The Pendlebury Colliery or Wheatsheaf Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield

Manchester Coalfield

The Manchester Coalfield is part of the South East Lancashire Coalfield. Its coal seams were laid down in the Carboniferous period and some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages and extensively from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th...

 after 1846 in Pendlebury

Pendlebury

Pendlebury is a suburban town in the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies to the northwest of Manchester city centre, northwest of Salford, and southeast of Bolton....

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, then part of 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.

The colliery, sunk in 1846, was owned by Andrew Knowles and Sons

Andrew Knowles and Sons

Andrew Knowles and Sons was a coal mining company that operated in and around Clifton, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire. England....

 and had two ten foot diameter shafts 24 yards apart.
The pit had a pitch pine timber headgear

Headgear

Headgear, headwear or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head.Headgear serve a variety of purposes:...

 and a winding engine

Winding engine

A winding engine is a stationary engine used to control a cable, for example to power a mining hoist at a pit head. Electric hoist controllers have replaced proper winding engines in modern mining, but use electric motors that are also traditionally referred to as winding engines.Most proper...

 supplied by J Musgrave of Bolton which operated until 1944 was supplied by J. Musgrave of Bolton.
The colliery was ventilated by furnace and by the 20th century ventilation fans had been installed. Wrought iron boilers to raise steam to power pumps, air compressors and haulage were originally sited near the bottom of No.2 shaft, the upcast shaft. The shaft bottom was at 1,775 feet. The colliery accessed several seams including the Rams, Crumbouke and Doe mines.
In 1896 the colliery employed 640 men underground and 165 surface workers while in 1923 there were 563 underground and 172 surface workers.]].

The colliery became part of Manchester Collieries

Manchester Collieries

Manchester Collieries was a coal mining company formed in 1929 with headquarters at Walkdenfrom a group of independent companies operating on the Manchester Coalfield. The Mining Industry Act of 1926 attempted to stem the post-war decline in coal mining and encourage independent companies to merge...

 in 1929 and the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

in 1947. The colliery was connected by tunnel to Newtown Colliery in 1957 but closed in June 1961.