| COLLIERY | DOUGLAS BANK | |
| LOCATION | 310 yards east-north-east of Bickershaw & Abram Station on the L.N.E.R. Wigan Junction branch. | |
| OWNERS (1899) | Rosebridge & Douglas Bank Collieries Ltd. | |
Shafts
Commenced sinking 19 March 1863 and sunk to Cannel Mine at 509 yards.
Deepened to the Arley Mine commencing May 1887, Arley Mine reached at 731 yards and shafts completed to 737 yards into the sump.
Principal Coal Seams intersected:
| Thickness Ft Ins |
Depth from Surface Yds Ft Ins |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ince Seven Feet | 5 3 | 39 0 8 | ||
| Barren ground for 120 yds to: | ||||
| Pemberton Five Feet | 5 7 | 159 1 11 | ||
| Pemberton Two Feet | 2 5 | 167 2 6 | ||
| Pemberton Four Feet | 3 8 | 181 2 0 | ||
| Barren measures for 167 yds to: | ||||
| Wigan Five Feet | 4 0 | 348 5 5 | ||
| Wigan Four Feet | 3 8 | 373 2 1 | ||
| Wigan Six Feet | 5 6 | 399 0 1 | ||
| No workable coals for 110 yds to: | ||||
| Cannel | 2 0 | 509 0 1 | ||
| King | 1 9 | 512 1 6 | ||
| Haigh Yard | 4 0 | 599 1 8 | ||
| Arley | 4 0 | 731 0 2 | ||
North Shaft and South Shaft both 16 feet diameter, lined in brickwork except for 22 yards of cast iron tubbing where passing through old flooded workings in the Ince Seven Feet Mine.
Winding
North Pit – Twin cylinder horizontal engine built by Robert Daglish, St Helens. 30 inches x 60 inches, Cornish valves, stepped Diabolo drum, one side 25 feet diameter outside, 17 feet diameter in centre and 3 feet 6 inches wide for winding from Arley Mine. Other side 20 feet diameter, outside and 17 feet diameter in centre for Haigh Yard Mine. Winding rope one inch diameter locked coil. Double deck cages carrying two tubs each deck. Three wire rope conductors per cage.
South Pit – Twin cylinder horizontal winding engine 28 inches x 60 inches, slide valves fitted with Bristol’s patent roller. Cage arrangements generally as North Pit.
Ventilation (1899)
Furnace in the Cannel Mine circulating 130,000 to 140,000cfm.
Also installed underground in Pemberton Four Feet near the shaft – Walker Bros. “Indestructible” fan 8 feet x 3 feet, 3 feet diameter pulley, six – cotton ropes. Horizontal duplicate 12 inch engine, 8 feet diameter flywheel. Circulating 53,000cfm. at 300rpm. (engine speed 112 rpm).
Ventilation (1901)
Walker Bros. “Indestructible” fan installed at surface. Cross-compound engine 21 inches + 38 inches x 48 inches, cut-off slide valves to HP and LP cylinders. Flywheel grooved for 12 – 1¾ inches ropes. Flywheel 18 feet diameter. Horizontal condenser. Piping for separate HP and LP working. Centrifugal pump to deliver condensate from hot well to water cooler. Fan 24 feet diameter, 8 feet diameter rope pulley, 300,000cfm. at 5½ inches wg.
Underground Pumps
One 12 inch pumping engine at Ince Seven Feet. One twin 18 inch with double acting rams at Pemberton Four Feet, made by Robert Daglish, St Helens.
Water raised occasionally at night in tanks from sump.
Underground Haulage
Single cylinder engine 16½ inches x 36 inches geared 1 to 8 to 3rd. motion shaft carrying a 4 feet 6 inches diameter Clifton pulley. Endless rope taken 3½ turns around pulley.
One 12 inches x 24 inches duplex engine in Pemberton Four Feet.
One 18 inches x 36 inches duplex engine in Wigan Four Feet (endless rope).
Longest length of haulage 2450 yards plus 300 yards branch, on south side of pit.
Boilers (1899)
Two ranges each with own chimney comprising a total of two Lancashire boilers and eight egg-ended boilers, working pressure 55psi.
Boiler feed by one Cameron pump and one horizontal pump – also – two injectors. Feed water supplied from Ince Seven Feet pumping engine.
Seams Worked (1899) – North Pit (upcast)
Haigh Yard – First class steam and house coal
Arley – First class house, gas and coking coal.
Seams Worked (1899) – South Pit (downcast)
Pemberton Four Feet – First class house coal.
Wigan Five Feet – Steam coal.
Wigan Four Feet – Steam and second class house coal.
Cannel – High illuminating power gas.
King – Steam and second class house coal.
Pemberton Four Feet worked pillar and stall, all others longwall.
General dip of strata 1 in 6 eastwards.
Accidents & Disasters
On the 4th January 1865 about 200 yards of shaft lining collapsed killing the five men sinking the shaft. The full report can be found here.
On the 6th April 1888 another shaft sinking accident occurred. The hoppet the men were travelling in struck the side of the shaft and overturned. Three men fell to their deaths and two more were killed by the falling hoppet. The full report can be found here.
CLOSURE – December 1920.
Copyright © NMRS Records: G. Hayes Collection
Return to previous page