It is nearly 30 metres (98 ft) high and was built by Head Wrightson of Stockton-on-Tees and completed by 1912. It was extremely wet and unstable, perhaps unsurprising as it lies on the edge of the extensive bog land area of Chat Moss. [5] Although large amounts of coal lay deep beneath the surface waiting to be dug out, the ground above was not very suitable for mining.

The whole complex of Astley Colliery sits very close to the Bridgewater Canal. The company acquired the mineral rights for 700 acres (280 ha) of land accessing an estimated 140 million tons of coal under Chat Moss stretching beyond the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and where the coal seams dip at 1 in 4.5 towards the south. Each had their own headgears and dedicated winding engines. [8] The surface workers included women, known as pit brow lasses, who sorted coal on the screens.

This consisted of a riveted steel lattice construction standing at over 24 metres tall, and the one for Number 1 shaft is still in position today. It has two large and one small wheel mounted at the top. Grow your travel business and get new leads from interested customers. Numerous train engines and carriages are also on show, waiting for the circular track to be installed. Reports show that it is repairable. It was housed in a purpose built engine house next to the shaft. It was sunk in 1908 and this is the first serious accident there has been. These would then carry their cargo to the power stations at Trafford Park and Stretford. They are also keen to recruit new members to their cause. Its engine house has the largest steam winding engine used on the coafield. This was used by men to inspect the water pumps at that colliery. Firedamp was a problem in the new workings and ventilation was a problem.

The Crombouke and Rams mines were intersected by the sinkings.

Accordingly, the pit headgear for Number 1 shaft, along with its winding engine, internal travelling crane and shed, were left in place. Astley Green is the southernmost colliery on the Manchester Coalfield. Demolition began in the same year. [9] An 0-4-0 saddletank, "Astley", from Pecketts of Bristol was bought in 1908 and used on the construction of the line as was "Winnie", a contractor's 0-4-0 tank engine hired from Thomas Mitchell and Sons of Bury. The museum also has a collection of 28 colliery locomotives, the largest such collection in the UK.

The Astley Green Pit is one of the most modern in the Lancashire Coalfield, and is at present employing 2000 men. This needs to be reassembled. Each had their own headgears and dedicated winding engines. Astley Green Colliery : Lancashire Mining Museum. Most of the colliery was knocked down, but pressure was brought to bear by Lancashire Council, local museums and archaeologists to preserve some of the site.

Despite the efforts of the mines rescue teams from Boothstown Mines Rescue Station, who were driven back by further explosions, five men including the manager died. [5] Shaft sinking commenced in 1908 and proved difficult because of water and quicksand. In 1983, some ten years after demolition of the rest of the site occurred, Red Rose Steam Society took a lease on the site and moved in. The headgear is made from wrought iron lattice girders with rivetted plates at the joints. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, and bird watching. There is still much for the volunteers to do. The remnants of the site were then mothballed, but they were not forgotten. The 3,300 horse power twin tandem compound engine was built by Yates & Thom in Blackburn. In 1923 the colliery employed 1524 men underground and 436 surface workers;[2] which increased to 1631 underground and 492 surface workers by 1933. It is nearly 30 metres (98 ft) high and was built by Head Wrightson of Stockton-on-Tees and completed by 1912. The engine was driven by four steam cylinders in a twin compound arrangement. Sinking commenced in 1908 by the Pilkington Colliery Company, a subsidiary of the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company, at the southern edge of the Manchester Coalfield, working the Middle Coal Measures where they The headgear of No.1 pit survives, it is made from wrought iron lattice girders with riveted plates at the joints and one small and two large wheels mounted at the top.

When you visit you will find the volunteers very friendly and welcoming. A 100-foot (30 m) layer of alluvial deposits consisting of clay, sand, gravel and marl overlay the rock. The Astley Green Colliery Museum is a museum run by the Red Rose Steam Society in Astley near Tyldesley in Greater Manchester. The museum is owned by Wigan Borough Council but the site is completely run by volunteers from the Red Rose Steam Society, who lease the site.

On the third of April 1970, the last load of coal was hauled up. These factors made the sinking of the shaft a very expensive proposition. "Black Diamond" and "Newtown" were transferred from other Clifton and Kersley pits in the 1920s. It was now powered using not steam but compressed air.

They managed to secure some grants from Greater Manchester Council to try to restore it. The company built a smaller cross compound winding engine for No 2 pit, installed in 1919.[7]. It accessed the coal seams of the Middle Coal Measures laid down over 300 million years ago in the Carboniferous Period and overlain by Permo-Triassic rocks. The volunteers have also diversified the use of the site. Its four cylinders run in a ‘twin tandem compound arrangement’ to deliver 3300 horsepower at 58 revolutions per minute. The Astley Green Colliery Museum is a museum run by the Red Rose Steam Society in Astley near Tyldesley in Greater Manchester, England.Before becoming a museum, the site was a working colliery that produced coal from 1912 to 1970; it is now protected as a Scheduled Monument.

The site also contains a narrow gauge mineral railway line along with trains and trucks used for transporting the coal. After 25 years of labour the engine was once again in full working order, and in 2013 it ran for the first time in decades. The museum has recently acquired Fred Dibnah’s pit headgear, which he had erected in his back garden. In 1930, after formation of Manchester Collieries Ltd, a new line was constructed to the Boothstown Basin where it joined the Bridgewater Collieries Network. Enter your email address to follow this website and receive notifications of new posts by email. Opening Times: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, Lancashire Mining Museum Astley Green Masterplan Vision, Randall Thorp January 2019 (the full report can be downloaded from the museums website as a pdf document), On site interpretation in the engine house. It is the only one left in Lancashire, and the best example of its kind in Britain. In 1912 a twin tandem compound 3300 horsepower winding engine built by Yates and Thom of Blackburn, the largest ever used on the Lancashire Coalfield, was installed at No 1 pit. [11], There was a mining accident at the colliery on 6 June 1939, when there was an explosion of firedamp. © TouristLink.com 2020, All Rights Reserved. At Nationalisation in 1947 the colliery employed 1375 below and 561 above ground. [4][a], The Clifton and Kearsley Company's coal reserves were becoming depleted in the Irwell Valley at a time when demand for coal on the Lancashire Coalfield was at its highest and in 1907 its subsidiary company sank a 24-inch (610 mm) bore hole at Astley Green, north of the Bridgewater Canal to investigate untapped reserves of the concealed coalfield. After 1929 the Astley Green was on Manchester Collieries' Central Railway system based on Walkden Yard.

The steam winding engine was built by Yates and Thom of Canal Ironworks, Blackburn.

It is the largest colliery steam engine of its type in Europe. The rings were forced through the ground using thirteen hydraulic jacks. Extensive railway tracks clustered in the yard nearby to transport the coal away to the main lines. The winding engine had been exposed to the elements and was in a poor condition. The coal seams at Astley Green are very deep and overlain by 100 feet of wet and unstable ground. In 1929 it became part of Manchester Collieries,[2] and in 1947 was nationalised and integrated into the National Coal Board. However demand was so high for coal that it was deemed worth extracting. Accordingly, a new technique to sink the first shaft was developed – the Drop Shaft method.