Memories Of Bold Colliery And It`s Proud Coal Miners..

Subscribe to my you tube channel for 210+ more coal mine tributes and counting. East of St Helens, Merseyside at a site alongside the L&NWR Liverpool to Manchester line, Shaft Nos.1 and 2 were both sunk to find the Higher Florida seam, at a depth of 555 metres, during 1875 and 1876. No.1 Shaft, the upcast, is 3.66 metres in diameter, while No.2, the downcast, is five metres in diameter. The former company sank No.1 Shaft to its full depth, and No.2 to 183 metres when, in 1875, the pumping machinery was overpowered and the sinking was abandoned after £57,000 had been spent. The source of the water was the New Red Sandstone.
The Collins Green Colliery Co. Ltd was floated in 1875 and bought the plant at the Bold Colliery in 1878. Since then No.2 Shaft has been sunk to its full depth. A third shaft (No.3 Pit) was sunk to a depth of 564 metres between 1887 and 1890. It was 4.9 metres in diameter and passed through the Upper and Lower Florida seams. Its eventual full depth, according to cap, was 830 metres.
We are fortunate in that a detailed report on the colliery from December 1892 has survived. The following section is base on it.
The Collins Green Co. recovered the two shafts by using the winding engines to lift large barrels of water to drain them. The No.1 Shaft winding engine had two horizontal cylinders, 16 inches by 36 inches, which lifted barrels holding 300 gallons of water.
The No.2 Shaft winding engine had two horizontal cylinders, 36 inches by 72 inches, with ordinary slide valves. A cylindrical rope drum, 18 feet in diameter, with a brake ring at each side and a foot brake, also 10 inches steam reversing gear. It was used to wind water, and then for sinking to 183 metres. From which depth two decked cages, holding six tubs, were hauled. Each cage had three wire rope guides. The winding ropes were made of plough steel, 1.5 inches in diameter, which when half coiled on the drum were turned back by a ring so as to coil one upon another for half of the wind. This was found to greatly reduce the side abrasion which occurred when the whole of the rope was wound on the drum in one continuous coil sideways. The life of the rope was thus doubled. Each wind, including changing the tubs, took one minute, and 800 tons were raised daily in this shaft.
The No.3 Shaft winding engine had two horizontal cylinders, 36 inches by 72 inches, with ordinary slide valves. A cylindrical drum, 22 feet in diameter, with a brake ring on each side of the drum and a foot brake, also a 10 inches steam reverser. The winding ropes were turned back on the drum, as at No.2 shaft, and the cages and ropes were also similar. The colliery had no pumping engine, so water was lifted from the sump by the winding engine at night. Each winding rope was fitted with an Ormerod detaching hook.On 20th January 1905 a serious accident happened as men were being wound down the shaft. For some reason the cage descended too fast, passed the mouth of the Yard Mine and crashed onto a sinking platform 30 yards below. 5 miners died and a further 14 were seriously injured.miners used Park Lane and Marsaut type safety lamps, with no open light being allowed away from the shaft.The losses continued and in March 1984 the Miners’ Strike began. Some regular work, like the recapping of winding ropes was done before the strike. Members of the management team were supervising machinery, like the fans, pumps etc which had to keep running, they were also doing underground inspections. NUM safety men had been withdrawn by June, when management were reporting poor conditions on faces caused by floor lift. This had trapped gearhead motors etc. against the roof and would need dinting to lower them. Chock were becoming ‘fast’ as their rams were fully closed by the pressure. They too would need to be freed before faces could resume work.
The strike ended on March 3rd 1985, but the NCB closed Bold in November 1985.