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Somerset coalfield
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The Somerset coalfield included pits in the north Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.
It is part of a wider field which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire counties in England. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and from Bath in the east to Nailsea in the west, a total area of about 240 square miles (620 km²). Most of the pits in the Somerset coalfield were concentrated along the Cam Brook, Wellow Brook and Nettlebridge Valleys and in the areas around Radstock and Farrington Gurney. The pits were often grouped geographically with clusters of pits which were close together working the same coal seams and often under the same ownership. Many also shared the same trackways and tramways which took the coal to the Somerset Coal Canal or railways for distribution.
Many of the early pits were bell pits, however these were replaced as deeper seams were mined, with the deepest shaft being the Strap mine at Nettlebridge reaching 1838 ft (560.2m). Many of the mines flooded and there were also coal dust explosions, both of which required improved ventilation and equipment. Many of the pits closed in the 19th century as the available coal was worked out. Those that survived until 1947 became part of the National Coal Board, however the expense of improving equipment and working conditions meant that even these became uneconomic and the last pit closed in 1973. There is still some evidence of some of the mine workings with the remains of buildings, spoil heaps and tramways around the area.
History It is believed that coal was mined in the area during Roman times and there is documentary evidence of coal being dug on the Mendips in 1305 and at Kilmersdon in 1437. By the time of Henry VIII there were coal pits at Clutton, High Littleton and Stratton-on-the-Fosse.
During the early part of the 17th century coal was largely obtained by excavating the outcrops or driving an incline, which involved following the seam into the ground. Only a small amount of coal could be obtained by these methods and so bell pits took their place. These were vertical pits, about 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter at the top and as much as 60 feet (18.3 m) deep, which were widened out at the bottom. When all the coal that could safely be extracted from a bell pit had been recovered, another pit would be sunk close by to intersect the seam and the waste from the second pit thrown into the first pit.
The industrial uses of coal were varied. Coal was used in limekilns to produce lime, which was much in demand for mortar production for building purposes and by farmers to improve soil. From 1820 it was used to produce gas for town lighting and to drive the woollen mills in the area. Coke uses included drying malt in the brewing industry!
Geology Much of the exploratory survey work was carried out by William Smith, who became known as the "Father of English Geology". Smith worked at one of the estate's older mines, the Mearns Pit at High Littleton. As he observed the rock layers, or strata, at the pit he realised that they were arranged in a predictable pattern, and that the various strata could always be found in the same relative positions. Additionally, each particular stratum could be identified by the fossils it contained, and the same succession of fossil groups from older to younger rocks could be found in many parts of England. Furthermore, he noticed an easterly dip of the beds of rock- small near the surface (about three degrees) then bigger after the Triassic rocks. This gave Smith a testable hypothesis, which he termed The Principle of Faunal Succession, and he began his search to determine if the relationships between the strata and their characteristics were consistent throughout the country. During subsequent travels, first as a surveyor (appointed by noted engineer John Rennie) for the canal company until 1799 when he was dismissed, and later, he was continually taking samples and mapping the locations of the various strata, and displaying the vertical extent of the strata, and drawing cross-sections and tables of what he saw. This would earn him the name "Strata Smith".
Lower and Middle Coal Measures are found at depths between 500 and 5,000 feet (152-1,525 m). Together the Lower and Middle Coal Measures are 2,000 to 2,500 feet (610-762 m) thick with the Middle Coal Measures averaging about 1,600 feet (488 m) and the Lower Coal Measures about 600 feet (183 m). The Somerset coalfield consists of the northern Pensford and the southern Radstock synclines separated by the east-west trending Farmborough Fault Belt. Only in the southern part of the Radstock Syncline have coals of the Lower and Middle Coal Measures been worked, mainly at the Newbury and Vobster collieries in the southeast and in the New Rock and Moorewood pits to the southwest. Only in the eastern part of Pensford Syncline have coals of the Lower and Middle Coal Measures been worked, at the Globe Pit in the Newton St Loe area in the 19th century. The complex geology gained the field notoriety and three underground explosions, in 1893, 1895 and 1908 were amongst the first attributable solely to airborne coal dust.
Pensford coal basin The Pensford coal basin lies in the northern area of the Somerset coal field around Bishop Sutton, Pensford, Stanton Drew, Farmborough and Hunstrete.
The date for the first pits around Bishop Sutton are uncertain but there was one before 1719.
Earl of Warwick's Clutton Collieries Coal mines were established in the villages of High Littleton and Hallatrow by 1633 because here the coal seams ran obliquely to the surface. The first deep mine was Mearns Coalworks which began in 1783. The Greyfield Coal Company did not start until 1833.
The Earl of Warwick's estates included sawmills, quarries, brickworks and collieries in addition to their agricultural holdings. These pits are around Clutton and High Littleton.
Paulton basin Paulton was the terminus of the northern branch of the Somerset Coal Canal and was a central point for at least 15 collieries around Paulton, Timsbury and High Littleton, which were connected to the canal by tramroads.
On the northern side of Paulton basin was the terminus for the tramroad which served Old Grove, Prior's, Tyning and Hayeswood pits, with a branch line to Amesbury and Mearns pits. Parts of this line were still in use in 1873, probably all carrying horse drawn wagons of coal.
The southern side of the basin served Brittens, Littleborrok, Paulton Ham, Paulton Hill, Simons Hill terminating at Salisbury Colliery. In addition the Paulton Foundry used this line. The entire line was disused by 1871 as were the collieries it served.
The area has been designated as an ‘area of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it
is desirable to preserve or enhance’ under section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
Timsbury and Camerton The first of the collieries around Timsbury village was sunk in 1791 and known as Conygre (Conigre in some old spellings) and those at Camerton in 1781.
There is very little landscape evidence remaining of the previous mining activities around Clutton, Temple Cloud, High Littleton and Timsbury. There are a few small batches at Clutton, east of Radford Hill and at Greyfields, High Littleton.
East of Camerton In this area the coal is buried beneath newer strata, which meant that mining in the area was difficult.
The dominant features of the Cam and Wellow Brooks are the remnants of the coal mining industry from the 18th-20th centuries. In both valleys there are frequent shafts and batches together with the remains of the railway and tram lines that connected the mines to the Avon Valley. Remains of the Somersetshire Coal Canal are also significant reminders of this coal mining history in this area.
Farrington Gurney Mining in the area around Farrington Gurney has been undertaken since approximately 1780, with several pits at that time all being called Farrington Colliery.
The main geological feature in this area south of Hallatrow consists of Supra-Pennant Measures which includes the upper coal measures and outcrops of sandstone. The relics of the industrial past are very evident within the area, including the widely visible and distinct conical shape of the Old Mills batch with its generally unvegetated surface. The three disused collieries in the area have subsequently been developed for light industry, a depot and a superstore.
The Duchy Mines The Duchy of Cornwall owned most of the mineral rights around Midsomer Norton and various small pits opened around 1750 to exploit these.
Earl Waldegrave's Radstock Collieries In 1763 coal was discovered in Radstock and mining began in the area.
The Waldegrave family had been Lords of the Manor of Radstock since the English Civil War. In 1896 the pits were owned by the Trustee of Frances, late Countess of Waldegrave.
Radstock was the terminus for the southern branch of the Somerset Coal Canal, which was turned into a tramway. It then became a central point for railway development with large coal depots, wah houses, workshops and a gas works. As part of the development of the Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway an 8 mile line from Radstock to Frome was built to carry the coal. In the 1870s the broad-gauge line was converted to standard gauge and connected to the Bristol and North Somerset Line connecting it to the Great Western Railway. The Radstock Railway Land comprises an area of approximately 8.8 hectares of land which has been subject to planning and development applications.
Writhlington Collieries Although these collieries were close to the Waldegrave collieries, they were further east of Radstock and under different ownership.
In 1896 they were owned by Writhlington, Huish and Foxcote Colliery Co., and by 1908 this had been changed to Writhlington Collieries Co. Ltd. The Upper and Lower Writhlington, Huish & Foxcote were all merged into one colliery.
The spoil heap is a now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the rich collection of fossils in the spoil heap - see Writhlington SSSI.
The base of the Kilmersdon valley is of alluvium deposits. Above this on both sides of all of the valleys is a band of shales and clays from the Penarth Group. These rocks are from the Triassic period. The majority of the remaining upland in this area is Lias Limestone (white and blue) while the very highest part above 130m, south of Haydon, is a small outcrop of Inferior Oolitic Limestone. All these limestones are from the Jurassic period. The steepest slopes of both the Kilmersdon and Snail’s Bottom valleys have frequently slipped. Below all of the area is the coal bearing Carboniferous strata. Haydon is an outlier of Radstock and was built to house the miners for the local pit. The disused railway line and inclined railway at Haydon form important elements within the Kilmersdon valley east of Haydon. The modern landscape has a less maintained and ‘rougher’ character and texture than neighbouring agricultural areas. This is caused in the main by the remnants of the coal industry and its infrastructure and changes in agricultural management. The disturbance caused by coal mining and the railways and the subsequent ending of mining and disuse of the railways has created valuable habitats of nature conservation interest.
Norton Hill Collieries The Norton Hill collieries at Midsomer Norton were owned by the Beauchamp family who owned many of the other collieries and related works on the Somerset coalfield at various times. They were also known as the Beauchamp goldmines as they were the most productive mines in the whole coalfield.
Nettlebridge Valley There were many hundreds of small coal workings in the area from Gurney Slade east to Mells including the villages of Holcombe, Coleford and Stratton on the Fosse. These operated from about the 13th century, making them the earliest coal mines known in Somerset, until the early 19th.
Transportation The coal was transported by the Somerset Coal Canal and later by the Bristol and North Somerset Railway and Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, which were reached from the pits by a series of tramways.
Output Tonnage increased throughout the nineteenth century, reaching a peak around 1901, when there were 79 separate collieries and annual production was 1,250,000 tons per annum.
Decline and closure The peak years were 1900 to 1920. However the decline soon took hold and the number of pits reduced from 30 at the beginning of the twentieth century to 14 by the mid-thirties, 12 at nationalisation to create British Coal on 1st January 1947, 5 by 1959 and none after 1973. Narrow seams made production expensive, limiting profit and investment, and a reduced national demand together with competition from more economical coalfields led to the closure of the last two pits in the coalfield, Kilmersdon and Writhlington, in September 1973.
Area today Although there are still the remains of some of the mines, in the form of disused or redeveloped buildings and a few slag heaps, most of which have been removed or landscaped, the area has returned to a largely rural nature between the Mendip Hills and the river Avon in north east Somerset. Many of the towns and villages have some light industry but are often commuter towns for Bath and Bristol. There is still some quarrying for Limestone particularly in the Mendips.
The Colliers Way (NCN24) is a national cycle route which passes many of the landmarks associated with the coal field, and other local roads and footpaths follow the tramways developed during the coal mining years.
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