubits Lane. This is a modern colliery, that was only sunk this century, and is the only colliery still in production near St. Helens town centre. The two shafts comprising Sutton Manor Colliery were sunk between 1906 and 1912. A third shaft was started but was subsequently filled in. In 1968, the colliery was reorganised, when coal production ceased in No.1 Pit and all work was concentrated in the more economic seams in No.2 Pit. The winding arrangements were changed in the 1980s, with new skip winding equipment being installed. The colliery is quite unique in having one of the newest winding engines in the country and also one of the oldest, still retaining the steam winder for men and materials.
26th. August 1910
At the inquest into the death of Peter Callaghan in the Florida mine at the Sutton Manor Colliery, James Murphy said he was working with the deceased in the mouthing of the Florida mine when three boxes were put on the top deck of the cage and he knocked to put three on the bottom deck but a box on the top had gone too far. He tried to get the box in and it fell on him. The enginewinder said he had heard the signal but there were indications that his attention was attracted away. The jury returned a verdict if ‘Accidental Death’. (Colliery Guardian)
13th. December 1913.
At the sinking of the shaft at the colliery a shot was fired in the coal seam and ignited some firedamp that was given off setting fire to some boards that were around the shaft. Water had to be put down the shaft to put out the fire. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1913
Miscellaneous accidents underground. Fatal accident. One person was killed and another was injured. An unsuccessful attempt had been made to fire a charge of Swaleite at the south of the tunnel in stone with a no.7 detonator and H.T. battery. The shotfirer disconnected that cable and examined and again attempted to fire the charge but with the same result. He then disconnected the cable from the battery and went to the face accompanied by the contractor with his battery with him with the intention of testing the cable. This was not accomplished as the shot went off almost immediately and the contractor was killed and the fireman injured. The battery was found 12 yards from the face of the tunnel and the cable and battery were not in good order. (Mines Inspectors Report)
27th November 1913.
Sutton Manor. Michael King 33 was killed by being struck by stones being projected by a shot. (Mines Inspectors Report)
9th April 1914.
Sutton Manor. John Hughes aged 41 years coal cutter machine man. He had stopped the cutter to allow a shotlighter to pass and also to examine some coal that had bulged out and to which his mate had drawn his attention. As he was coming round the machine a large fall of the roof without any warning came and buried him. He was suffocated and found in a kneeling position and was only slightly injured. The fall had been caused by it giving away under a bar. (Mines Inspectors Report)
20-07-1908
TIPLADY Frederick 34 erector. He was engaged by a contractor to erect a new headgear when the chain they were using broke and he was fatally injured by a falling girder which they were trying to get into position. (Mines Inspectors Report)
24-09-1908
FINNIFAN Michael 21 daywageman. A stone fell on him in the roadway when they had trusted the roof without bars. (Mines Inspectors Report)
2nd October 1908.
Fatal accident to collier.
Brighouse at the inquest at Cockface into the death of Michael Finnegan dataller 18 Canal Street who was killed by a fall of roof and was 21 years of age, William Murray of 222 Robins Lane and James Brodege 76, Mill Lane said a large stone fell from the roof he shouted, “Get me out Jim” and he got a jack to lift the stone but he was dead when they got him out. There was not the slightest warning when the stone fell. Verdict Accidental Death. (Newton & Earlestown Guardian)
3rd. May 1908.
Samuel Lloyd aged 37 years, a collier was setting brattice cloth in a roadway a stone fell from the slips at the fault. (Mines Inspectors Report)
25th. March 1909.
Henry Jackson aged 33 years, was acting as hooker-on in two mouthings in the new shaft and appeared to have got on top of the cage to descend when he appeared to have slipped off and fallen twenty-eight yards to the bottom. (Mines Inspectors Report)
03-08-1910
CALLAGAN Peter 22 hooker-on. When properly securing a tub in the cage at the pit bottom the engineman according to three witnesses started without receiving a signal with the result that the tub fell out of the cage fatally injuring him. (Mines Inspectors Report)
05-03-1912
SAUNDERS James 28 carpenter. When working at the top of the scaffold fixing a girder a fitter working in the mouthing above accidentally knocked his lamp over and it fell on him killing him. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1913.
One man was killed an another inured when an unsuccessful attempt had been made to fir a 12 oz, a charge of Swalite in a stone face by an electric detonator. There was no result and the wires were disconnected and they went to the face to see what had happened with the intention of testing the cable and the shot fired and he was just putting the battery to the cable when it fired. (Could be Michael Kay Nov. 27th) (Mines Inspectors Report)
08-03-1913
HURST Thomas 50 collier. He was working near a previous fall when a sudden weighting of the roof took place. as he rushed to the roadway he was caught at the edge of the fall by a rock which displaced 4 bars and two props. Died 16th Apr 1913. (Mines Inspectors Report)
22-09-1913
OWEN Peter 36 contractors man. He was filling dirt with another when part of the side gave way. the stone was supported by a sprag let into the floor and it was possible that something disturbed this. (Mines Inspectors Report)
27-11-1913
KING Michael 33 tunnel man. Killed by stones from a shot. (Mines Inspectors Report)
09-04-1914
HUGHES John 41 cutter machinist. He had stopped the cutter to allow a shot lighter to pass and look at the coal which had bulged out and as he was making his way around a large fall of roof occurred without warning. He was bowed over and suffocated. Bars had been set in the coal which had given way. (Mines Inspectors Report)
18-03-1914
LOWTON John 15 haulage hand. He and another haulage hand were in a refuge hole when some runaways came down a 1 in 9. He came out and was caught by the full tubs. The chain had become unhooked by some means. (Mines Inspectors Report)
18th March 1914.
Sutton Manor. John Lawton aged 15 the decease and another haulage hand were in a refuge hole partway close to the return way of the endless rope haulage and a tub ran back along a 1 in 9 gradient. Without any apparent reason, they came out of the hole and he was caught by the full tubs. The chain had by some means become unhooked. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1923
Sutton Manor. A haulage hand was killed when two runaway trucks on a gradient of 1 in 5 and three firemen in the district were summarily dealt with for neglecting the was switch which was not replaced. Another fatality at the colliery when haulage had was riding on a set of tubs and the chain was not securely attached to the last tub and ran amock and the deceased was at the end of the set and he was found injured among the overturned tubs a stop box and a runaway switch were both provided but were not used.
12-04-1923
GEE William 18 haulage hand. (Mines Inspectors Report)
10-07-1923
JACKSON Horace 16 haulage hand. At 1.30pm in the 7th hour of the shift. (Mines Inspectors Report)
25-04-1924
ATHERTON Thomas 49 collier. At 4am in the 5th hour of the shift he was killed by amass of coal falling from the face. He was working at the bottom portion of the seam and the overlying coal fall and caught him. It displaced two sprags set 56 apart and they were let into the floor but there was a break that went up an loosened the sprags (Mines Inspectors Report)
1925.
A haulage lad was killed by the rope and the inspection said that the deputies had duties that were not down by specified persons and he was too young for the work he was called to do (Mines Inspectors Report)
1928.
A coal cutter Coulson compressed air workman injured by the wheel it had just started to act when he got under the wheel. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1920.
Man killed by moving a waggon with another waggon and was crushed between the two of them (Mines Inspectors Report)
1923.
Riding illegally on the haulage and the tub ran back 80 yards blocks and scotches were not used. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1923.
Damage resulted in ramming a shot and not replacing the charge (Mines Inspectors Report)
25th April 1924.
Sutton manor. Thomas Atherton aged 40 years collier was killed by a mass of coals falling when he was working at the bottom part of the seam and the top coal fell on him. The fall displaced two sprags set 5 feet apart. He had worked at a break that worked upwards through the coal. The sprags simply levered out. (Mines Inspectors Report)
26th December 1924.
Workman dies in the pit.
Sutton Manor. John Cartland aged 20 of 5, Waine Street, Parr died at the pit and the body was removed to Whiston Institution. (Newton & Earlestown Guardian)
1st May 1925.
Colliery Managers Funeral (Sutton Manor).
The funeral was at the parish church of James Edward Lomax managing director of the Sutton Heath and Lee Green collieries who lived at Fearn Hill Hilton. (Newton & Earlestown Guardian)
5th September 1924.
St. Helens Colliery Mishap. (Sutton Manor)
As a result of a mishap at Stafford pit at Sutton manor on Tuesday which resulted in several hundred men were idle while winding operations were being carried out the cage crashed into the headgear and the descending cage was driven into the staging at the bottom. The catches at the top cut the rope handheld the cage and nobody was injured and the pt referred to in more than a quarter of a mile deep and the men were lowered down another pit and then to their working places. (Newton & Earlestown Guardian)
1935.
The cutters pick sparked on some pyrites and ignited some firedamp which was put out by stone dust. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1935
Floor coal let in at 14 inches thick (Mines Inspectors Report)
1954.
Dangerous occurrences. A conveyor fire occurred at the colliery towards the end of a shift during which it is said that the conveyor ran for only 15 minutes though it had run for two hours during a previous shift. A few men had been sent to work at the face to square out a corner that was hinging back due to the presence of a number of small faults. There was no intention of running the conveyor until the deputy found that so much material had accumulated at the face that it would have to be cleared so men were detailed to man the four transfer points and the boarding station. The four roadway conveyors in series were eventually started but ran only a very short time before the belt delivering into the tubs broke. It took about 2.5 hours to repair. Soon after it was resumed the belt attendant at the transfer point between the two outbye conveyors when examining the driving gears head found that dirt on the floor next to the diving drum was warm and soon afterwards the gearhead was engulfed in flames. The man on the outbye side acted promptly and coupled up hoses to a nearby hydrant but after producing a good jet for 10 minutes the water diminished to a trickle and it was an hour and three quarters until the pressure came back in the water. The trickle was directed into the catchment under the transfer point from which it was transferred into buckets and the fire was put in two hours. It is a tribute to the fire-fighters that they stuck to their task. Meanwhile, the men at the face had been alerted by the smell of burning rubber and under the deputy who was to be congratulated on his quick thinking made their way along the return which was already filling with deadly fumes to a short connection with the intake air outbye of the fire. Before they reached safety a display of bravery was displayed by a workman who went onto the fumes to assist three others who might not have escaped and the bravery of this man and the deputy who was affected by the fumes was eventually recognised. But the cannot escape the thought that for the traditional bravery and determination of the miners in time of emergency. The fire was the result of a faulty bearing which overheated. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1954.
There was another fire at the same colliery which originated in the gearhead of a scraper chain conveyor installed as a feed between the conveyor face and the permanent belt conveyor which originated at a combined flexible and shear pin coupling the high-speed shaft of the reduction gear to the air drive turbine. A deputy passing the gearing noticed the smell of burning and at one called for it to be stopped. Helpers coupled a hose and the deputy scrapped under the couplings and almost immediately there was smoke water was applied for five minutes and then stopped. On removing the guard for a close inspection flames rode to a height of 18 inches which was quenched with the water. Friction ignited the leather washers and so caused the fire. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1961.
Mechanical press use water to take booster and methane drainage for steam making at the colliery. (Mines Inspectors Report)
1962.
Trains that cannot be derailed and extended to trepanner points to maximum. (Mines Inspectors Report)
23rd July 1968.
Firefighting at Haydock Park Sutton Manor and Ravenhead came third.
Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.
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