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 lease for the sinking of Wellsway Colliery was drawn up on December 31st 1828.
- Between November 4th 1829 and November 20th 1933 a sum of £7000 was raised to pay for the sinking of the 8 feet diameter 241 yards deep shaft.
- In 1839 a serious accident occurred.
- At the time a flat hemp rope was in use to lower men and boys down the shaft standing in loops on the side of the rope like stirrups.
- 12 men and boys were killed when the rope snapped at the point of descent into the shaft.
- The rope was generally believed to have been maliciously cut.
- In July 1854 cages were introduced having 4 decks carrying a maximum of 10 men, there were 100 employed during this period.
- A new winding engine costing £300 was installed in April 1864, the engine wound cages in both single shafts, water being raised on the night shift in tanks.
- The output of coal was over 20,000 tons for 1870, a figure which remained constant until 1911 when it began to decline.
- In 1897 coal winding ceased at Wellsway the shafts being used for man riding, supplies and bringing up water.
- Coal was taken underground to Radstock Ludlows Colliery for winding to the surface.
- Wellsway retained its separate identity its coal recorded separately and the men were employed there rather than at Ludlows.
- Trouble was being experienced with recently introduced coal cutting machines, the cutting arms on two both broke and couldn’t be repaired for a week.
- The pit eventually closed towards the end of August 1920.
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.