Originally named Shakerley Colliery, the pit was sunk on land leased from Ellis Fletcher and worked by Nathan Eckersley in 1851.
A shaft was sunk to 840 feet and the pit produced house coal from the Trencherbone mine.
The colliery was isolated from the main roads and railway and access to it was via a toll road, Shakerley Lane, connecting it to the Bolton to Leigh turnpike which continued to charge tolls until 1948.
After the opening of the Tyldesley Loopline in 1864, William Ramsden built a mineral railway to link his collieries to the main line east of the Tyldesley Coal Company's sidings.
[3] The colliery was the scene of a disaster on 2 October 1883; six men died when the cage rope broke.