Outwood Colliery was a coal mine in
OutwoodOutwood may refer to:*Outwood, Greater Manchester, formerly a civil parish*Outwood, Somerset*Outwood, Surrey*Outwood, West Yorkshire*Outwood, Worcestershire...
, near
StonecloughStoneclough is a suburban area of Kearsley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is located on the banks of the River Irwell to the southeast of Bolton....
, then in the historic county of
LancashireLancashire 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. Originally named Clough Side Colliery, it opened in the 1840s and was the largest colliery in the area It was owned by Thomas Fletcher & Sons, Outwood Collieries, Stoneclough, Manchester. There were two pits. Coal was transported by a tramway to a depot west of Outwood Road, in
RadcliffeRadcliffe is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on undulating ground in the Irwell Valley, along the course of the River Irwell, south-west of Bury and north-northwest of Manchester. Radcliffe is contiguous with the town of Whitefield to the...
, and also by tramway through Ringley Wood to the nearby
Manchester, Bolton and Bury CanalThe Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford...
. A railway sidings from the nearby East Lancashire Railway Line was located nearby, from the northern end of the colliery. In its heyday the colliery employed over 2000 workers. Outwood Colliery exploited the coal seams of the
Manchester CoalfieldThe 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...
and was noted for its
Trencherbone Coal.
Due to an underground fire which caused the winding gear to collapse into its own shaft, the colliery was closed in 1931.
Regeneration
The colliery, which covers 13 hectare (0.0501932806170296 sq mi), was transferred from the ownership of British Coal Property to Bury Council in October 1997. The council intended to turn the site – consisting mostly of contaminated land covered with collapsed buildings, spoil heaps, and uncapped mineshafts – into open land suitable for public use as part of their Outwood Forest Park project. Converting the site cost about £600,000. The colliery is now the main entrance to Outwood Forest Park and is part of the
Irwell Sculpture TrailThe Irwell Sculpture Trail is the largest public art scheme in England, commissioning regional, national and international artists. The Trail includes 28 art pieces and follows a well established footpath stretching from Salford Quays through Bury into Rossendale and up to the Pennines above...
.