Norley Hall Colliery

Shafts
See end of notes for coal seams intersected.
No.1 Pit, sunk c1845, 10 feet diameter, 205 yards to Wigan Nine Feet Mine. Used (1892) for ropes from haulage engine placed near top of pit.
No.2 Pit, 12 feet diameter, 205 yards depth, upcast and winding.
No.3 Pit, 12 feet diameter, 443 yards to Orrell Five Feet, downcast and winding.
No.4 Pit, sunk 1874, 12 feet diameter, 508 yards to Arley Mine. Upcast and winding.
No.5 Pit, sunk 1881, 16 feet diameter, 508 yards to Arley Mine.

Winding
No.2 Pit, single cylinder horizontal engine 30 inches x 60 inches, geared 1:3, two flat rope reels 12ft. dia. (bare), ropes 2¾ inches x 5/8 inches, winding four tubs, 6cwt capacity on two decks per cage from Wigan Nine Feet Mine. Three iron wire rope conductors per cage.
No.3 Pit, single cylinder horizontal engine, 36 inches x 72 inches, Cornish valves, two flat rope reels 12 feet and 14 feet diameter for winding from Orrell Five Feet and Yard Mines, ropes 3 inches x 5/8 inches. Four 6 cwt tubs per cage on two decks. Two pitch pine conductors to each cage.
No.4 Pit, twin cylinder horizontal engine, 26 inches x 54 inches, slide valves, two flat rope reels 16ft. diameter, ropes 2¾ inches x 5/8 inches, winding four tubs per cage on two decks. Four wire rope conductors to each cage.
No.5 Pit, Twin cylinder horizontal engine by Haigh Foundry, 1863, 30 inches x 60 inches, slide valves. Two flat rope reels 12 feet and 14 feet 4 inches diameter, winding from Arley and Orrell Five Feet, ropes 3 inches x 5/8 inches, pitch pine cage conductors. Four tubs wound in single deck cages, in twos abreast.

Pumping
40 inches x 9 feet Bull engine at No.5 Pit, with 13 inches ram pump, pumping from lodge room in Wigan Four Feet Mine. Single lift to surface, 3 strokes per minute day and night. Also winding water in tanks from Arley Mine at night as required.
Cameron pump, twin cylinder, at the bottom of No.1 shaft, 12 inches x 10 inches x 10 inches, pumping from Wigan Nine Feet to Four Feet lodge room, 23 strokes per minute, day and night.
Twin cylinder Cameron pump near No.1 Pit at Wigan Four Feet horizon, 24 inches x 12 inches x 10 inches, forcing water to surface, 170 yards. Day and night operation, 23 strokes per minute.
Pump 700 yards down engine brow (No.2 Pit, Wigan Nine Feet Mine), operated by special endless rope from No.1 hauling engine at surface. Climax grip pulley on pump.

Underground Haulage
No.1 Haulage Engine, placed at the top of No.1 Pit, hauling in No.2 Pit, Nine Feet engine brow by main and tail. Engine single cylinder horizontal 20 inches x 40 inches, geared 1:4, two drums 4 feet diameter, 25-30 tubs per journey.
No.2 Hauling Engine, located in the Yard Mine near No.3 Pit. Twin cylinder horizontal, 10 inches, geared to two 4 feet diameter drums for main and tail haulage, 30 tubs per journey. Steam supplied by underground boilers.
No.3 Hauling Engine, placed at the top of No.4 Pit for a brow in the Wigan Four Feet. Horizontal 10 inches + 14 inches x 30 inches, geared to two 4 feet diameter drums for main and tail haulage, 20 tubs per journey.
No.4 Hauling Engine, twin cylinder horizontal placed at the surface, 10 inches x 20 inches, double geared 1:7 to Clifton pulleys for endless driving wire rope. Rope passed down No.5 Pit to Orrell Five Feet inset where guided to vertical shaft carrying clutch and sheave for endless chain haulage. Driving rope passed around Clifton pulley on vertical shaft and then returned to No.5 shaft, passing down to the Arley Mine to drive, as above, endless chain haulage. Driving rope passed around tensioning pulley and returned up shaft to engine. Work in hand (1892) to replace chains with endless rope haulages.

Ventilation
Nos.1, 2 and 3 Pits, boiler fires and steam from haulage engines exhausting into No.2 (upcast) shaft.
Nos.4 & 5 Pits, Schiele fan 12 feet diameter located at top of No.4 (upcast) shaft. Direct drive at 122rpm. from 24 inches x 24 inches duplicate horizontal engine. 84,000cfm. at 1½ inches water gauge. Made by Union Engineering Co., Manchester, before 1879.

Boilers
A total of eight Lancashire boilers (with plain furnace tubes), two Cornish and three egg-end boilers supplying steam at 50psi.

Accidents & Disasters
On the 21st December 1868 ten men died in an explosion caused by the use of gunpowder. The full report can be found here.

CLOSURES
No.4 Pit closed 1896, other pits February 1897.
Nos. 4 & 5 Pits bought by Sharrock & Gaskell and amalgamated with Orrell (Walthew House) Colliery.
Nos. 2 & 3 Pits re-opened July 1897 by S.W. Higginbotham, (H.S. Higginbotham Ltd. from 1908). Closed 1914.
See also – Orrell (Walthew House) Colliery.

Coal Seams intersected:

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