Chanters Colliery
Encyclopedia
Chanters Colliery was a coal mine which was part of the Fletcher, Burrows and Company
's collieries at Hindsford
in
Atherton, Greater Manchester
, then in the historic county of Lancashire
, England.
which were laid down in the Carboniferous
period and where coal is mined from seams between the Worsley Four Foot and Arley mines. The seams generally dip towards the south and west and are affected by small faults. The Upper Coal Measures are not worked in this part of the coalfield.
One of these pits, the Gold Pit which closed before 1800 was reputed to have had a steam engine for pumping water out of the mine.
The colliery was modernised and developed after 1891 when two shafts were sunk first to the Trencherbone mine at 1121 feet and
deepened to the Arley mine at 1832 feet in 1896. These shafts accessed 12 coal seams.
Coal screens and a washery were built, and steel headgear and a new winding engine installed by 1904. The colliery was continually developed and modernised and lasted until 1966.
Fletcher, Burrows and Company
Fletcher, Burrows and Company was a coal mining company that owned collieries in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. Gibfield, Howe Bridge and Chanters collieries exploited the coal mines of the middle coal measures in the Manchester Coalfield...
's collieries at Hindsford
Hindsford
Hindsford is a suburb of Atherton in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated to the west of the Hindsford Brook, an ancient boundary between the townships of Atherton and Tyldesley cum Shakerley, and east of the Chanters Brook in the ancient parish of...
in
Atherton, Greater Manchester
Atherton, Greater Manchester
Atherton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England, historically a part of Lancashire. It is east of Wigan, north-northeast of Leigh, and northwest of Manchester...
, then in the historic county of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England.
Geology
Chanters Colliery exploited the Middle Coal MeasuresCoal Measures
The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...
which were laid down in the Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
period and where coal is mined from seams between the Worsley Four Foot and Arley mines. The seams generally dip towards the south and west and are affected by small faults. The Upper Coal Measures are not worked in this part of the coalfield.
History
Chanters Colliery in Hindsford was sunk in 1854 by John Fletcher in an area where coal had been mined for centuries from small shallow pits.One of these pits, the Gold Pit which closed before 1800 was reputed to have had a steam engine for pumping water out of the mine.
The colliery was modernised and developed after 1891 when two shafts were sunk first to the Trencherbone mine at 1121 feet and
deepened to the Arley mine at 1832 feet in 1896. These shafts accessed 12 coal seams.
Coal screens and a washery were built, and steel headgear and a new winding engine installed by 1904. The colliery was continually developed and modernised and lasted until 1966.