Outwood Colliery
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{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
Outwood Colliery was a coal mine in Outwood, near Stoneclough in the historic county of Lancashire, England. Originally named Clough Side Colliery,{{Harvnb|Hindle|2005|p=12.}} it opened in the 1840s and was the largest colliery in the area.{{citation |title=Welcome to Radcliffe |url=http://radcliffe.info/historyindustry.html | accessdate = 2008-07-28 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20050214235103/http://radcliffe.info/historyindustry.html | archivedate = 2005-02-14}} It was owned by Thomas Fletcher & Sons and then by the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company.{{citation |title=Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd |url=http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/mhn/1896-80.htm | accessdate=2008-07-28}} There were two pits. Coal was transported by a tramway to a depot west of Outwood Road, in Radcliffe, and also by tramway through Ringley Wood to the nearby Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. 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.{{Harvnb|Wells|1995|p=109.}} Outwood Colliery exploited the coal seams of the Manchester Coalfield and was noted for its Trencherbone Coal.{{Harvnb|Sunderland|1995|p=27.}}
Due to an underground fire{{citation |title=First Taste of Dust |url=http://www.boltonrevisited.org.uk/s-taste-of-dust.html |first=R |last=Brooks | accessdate=2008-07-28}} which caused the winding gear to collapse into its own shaft, the colliery was closed in 1931.{{citation |title=WW2 People's War - Tin Hats and Toy Guns |first=Arnold |last=Long |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/69/a4452969.shtml |publisher=BBC | accessdate = 2008-07-28}}
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Regeneration
The colliery site, which covers {{convert|13|ha|sqmi}}, 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 its Outwood Forest Park project. Converting the site cost about £600,000. The site is now the main entrance to Outwood Forest Park and part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail.{{citation |url=http://www.bury.gov.uk/Environment/Planning/PlanningProjects/PastProjects/OutwoodC.htm |title=Outwood Colliery |publisher=Bury.gov.uk |author=Bury Council | accessdate=2008-11-14}}
References
=Notes=
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=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{citation |last=Hindle |first=Paul |title=The Tram Roads of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal |publisher=Paul Hindle |year=2005 |url=http://www.mangeogsoc.org.uk/pdfs/tramroads.pdf |format=PDF}}
- {{citation | last = Sunderland | first = Frank | title = The Book of Radcliffe | url = https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Radcliffe-Town/dp/0860235610 | location = Bury Library Local Studies | year = 1995 | isbn = 0-86023-561-0 | publisher = Baron Birch }}
- {{citation | first = Jeffrey | last = Wells | title = An Illustrated Historical Survey of the Railways in and Around Bury | publisher = Challenger Publications | year = 1995 | isbn = 1-899624-29-5 }}
{{refend}}
External links
- [https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/9715619281/in/set-72157635295470919/ "Outwood Colliery, Radcliffe" Frank Wightman (1982) Manchester Archives+]
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Category:Collieries in the Lancashire Coalfield
Category:Coal mines in Lancashire