Haydock Collieries

The shallow coal measures in the area had been worked from at least the 18th century when the major landowners were the Leghs of Lyme.

[1] Around 1830, the collieries were run by Thomas Legh and William Turner and had a horse-drawn tramway connection to the Sankey Canal.

[1] Richard Evans (1778–1864), a printer from Paternoster Row in London, bought a share in Edge Green Colliery in Golborne in 1830.

[4] The collieries had access to considerable coal reserves but the workings were subject to flooding.

Some collieries were connected underground to rationalise winding operations and facilitate ventilation.

[6] Four of the company's collieries survived to become part of the National Coal Board (NCB) in 1947.

[9] Richard Evans (1778–1864) married Mary, daughter of Thomas Smith of Portsmouth, on 11 June 1810.

They had eight children, Richard (1811–1887), Anne (1812–1883), Mary (1814-1895) Joseph (1817–1889), Ruth (1819–1896), Josiah (1820–1873) and Henry (1823–1878).

[10] In 1975 nearly 1000 men worked at the pit taking coal from the Crombouke, Lower Florida and Ince Six Feet mines.

The downcast shaft, No 1 was 395 yards (361 m) deep and wound coal from the Florida seam.

[10] On 29 June 1900, eight workers were killed when pockets of gas were encountered while shaft sinking.

[10] Haydock Foundry produced six 0-6-0 well tank steam locomotives, designed by Josiah Evans, for the collieries.

They were named Amazon (built 1868), Hercules (1869), Makerfield (1874), Bellerophon (1874), Parr (1886) and Golborne (1887).

Josiah Evans died in 1873 and Smallwood attributes the design changes to his assistant, James Forrest.

Excepting Edge Green and Golborne Collieries, all Evans' pits were connected by the company's private railway network.

[18] The earliest locomotives for use on the colliery system were obtained from the Vulcan Foundry and Jones and Potts.