This post is part of a series called Somerset Coal Miners
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- High Littleton
- Paulton
- Midsomer Norton – High Street
- Midsomer Norton
- Midsomer Norton Station
- Haydon
- Radstock
- Chilcompton
- Westfield
- Camerton
- Clandown
- Coleford – Coal Barton
- Coleford – Mackintosh
- Holcombe
- Old Mills
- Writhlington
- Timsbury
- Somerset Coal Mining – History!
- Paulton Basin
- Farrington Gurney
- Tunley
- Westfield Old Pit Road
- Newton St Loe
- Clandown
- Brandy Bottom
About This Location:
- The two main collieries close to the centre of Radstock were Middle Pit and Ludlows pit.
- Middle Pit at Combe End few details are known of its early history.
- A steam pumping engine was erected in 1801, in about 1804 a steam winder was installed which lasted for many years increasing the output from 20 tons a day to 50.
- A three deck cage was in use to haul coal up the shaft by October 1853.
- It was proposed to replace this with a 4 deck cage holding 4, 2 feet gauge wagons.
- In 1886 the shaft was deepened to a total depth of 597 yards.
- 1905 the pit was closed for extensive rebuilding, a new 120 feet high chimney, a boiler house and a winding house was built ( can be still seen today ) the winding engine being fitted in 1906.
- Middle pit closed in 1933.
- Ludlows Colliery on Frome Road was one of the earliest to be sunk in Radstock, it was working in the late 1790s.
- In 1850 the shaft was widened to 8 feet diameter and equipped with wooden guides for the two cages.
- In February 1926 an employee was killed while using the guss and crook, the first fatal accident since 1910.
- A coal cutter was installed in 1945 by 1946 900 tons of saleable coal were being hauled up the shaft per week, around 45,000 tons a year.
- It should be noted the shaft capacity was over 1,500 tons per week the pit was only working at little over half its capacity.
- Pit head baths opened in 1940, they were still in use for Writhlington Pit miners until 1973 when the last two pits closed.
- Ludlows closed on Friday March 19th 1954.
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.
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