Greyfield Colliery (1883 – 1911) – Depth 900 feet, Shaft Dia. 10 feet
Moresland (1840 then connected to Greyfield) – Depth 231 feet, Shaft Dia. 5 feet
Fry’s Bottom Colliery (1838 – 1895) – Depth 588 feet, Shaft Dia. 9 feet
Burchalls Pit (1908 – 1921) – Depth 148 feet
Knapp Hill (1921 – 1923) – Drift mine
Rudge Pit (1847 – 1854) – Depth 537 feet
Source of text – A brief History of Coal Mining in Clutton by L. J. Cunningham
Published by the Clutton History Group.
Rudges Pit
Map showing the location of Rudges Pit
Location of Rudges Pit. There are still fragments of coal in the tip.
This pit was sunk in 1847, but was closed by 1854. The pit had achieved an output of less than 90 tons of coal per week. Exploration in 1918 had suggested that the Rudge seam was of high quality and in April, 1923 a new mine was proposed to work this seam in areas missed by the old Rudges Pit. It was intended to lease 200 acres of coal south of the village and drive a pair of drifts down to the seam, using one of the Rudges Pit shafts for ventilation. This proposed, Cloud Hill colliery failed before it began, the optimism regarding the Rudge seam being ill-founded.
Fry’s Bottom Colliery
Map showing the location of Fry’s Bottom Colliery c. 1850
Frys Bottom Pit. At first coal was wound up in large buckets by means of a horse gin. This was superseded by a winding engine supplied by steam by a Hydrock Boiler (spherical)
It has not been possible to find a precise date for when work started at this pit, but it was in operation by the time of the 1836 Survey of the Earl of Warwick's estate. At this time James Rossiter, a local tenant farmer, was the main shareholder in the Frys Bottom Coal Company. Like Greyfield Pit, Frys Bottom Pit began mining in an area which had seen earlier activity.
When the pit was first in operation a horse gin, similar to those used at the Clutton Hill Works, was used to provide power, but this system was superseded by a steam winding engine. The date of this change is uncertain, but a 4½ ton boiler was sold for scrap in 1862. The pit was connected to Clutton by a siding in 1864. Presumably, in the period preceding this the coal was removed from the pithead by horse and cart. Once the siding was in operation coal trucks could move under the influence of gravity to Clutton Station. Later on Coffee Pot was used to move the coal trucks to and from the station. The pit mined the Streak, Hard, Sliving and Great veins of the Upper Coal Series and the shaft was 540 feet deep.
The closure of Frys Bottom is something of a mystery. The men once petitioned for closure of the mine, though the reason for this is not recorded.Work was suspended in 1887 and the pit was permanently shut on 31st July, 1895.
Thursday 16 August 1883, Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette
To Colliery Proprietors, Contractors Engineers, Ironfounders, Metal Brokers and Others.
Sale of Surplus Machinery and Plant at the Clutton Collieries, on the Bristol & North Somerset Railway.
Young and White are instructed sell by Public Auction, at the above Collieries, on Wednesday next, the 22nd of August. 1883, a quantity of surplus Machinery, Colliery Plant, &c., comprising :
AT FRY'S BOTTOM.
Modem and well-designed doule cylinder hauling or sinking engine (by Alexander Chaplin and Company, of Glasgow), 8 inch cylinder. 14-inch stroke strongly geared to double drum. 4 feet in diameter, 5 feet long, fitted with brake and disengaging clutch, reversing motion throttle valve and copper steam complete on one strong iron bedplate, 8 feet by 4 feet 6 inches, and weighing about 5 tons; pair of pit-head pulleys and pedestals complete with wrought iron arm: ventilating or blowing fan by Powis, James. Company; 300 yards of wire rope, fitted with clasp and in first-class condition, not having been used ; pony ; pony trap ; set of harness and sundries.
The Auctioneers call especial attention to this machinery, which is of an exceedingly useful character.
Sale will commence about 1:30 p.m., so as to enable byers to avail themselves of the 12:15 train from Bristol, the 12:40 train from Frome and the 1:5 from Radstock.
The Collieries are about half mile from Clutton
Parties may ride over the branch lines to the Collieries to attend the sale.
Auction Offices 22 Clare Street. Bristol.
August 10th,
Greyfield Pit
Map showing the location of Greyfield Pit
The Layout of Greyfield Pit buildings
Source (with permission) – The History of the Somerset Coalfield
by C G Down & A J Warrington. ©
Clutton New Coal Works, as Greyfield was first known, began its life in 1833 when the Earl of Warwick leased mineral rights. David Cook of North End Farm was the only local person amongst the shareholders. The other shareholders were John Savage Cameron of Eastbourne and Samuel Foster of Lincolns Inn, Middlesex thus showing that capital from outside the local area was being invested in coal mining in Clutton.
The New Coal Works was not the first to operate in the area around Greyfield Woods. The early bell pits have already been noted, but Old Greyfield Pit is found at the entrance to Greyfield Wood. The first shaft was square with wooden guides and wound by a steam engine. At first, owing to a lack of any road access to the pithead, a double track tramroad incline (and presumably a hauling engine) with a drum at its head was built from the colliery up to a coal depot on the Bath to High Littleton Road. The tramroad did not last long and soon the coal was moved through Greyfield Wood to Hallatrow Station.
The early years of the Works were often difficult. A deed of 1842 stated that new monies were needed for a new 90hp engine, extensions to the existing shafts and new pumps. This necessitated a call of £1000 on each share. Both Alexander Cameron Ford (nephew of John Cameron) and David Cook were unable to pay the necessary Calls on their shares and became liable for gradually increasing debts. David Cook had to move from the substantial North End Farm to a small cottage on Clutton Hill and when he died in 1848 the Rees Mogg family acquired his shares as trustees of his estate. In fact by this time the Rees Moggs had become the major shareholders.
Output for the year 1846 was 11,900 tons, but the works went through a bad time in 1858. Charles Hollwey, the manager, wrote that the underground workings are very dismaying and the trade, with the exception of the gas contract, is scarcely worth mention. Trade was still slack three years later, the first quarter of 1861 showing an income of £529 against an expenditure (excluding wages) of less than £200.
Modern Aerial view showing the layout of the old Pit buildings
Greyfield Colliery
During the latter half of the 19th century there was extensive expansion and modernisation of the colliery. A further three shafts were sunk, the first was a coaling shaft 10ft in diameter, the second was for ventilation and the third was equipped with a Cornish beam engine for pumping up water from the workings. In addition to the shafts there was a drift, running north-east, known as the Cuckoo Drift. (Cuckoo was a nickname for one of the coal veins). This drift led to the bottom of the shaft at Moorsland Colliery. Originally this led an independent existence, but the output was transferred to the Greyfield Coal Company. During this period the colliery shafts reached their maximum depth, 850 feet, and were working the Streak, Peacock, Dabchick and Kew Veins of the Upper Coal Series.
The hauling engines on the coaling shafts were repaired by the Paulton Foundry during the 1860's and a new engine was delivered in September, 1861 at a cost of £254. The Cornish Beam engine was also completely overhauled in April, 1861 for a cost of £350.
This mechanisation and expansion of the colliery helps to explain its growth, but probably the main reason was the introduction of a railway siding from the pithead connecting the colliery with the Bristol and North Somerset Railway at Clutton Station.
Initially the coal trucks went under the influence of gravity to the station and were then pulled back by horses. The first locomotive was introduced in 1885 and had the name Francis, though it was familiarly known as The Coffee Pot. In 1894 a new locomotive was introduced and was known as Daisy. This railway link made access to markets much easier and the colliery prospered, so much so that output had increased to 60, 000 tons in 1889. The underground workings were extensive reaching the village. There was an increase in the size of the labour force which necessitated new housing and in 1900 Maynard Terrace was built. Thus by the late 19th century Greyfield had become one of the most important collieries in Somerset.
Greyfield ran into a number of difficulties in the early part of the 20th century. In 1904 the Cuckoo Drift and the Moorsland workings were abandoned. Then in 1909 the colliery was the scene of a major disaster when water from old workings broke into the Streak vein. There was no loss of life and the miners were soon back at work. However, by the end of the year some men were given notice due to the closure of an area of the workings. Worse was to come when, on 26th May, 1911, the whole collier closed following royalty difficulties. This resulted in 300 men being made redundant, but many of the made and the machines used were transferred to the newly opened Burchills Pit.
Thursday 16 August 1883, Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette
To Colliery Proprietors, Contractors Engineers, Ironfounders, Metal Brokers and Others.
Sale of Surplus Machinery and Plant at the Clutton Collieries, on the Bristol & North Somerset Railway.
Young and White are instructed sell by Public Auction, at the above Collieries, on Wednesday next, the 22nd of August. 1883, a quantity of surplus Machinery, Colliery Plant, &c., comprising :
AT GREYFIELD COLLIERY.
Beam winding engine, with 28½ inch cylinder. 5 feet stroke, geared to winding drums 9 feet 6 inches in diameter, and fitted with brake and indicator ; pair of iron pulley bocks to lift 40 to 50 tons ; 6 inch steam stop valve ; horizontal winding engine. 12-inch cylinder; 3 feet 6 inch stroke, geared to double drum., fitted with brake, suitable for winding or pit sinking : boiler 13 feet long. 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, with fire doors, grate and mountings complete ; 2 cowls, tippers. and runners ; one noiseless ventilating or blowing fan by Powis, James, and Company ; nine 7-inch steam pipes, one fitted with expansion slide and stuffing box ; one direct-acting donkey pump ; about 350 yards of 4-inch iron wire rope in good condition : sundry lots of old wire rope; a quantity of oil casks ; wrought cast iron scrap, &c.
Burchills Pit
Map showing the location of Burchills Pit
The entrance to Burchills Pit
Burchills opened in 1911 soon after the closure of Greyfield Pit. Both Greyfield and Frys Bottom pits were situated some distance from the centre of the village, but Burchills was located in the village beside Batch Farm.
Work at Burchills actually began towards the end of 1908, the Clutton Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Greyfield Colliery Company, was formed and work began at two sites. The first site was next to Batch Farm where a drift was sunk following the inclination of the rocks. The second site was a few hundred yards to the north of the drift. An old shaft was reopened joining the bottom of the drift. The drift was used for access and for hauling coal for land sale and the shaft was connected to the railway and coal hauled here was for wider distribution. The Clutton Coal Company employed nearly 350 men and output was in excess of 780 tons per week.
However, there was always the constant fear that the new workings would cut into the old Greyfield workings and so flood the pit. The first rumours of closure came in 1918 when it was announced that the pit was to close in the near future and that the men would have to move to other pits. The Somerset Miners Association managed to come to an agreement with the Company and the mine remained open. An inrush of water from the Greyfield workings flooded part of the pit on 27th April, 1920. Tre existing pumps were inadequate and the pit then only mined coal above the water level.
The end came in 1921. The company was in a very bad financial position and most of the coal reserves were exhausted, in fact there was not even enough coal to keep the colliery boilers in steam. On the 29th of August the Greyfield Company announced the closure of the pit and dismantling began. The men responded by offering to take whatever wages the pit would pay; the company agreed, but the Somerset Miners Association would not allow it and the men were forced to agree with their union. There then followed a period when Lady Warwick was involved in the discussions and there was talk of a workers co-operative and a new company, but nothing came of it and the final dismantling of the workings was completed by 11th October, 1921.
Knapp Hill
This small drift mine opened soon after the closure and was located behind the spoil heap of that pit. only open for a short while, closing in March, 1923. Little is known about this mine, whether a great deal of coal the surface or how many men were employed.