Paulton

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

  • In the early 1800s, there were at least 9 working coal mines.
  • Paulton hill was the deepest at 266 yards deep
  • At Simons Hill colliery haycock boilers were used to provide steam, one exploded!
  • Little brook colliery had two shafts that were connected underground to Crossway and the two Britten pits.
  • According to records the shaft of Britten new pit was under the old Somerset In.
  • Paulton engine colliery was probably the oldest in the area, The first Somerset Pumping engine was erected in 1750
  • On March the 24th there was a serious accident when the rope broke. 4 men and a boy were killed when falling down the shaft.
  • Paulton engine was used to pump water out of the Timsbury pits once it has closed.
  • One of the winding engines that was at Old Mills top pit which was in use for over a 100 years up until 1966 is stored in the Industry Museum at Bristol.

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 Paulton: