A talk by Steve Grudgings on 11 March 2025.
Report by Stan Morrissey.
If you’re in a hole stop digging, unless you are a miner. At our March meeting, Steve Grudgings of the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group gave us an overview of the history and development of coal mining in our locality.
Coal’s national importance grew from around 1500, being more efficient than wood. Steve drew a picture of a nation that, through the industrial revolution, became dependant on coal for its prosperity – energy for home fires and hot water, powering railways and ships, generating electricity, producing gas and much more. Coal also supported many service industries. He reminded us that we used to be familiar with coal merchants, coal transported to homes in sacks for domestic fires, chimney sweeps, trains carrying coal from the mines in Wales and products such as creosote and even coal tar soap.
The Bristol area was a significant contributor to this with rich coal seams both north and south of the city and many small collieries, with easy waterborne transport facilities. Coal was mined from around 1350 in Keynsham, Brislington, Bitton and Kingswood, joined by 1500 by Westerleigh, Hanham and Yate. Near to Thornbury, there was coal at Cattybrook, Cromhall and Coalpit Heath. Tytherington has fields called ‘Colliers Leaze’ and the Cromhall-Rangeworthy road follows a coal seam. Knowledge of the early history is patchy, as detailed records only started around 1800.
The industry was highly organised, Lodge Coalworks (near Cossham Hospital), recorded seventy employees in 1709, with twenty different roles. It provided 30% of the Berkeley Estate revenues. Many legal records survive, showing sophisticated leases and trading agreements. Lawyers were essential and made a good living (nothing changes).
A familiar name of this time is Handel Cossham, who was born in Thornbury and donated Cossham Hall to the town. From humble beginnings (his father was a carpenter) he grew to be a major mine owner in the 1850s, with collieries in Parkfield and Kingswood.
Shafts were generally shallow, 3-600 feet, though the deepest descended to 2000 feet, a long way to get to work. The perennial problem of drainage was addressed by networks of adits (horizontal tunnels) and, from around 1750, steam pumping engines. By 1800 horsepower was proving too expensive for transport and replaced by small steam engines (coal powered of course). Pit ponies were used in Frog Lane, Kingswood, and other places until about 1949, by which time the industry had greatly declined.
What of the many workers, both over and underground? Sadly, they were often regarded as a ‘different race’, being dirty and uneducated. Entire families were employed, the men underground, women on the surface, and children – some as young as 6 or 7 – hauling sledges in low roadways underground. Women worked underground in some areas, but Steve has identified only one locally, in the 1700s. There are still many workers’ cottages around, now updated to modern standards but housing rather fewer people.
Miners were strong and fit due to the heavy work, but ill-health was, not surprising, endemic. There was little mechanisation in this area and miners lung, due to dust from cutting coal and rock, was common. Work was often done part immersed in water, leading to ailments such as trench foot. However, life expectancy was very little different to that of the general populace.
There were some unions in the area, but they were not as strong as in South Wales or Yorkshire where the industry was predominant. Around Bristol there were alternative employment opportunities.
Religion, as in South Wales, was important in the area. Mining areas were ‘new growth’ with limited established population; the Church of England had little presence and the (generally wealthier) patrons did not welcome the influx of the poor classes. These conditions led to the growth of non-conformism across the area, still evident in the many chapels we still see, though many have been converted to private homes.
Peaking around 1820, the industry declined until, after World War One only a few collieries were still operating. The last pits in Kingswood and Coalpit Heath closed in 1936 and 1939 respectively and the last was Harry Stoke, which only opened in 1952 and closed in 1963.
They have left an interesting legacy of abandoned workings, though many early developments have been destroyed by later expansions, so the picture is incomplete. Many drainage levels survive under Bristol today, some blocked but others still used for drainage and sewage. Visible and accessible workings include the Webbs Heath Drift Mine, Henfield (with Bristol’s oldest railway bridge), the Brandy Bottom workings, the Dramway weighbridge, the Coalpit Heath mining landscape (full of old workings), and many others.
We are grateful to the very active Mines Group for working to preserve these. The coal industry is gone but not forgotten.