Newton St Loe

This post is part of a series called Somerset Coal Miners
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About This Location:

  • There were 4 coal mines in the Bath area.
    • Glob Pit —Near the Globe Inn.
    • Newton Pit —- Near Newton St Loe
    • Quarry Pit— bottom of Pennyquick Hill on the right near the turning to Twerton.
    • Pennyquick Pit— Opposite side the road to Quarry Pit at the bottom of Pennyquick Hill.
  • The modern motorist passing through the parish of Newton St Loe might be surprised to learn that once coal was mined on either side of the A4 between Bath and Bristol.
  • In the autumn when fields have been newly ploughed several dark coal patches are clearly seen in the field opposite the Globe Inn.
  • The railway line which travels high across Newton Mead suggests that most likely the spoil and rubbish extracted from the pits was used to build the embankment above the flood level of the river Avon.
  • There is little left visable of the turnpike pits with the changes made to road systems.
  • There is written evidence which points to coal mining at Newton for over 100 years.
  • During its century or more of working life from the 1730s to the 1840s the Newton Pits were able to provide a variety of customers both industrial and domestic.
  • The river Avon played a big part in transporting the coal to the main markets of Bath.
  • The cloth industries of Lyncombe, Widcombe and Twerton was a ready made market for coal.
  • It was the Globe Inn which gave its name to the Globe Colliery, the coking ovens adjacent to the Inn were most likely used for the purpose of drying malt as part of the brewing process.
  • The Newton pits closed in 1845.

About Somerset Coal:

We believe that Somerset coal was first discovered by the Romans. They were in the West Country 43AD, and there are references to it being used at the Temple of Minerva in Aqua Sulis (Bath). The coal used was probably found in coal outcrops around Stratton-on-the-Fosse, and transported along the Roman road – the Fosseway – for use in Bath.

Early coal workings, from coal outcrops, were largely in the Nettlebridge Valley, around Stratton-on-the-Fosse and Coleford, and to the North of the Coalfield, around High Littleton. It is estimated that output in 1500 was estimated about 10,000 tons a year, and that this had increased 10-fold by the late 1600s…

For even more information and history of Somerset Coal, Click Here. 

 

 

 

The Figure in Bath