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:
- On January 24th 1791 an agreement for the sinking of Upper Conygre Pit was agreed, the shaft had a diameter of 8 feet, 346 yards deep.
- Shortly after opening the pit achieved fame by bringing up the shaft a single lump of coal weighing over 1270 Kilos.
- The colliery surface was designed so as to minimise interference with the view from Timsbury Manor, the main embellishment was the castellated chimney.
- Coal disposal was almost entirely by road until Lower Conygre was opened in 1858 when small coal was sent there for loading on to the Somerset Coal Canal.
- An underground connection was made between the two collieries, soon the newer pit began to overshadow its forbear.
- During the night maintenance shift on February 6th 1895 there was a disastrous underground explosion midway between the two pits.
- Seven men and four horses were killed, the force was such the cage at Upper Conygre was blown up the shaft becoming jammed as it fell back.
- Lower Conygre shaft had a diameter of 8 feet and a depth of 376 yards ( 344 meters)
- The canal became in adequate, in May 1894 there was a siding obtained from GWR to serve the pit.
- Construction of the sidings and self acting incline up to Lower Conygre opened in October 1900.
- Lower Congre pit was the first in Somerset to install a coal cutting machine, it proved a failure.
- Both Timsbury Conygre Pits closed in June 1916.
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.
Photo: Carli Barnes