Old Mills

About This Location:

• Springfield opened 1872, situated south of the main road, nearby Old Mills north of the main road opened 1860.
• Originally they were linked on the surface by a narrow gauge tramway, in October 1941 a connection underground was made.
• The Old Mills shaft was closed for coal winding, it was then used for supplies and training men for their employment in the Somerset mines.
• The combined collieries were known as Old Mills, the closure came in 1966 leaving only Kilmersdon and Writhlington, most of the miners were transferred to these two pits.
• At the north site was the workshops and classrooms for NCB apprentice electricians and engineers until Radstock Technical College opened.
• Old Mills colliery baths were situated opposite Springfield pit to the south, a warehouse is now operating there.
• Depth of the shafts, Old Mills 366 yards
• Springfield 321 yards.

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.