Ladyshore Colliery
Ladyshore Colliery, originally named Back o' th Barn, was situated on the Irwell Valley fault on the Manchester Coalfield in Little Lever, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Founded by Thomas Fletcher Senior, the colliery opened in the 1830s and mined several types of coal. It became infamous as a result of the owners' stand against the use of safety lamps in the mines. Women and children worked in the mines, under poor conditions.
Closed in 1949, it was the last colliery to remain in use by the canal. Only the colliery office and the stables have survived.
Terminology used
Coal mining had its own terminology, whilst some terms were common in all areas, some were used only in the Lancashire Coalfield. Following are some terms used in Ladyshore Colliery, taken from Weep Mother Weep.- Balance – a slope with a pulley at the top where empty tubs pulled full tubs up the slope
- Balancer – the person, usually a boy, who operated the balance
- Colliery – the site at the surface that includes all the buildings, railways and headgears
- Coupler – a boy who worked on the haulage system coupling tubs together
- Mine – the name given in Lancashire to a coal seam
- Pit – the shaft from the surface down to the workings
- Tenter – a person who looked after something e.g., furnace tenter, door tenter or pony tenter
History
The geology of the Irwell Valley made coal easier to mine; thrown upwards by the fault, the coal measures were often to be found at reasonably shallow depths. Unfortunately floods were common as water seeped into the pits. In 1835, one such flood occurred at Ladyshore. Mining in the affected pit ceased in 1884, but the shaft remained in use as the upcast ventilation shaft for the colliery. Eventually a tunnel was driven to Farnworth Bridge Pit, also owned by the Fletcher family, to dewater and ventilate the mines.
Image:Ladyshore Waterson.JPG|left|thumb|Ladyshore Colliery in about 1948
At various stages, the owners connected the two sides of the colliery. Around 1850 a bridge was built over the canal and some time around 1881, the bridge was railed to make a tubway. In 1905 the owners entered into discussion with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company in an attempt to establish an endless steel ropeway across the canal, and to deliver coal using a possible rail spur to the colliery. Although these talks were abandoned, in 1908 the subject was again raised, again with no result.
In 1938 the colliery was owned by Ladyshore Coal Company. Its three pits, Ladyshore, Owl Hole and Victoria employed 208 men underground and 114 surface workers. By the start of World War II Ladyshore was the only working colliery remaining on the entire length of the canal. It had its own fleet of boats and as late as 1941 still sent over of coal along the canal to Radcliffe and Bury. In 1907, the colliery was reorganised and a new company formed to run it, the Ladyshore Coal Company Ltd. In 1930 a management re-shuffle lead to the company changing hands and it was renamed the Ladyshore Coal Co. Ltd. The colliery was one of the few in the area to use pit ponies, and in 1948 concerns were raised over their treatment. Animal welfare groups managed to obtain photographs and were preparing to oppose the mine owners when in June 1949, the colliery closed and the ponies brought from the mine for the last time.
Today, only the colliery office and the stables survive. At the close, the last full year output was given as 39,541 tons with a manpower of 236.
Mines
There were several mines or coal seams worked at Ladyshore: The Owl Hole Pit worked the Trencherbone, Top Yard, Doe and Three Yard whilst the Victoria Pit worked the Cannel, Five Quarters, Gingham and Ten Foot.Accidents
The colliery was witness to several accidents, some of them fatal. In 1886, a collier by the name of Hardaker was injured in or around the coal screening area. The accident resulted in Hardaker taking Fletcher, the owner to court. Although some private papers about the subsequent court case, Hardakers v Fletcher, have survived, none of the paperwork is dated other than by the year. At 2:30 pm on 25 June 1902, a collier by the name of W. Scott was killed. Scott was pulling down the roof with his under-manager, a man by the name of Brown when a layer fell, bringing down the next layer and crushing Scott. At the inquest in Bolton on 1 July, his death was recorded as accidental.On 12 April 1940, an underground tram accident occurred at the colliery, crushing and seriously injuring a miner named as E. Robinson.
Fletcher family
The fortunes of the Ladyshore were intimately connected with the Fletcher family and their ties to local politics. The colliery was founded by Thomas Fletcher Senior, under the name Thomas Fletcher & Sons. Thomas Sr was chairman of the Little Lever Local Board from 1872 until 1879. He had a brother John who, whilst part of the colliery business, kept in the shadows. On the death of Thomas Sr, Thomas Junior took over the mines with his brother Matthew. Thomas Jr became the Mayor of Bolton in 1884 and remained in office until 1887. Thomas' brother Matthew kept out of direct control of the colliery but maintained the family links to politics by becoming the chairman of the Little Lever Local Board and then chairman of the Little Lever Urban District Council in 1895. Thomas Sr died in 1893, leaving £163,000,. The activities of Thomas Sr and Thomas Jr meant that they could not devote all their time to the colliery, so John's son Herbert Fletcher, also a member of Bolton Town Council, took control of the colliery and was named as the owner in the infamous court case over safety lamps. Herbert died of a heart attack at the colliery on 16 September 1895. Despite owning a coal mine, Herbert was active in the area of preventing smoke pollution and published several papers on smoke control, his most read being in the Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health.Fletcher trial
Despite an accident caused by a candle igniting gas at the Clifton Hall Colliery on 18 June 1885, in which 178 miners lost their lives, the Fletcher family, owners of Ladyshore refused to introduce safety lamps into the pits even though they were working the same mine which was known to be a gassy coal. This stubborn streak resulted in one of the largest court cases involving coal mines in England which brought about the end of the use of candles and other open lights in coal mines. The case also had implications for the use of other equipment, such as electrical lighting and tools, which may have endangered the lives of miners.On 3 May 1886, HM Inspector of Mines, Mr Joseph Dickenson, inspected the pits and, on finding that candles were still being used, cited the Gingham mine and issued a notice to Herbert Fletcher stating that all the pits must change to safety lamps. The notice read:
On 21 May, Herbert Fletcher appealed against the notice to the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary deferred the matter and both he and the mine owners each appointed an arbitrator, who then appointed an umpire to decide the points. After an examination of the facts, the umpire agreed with the notice.
Fletcher hired C. A. Russell, Solicitor and Henn Collins QC to appeal this decision to the Divisional Court at Wigan. The reasoning behind the appeal was twofold: first; that the umpire was limited to deeming whether an open light was dangerous and not determining that mines need to be worked with a particular remedy as this went beyond his powers and second; that instead of using safety lamps, the owners could get rid of the firedamp, thus not requiring safety lamps as laid down in the notice.
On 12 July 1886 at Wigan, Denman & Hawkins JJ dismissed the appeal upholding the umpire's decision and the Inspector's original notice. Fletcher then appealed to the High Courts and the case was heard by the Queen's Bench on 16 December 1886. The Queen's Bench upheld the Divisional Court decision, but gave leave to appeal to the House of Lords.
The matter was taken to the Court of Appeal at the House of Lords where on 15 January 1887, under a bench consisting of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary Esher MR, Bowen LJ and Fry LJ. the appeal was heard. The appeal involved several arguments, on how the umpire had arrived at his decision, the points that he had used and whether he had exceeded his authority. On 17 January, after deliberation, a two to one judgment was issued, upholding the Queen's Bench and dismissing the appeal:
Despite the dismissal of the appeal and thus the validation of the notice issued by HM Inspector of Mines, Fletcher continued to use open flames. Because of this, on 4 May 1887, Herbert Fletcher was summoned to Bolton Police Court to answer charges of 'a breach of safety' under the Coal Mines Regulation Act 1872. On 16 May 1887, Fletcher was found guilty of endangering his workers and fined at the Bolton Court.
This case marked the end of the use of candles and other open lights in English coal mines and left Ladyshore with the infamous distinction of being the last colliery to use open lights.