When John Lancaster, from Radcliffe near Bury, was about twenty years old he joined one of his brothers in boring for coal on Chat Moss. In 1841 he had the vision to sink a shaft at Patricroft, through a cover of Permian rocks, which reached the 4Ft Worsley Mine at a depth of 402 metres.
His colliery, which stood alongside the Bridgewater Canal, had a fairly short life, however. It appears on the 1848 Ordnance Survey map, but never appears in the List of Mines, which began in 1854. John Lancaster fared better and survived until April 21st 1884, when he died at his home in London, after a brief illness, aged 68.
Sources:
- NMRS Records, Gazetteer of British Collieries
- Geological Survey of England and Wales, Vertical sections, sheet No.34, 1870 (May 2015)
