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Thanks To Steve Nicholls, Stewart Parr, Andrew Lomax and Alan Davies
Wigan's Town Centre Mines - Page 2

There isn't enough recorded about mining

Peter Plats Mines

Perhaps some of the earliest recorded workings are those of Peter Plat. These are recorded in the Wigan Court Leet from the 17th century. Excavations in 1963 during the construction of Wigan Baths uncovered extensive workings thought to those of Peter Plat.

Alliance Colliery


Alliance colliery could be found in the centre of Wigan
between Woodcock Street and Standishgate.


Alliance Colliery Workings

Other Known Shafts Within The Town Centre

Excavations behind Wigan children’s library by Wigan Archaeological Society unearthed a mine shaft. The shaft was of brick construction approximately 6 feet in diameter and filled with pit waste, bricks and stone.


Chapel Colliery Mine Shaft could be found on the west side of the mainline between the railway and Great George Street.
Two shafts could be found on Crompton Street under what is now the Bingo building.

Expanding to take in the remainder of the Parish of Wigan helps to demonstrate the true extent of workings and how much coal there really was and so some extent still is.

Just a stones throw from Britannia Bridge was Britannia Pit with one shaft and another unnamed Colliery with 2 shafts.

 
According to an old map I have, Chapel colliery lies to the east of both railways and just to the north west corner of the present Wigan Wallgate station so I wouldn’t expect any pits to the west of the LNWR line. I would estimate the colliery was extremely close to where the Moss school of dancing used to be.

Regards

Chris Coates

  • At frog lane municipal tip there are 3 known shafts
  • Meadows House Farm Colliery just off woodhouse lane opposite Ingram street 1 shaft
  • Meadow Pit and Douglas Bank 6 shafts
  • 6 shafts off Barnsley Street for Barley Brook and Gidlow Lane Collieries
  • Rylands or Swinley Colliery 3 shafts off Walkden Avenue
  • Swinley Colliery 3 shafts between Swinley Road and Kenyon Road
  • Ince Hall Colliery behind the Cricket Ground 2 shafts
  • Mesnes Colliery 3 shafts
  • Then there are the collieries near Bottling Wood including 2 shafts in bottling wood, a drift mine, Platt Lane or Round house colliery.
  • Shaft at Water Hey
  • A Shaft near Wigan Little Theatre
  • Water Hey Colliery Scholes 3 shafts
  • Hardy Buts Pit at the end of Hardy Butts Lane 1 shaft.

Other Known Shafts Within The Town Centre

I’m sure that some shafts will have been missed. This map shows some of the known shafts on a modern map overlay

Pit Terminology - Glossary


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