Friday 30th October 2009
Dennis Chedgy, of the Radstock Mining Museum, was the guest speaker at the October 2009 meeting of Warminster U3A. He spoke about the deep coal mines of Coleford and Radstock in Somerset.
He said that surface coal had long been known in the area at the foot of the Mendips. Archaeologists had confirmed its association with Roman activities in the region. Mr. Chedgy expressed his opinion that surface coal had not been used widely because the area was so well wooded.
The earliest indication that coal was actually being dug for is on a map of the late 1600s, where the word “Pits’ is denoted. These are what are called “Bell Pits’. These pits were technically simple: a hole was dug down to a seam laying fairly close to the surface. Digging was then extended sideways along as as far as possible and then another hole was dug further along the seam. The coal was hauled to the surface by hand, using a rope and a basket.
Serious deep mining did not occur until two men were granted a lease on the estate of the family of Earl Waldegrave in 1759. They spent four years digging and lining a shaft to the seam at a depth of 1,000 feet. This started to produce coal in 1763.
The only way to move the coal out to the consumer was by horse and cart, about one ton at a time; a task that was difficult in summer, but given the country lanes in the area, almost impossible in winter. To overcome this problem, a canal was dug through to Coleford. The output from Radstock was brought to the canal by means of a tramway some eight miles long.
By 1847 the canal had become very expensive to maintain. The use of the canal was abandoned, and a tramway was laid on the towpath; this was used until the railway reached Coleford in 1870.
When the mines were nationalised in 1947 there were 12 pits producing in the area, all were by then under the ownership of Somerset Colleries. In 1973 the last of these closed; the seams, some of which were only 16 inches in depth, were considered uneconomic to continue mining.