Kearsley Moss Colliery (1860-1910)

The Kearsley, Clifton, Pendlebury & Pendleton area, immediately west of the River Irwell, had been extensively worked by the ‘Old Men’ as far as water would allow and working was continued to lower horizons as pumping plant developed. This area was the last remaining part of the Manchester coalfields to possess a working colliery.

During the 1860s, Samuel Scowcroft sunk new pits near to older pits which had been operated by Scowcroft himself and previously by earlier members of the family. The new pits were named Kearsley Moss not to be confused with Stott’s earlier Kearsley Moss Colliery near Unity Brook. The Scowcrofts were also involved with collieries in the Bolton district and other earlier collieries around Kearsley. The collieries were put up for sale in 1883, but Kearsley Moss remained unsold and closed down. The plant was auctioned in 1884. Perhaps to avoid confusion, Scowcroft’s Kearsley Moss colliery was often known as Tasker’s Lane.

Following the closure, the Clifton & Kersley Coal Company appear to have obtained the lease, although exactly when is not known. This company seems to have operated the colliery as a pumping station, which indicates that they also purchased at least some of the plant. In 1904, the Clifton & Kersley Coal Company started work to reopen the Taskers Lane pits for coal production. Walker Bros. supplied a ventilating fan and engine to the Clifton & Kersley Coal Co. in 1905. The fan was 10 feet diameter by 3ft 6in wide and fitted with a four feet diameter pulley. The engine was a 16in x 30in single cylinder with a 12-feet diameter flywheel. Steam at 40/50psi was specified, with the proviso that this would ultimately be raised to 80psi. Scowcroft’s old boilers would appear to have still been in situ.

A surface tub haulage was constructed to Spindle Point Colliery, possibly to enable the coal output to be screened there. Operations ceased in 1921 and the colliery was formally abandoned in 1923.

Bridgewater Collieries considered purchasing the colliery after abandonment. They were always interested in what happened to collieries in Clifton and Kearsley as they were anxious to protect their Sandhole Colliery workings immediately to the south, from flooding. Mr Jesse Wallwork, Managing Director of Bridgewater Collieries Ltd, and former Mining Agent to the Earl of Ellesmere and the Bridgewater Trustees, in a report to the newly formed Manchester Collieries Ltd, stated that it was the custom from 1913 to 1926 to monitor the depth at which the water stood in the old pits at Tasker’s Lane. From 1913 to 1920 the water level gradually rose from 538 feet to 480 feet from the surface. This was approximately the Doe Mine horizon and no further rise in water level was noted. It was assumed that the water was finding a way out through old workings. In the event the Bridgewater Collieries decided against purchase and the Tasker’s Lane Colliery was demolished about 1927. The presence of so much water in the Tasker’s Lane pits during the time when re-working was taking place, seems to indicate that only seams at shallow depth were being extracted.

Mr Wallwork also reported that he had surveyed underground at the Tasker’s Lane pits ‘many years ago’ and discovered that Scowcrofts had illegally worked the royalty of Stonehill Colliery, situated approximately three quarters of a mile to the north west, in the Plodder Mine. Stonehill, operated by Messrs Roscoe & Lord, closed in 1888 but a lease was taken by the Bridgewater Trustees in 1900 for the purpose of pumping. The Bridgewater lease expired in 1910 and the Stonehill pits were then filled in.