Hi, I am new to this website but I have been trying to find information on Ashton Moss Colliery for a railway project. Can anyone suggest anywhere that I might be able to find plans of the site or the daily operations with regard to the railways? I understand that at one time it had the deepest coal mine shaft in the world but I can find no information at all about the mine. I would be grateful for any pointers or references. I vaguely remember seeing it on cross-pennine journeys as a child but there where so many mines then that no one mine stood out above another indeed at that time I thought that everywhere had mines.
Thanks for your help
Steve

---

Hello Steve and welcome to the site!
There is a book which might help, 'Manchester Collieries and their Railways by Landmark Publishing. Funily enough, I've just bought a copy but I haven't yet had chance to peruse it. I'll have a good look through it and see if there is anything relevant to Ashton Moss. I know it was close to Bradford Colliery and I think Bradford took over their reserves and working area when that pit was rebuilt and extensively redeveloped by the NCB in the 50s. There is plenty of info about Bradford on the net - in the 50s a winding house fire caused the ropes to break and allowed two skips to plummet 3000 feet to shaft bottom trapping 2,000 men for a considerable time!

---

Thank you for that information. I had heard of Bradford Colliery but I hadn't associated it with Ashton Moss. I will look up the book it sounds like it would be a good resource for other pits and the transport infrastructure in the area. My interest is the vast railway network in the area as well as the once extensive tram network around Stalybridge, Ashton and Dukinfield from about 1920 to 1950 ish.

---

Hello, I had a look through my new book last night. The full title is 'Collieries and their Railways in the Manchester Coalfields' by Geoffrey Hayes. Unfortunately, the only mention of Ashton Moss comes in connection with Bradford Colliery. Ashton closed when Bradford was rebuilt and re-equipped but was retained for access of men and materials. Ashton Moss actually falls within the Oldham Coalfield, so this is probably why it receives scant attention.
There is a book by Jack Nadin (a former Hapton Valley miner) entitled 'Collieries of the Oldham Coalfield' which may contain more information.
The Manchester book is quite interesting in itself, it mainly deals with the pits to the north and west of the city but has lots of photos of the railway side of things as well as the collieries themselves. Hope this is of some use. Best wishes, Colin.

---

Hello Steve,

This may help,

http://maps.nls.uk/view/102344090 

A 6" OS map of the area showing the mine circa 1923.

Also the NLS site is a real treasure of OS maps, many a happy hour spent browsing old maps.

Cheers

Alan

Thank you both for your helpful replies. I have ordered the book which in any case will give be background information on mining in the Manchester Area. I have used the 1923 map and the NLS site before and it is that map which sparked my interest in the colliery. If you google New Moss Colliery you don't get much back. I then found out that it was also called Ashton Moss Colliery again Google does not return any useful photographs or plans of the site. I see that the local name was Snipe Pit and that has uncovered more information that I will have to sift through.

I am trying to recreate a model of the area for my train simulation and so photographs and plans of the site would be helpful. In order to get a reasonably prototypical model I need to understand what the functions of the various buildings shown on the map are and the type of traffic patterns. This has sparked of innumerable questions in mind - I see there is a canal nearby, how much coal was sent by barge? How much coal went by road or rail? What did they do with the spoil and what types of coal were produced and were there any other useful by products? Did they have their own private owners wagons and if so what was the colour scheme or did they just use LNWR and later LMS wagons?

I am just starting my researches so every little helps as they say. Now I am retired I have the time to indulge myself in trying to remember how things were when I was a boy and try and preserve a rich area of the past which is rapidly disappearing and is already been forgotten about.

---

Looks like a very fulfilling and worthwhile project Steve, best of luck and keep us informed of developments.

Cheers

Alan

Yes, good luck Steve! I can't wait until I retire, when hopefully I too will get the chance to follow and further develop my many interests. I've always been a metal mining enthusiast, but recently I've really started to get into coal mining history, particularly the NCB post nationalisation era up to the late 50s when money was no object and old pits were being re-developed and the new 'super pits' with Koepe winders were being sunk.
Best wishes, Colin.

---

Here are a couple of publications form a friend of mine that may be of interest to you?
http://www.amberleybooks.com/shop/article_9781848689251/Walkden-Yard%3C_BR%3EThe-Lancashire-Central-Coalfield-Workshops%3C_BR%3E%3CI%3EAlan-Davies%3C_I%3E.html?sessid=j3sjcMALVLu8JO97hY4OOf7Nw7mfYtPr6tfTH4GsJVBc0annuERXApMOPEHk7fmS&shop_param=cid%3D165%26aid%3D9781848689251%26 

http://www.amberleybooks.com/shop/article_9781445634838/Locomotives-of-the-Lancashire-Central-Coalfield%3CBR%3E%3CI%3EAlan-Davies%3C_I%3E.html?sessid=j3sjcMALVLu8JO97hY4OOf7Nw7mfYtPr6tfTH4GsJVBc0annuERXApMOPEHk7fmS&shop_param=cid%3D165%26aid%3D9781445634838%26 

Alan is on this forum as 'Pitheadbaths' if you are interested in the books let me know and i'll get in touch with him for you. I'm sure Alan could help you with your project.

His book on the coal mines of Lancashire and Cheshire is excellent! I'll be buying his others too! Colin.

---

Hi i was speaking to an old deputy from Ashton Moss colliery in Ashton last year
He told me that the B and Q superstore is built over the top of both shafts
He said in his day you could walk underground from Ashton moss, to Bradford pit , then under the center of Manchester and go all the way out to Moston pit , out to Oak colliery and on to Oldham

Wow, that would have been quite a trip!
Am I correct in saying it's the Man City ground that sits on the site of Bradford? This was quite a remarkable mine in its day, fantastic reserves of good coal, virtually no gas or water and low temperatures despite the 3000' depth. And yet the colliery site was only one and a half miles from the city centre and was totally hemmed in by back to back terraces and factories - the nearby Stuart Street power station was supplied directly from the mine by an underground conveyer running for a quarter of a mile about 100' below the streets! Subsidence compensation costs were high, reputedly 5 bob for every ton mined whereas the average for NCB pits was nearer 6d (one tenth as much!). it was one of the few pits that employed power stowing (by compressed air) to backfill the worked out goafs but this was never totally succesful and a nearby gasometer took on a noticeable list that resulted in a large one off compensation payment. Considering the site limitations, it was a strange choice for the NCB to spend so much money on and when demand slackened it was an obvious choice for closure in 1968. I would have loved to have seen it working!
Colin.

---

Hi i believe the shafts are under the Asda on the opposite side of the road
City's stadium is sat on what was once Richard Johnson Clapham and Morris , which was a massive iron / steel works and a company well known in the miners lamp collecting world , i think it later became part of British steel making steel cable
When Moston pit closed in 1950 their miners transfered to Bradford and worked their own coal faces from there
I was in an antique shop a couple of month ago and the guy said he had two miners lamps from Bradford pit , when i looked at them their serial numbers started with M so i left them , it was only later i thought that the lamps would have transfered across with the miners lol
The Huge gas ometer at Bradford gas works did indeed list by i believe 2% which cost the NCB a massive £1 million which back thenwould have been a huge amount of money
As a result all mining under the city center was stopped , in later years i believe Agecroft exploited the remaining deep coal from under the center of Manchester
Coal mines really are a fascinating subject
Good luck with your research
Andy

Bradford Colliery Horizon Layout
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28709338@N04/10748419985/sizes/k/ 

I bet they never filled the shafts and just capped them as the site was cleared in 1974 I understand. It would be funny if a yawning great hole appeared in the frozen produce isle one day! I read that the gasometer damage cost a million, but I though it must be a mistake with it being such a large sum! Shame you never bought the lamps, I bet they are long gone now. Still, I'll be keeping my eyes open for any memorabillia from the Manchester pits. I remember the concrete shaft winding towers at Agecroft very well - must have passed them on the train hundreds of times when I lived in the NW. That must have been quite fascinating pit with seams and roadways dipping at 1 in 2 - apparently the face chocks used to gradually work their way down hill and the bottom one would fall out and have to be moved the length of the face to be put back in at the other end! There is a paperback book called 'Last Pit in the Valley' concerning this mine written by an ex miner called Paul Kelly (from memory), quite a good read with many of his reminiscenses from the early 70s through the strike and up to closure in 1990. It available through the Irwell Valley Project. Strange how we don't know what we've got 'til its gone!
Morrisey, thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
Colin.

---

thats correct moston oak and ashton moss were all connected to bradford as bradford was taking "moston and oaks" coal but as bradford pit was landlocked and had no room for coal storage all coal was wound out of ashton moss...they had a direct rail connection, moston was utilised as a ventilation pit after it closed, if i remember rightly all the pits had barrier walls set at shaft bottoms and are grouted.

---

the bradford shafts are under the car park near where the "b of the bang " eyesore was.....across the road in the middle of what used to be clayton analine was clayton colliery.....both pits had canal branches running to them in their early days and the start of these are still visible today.
heres a link showing the excavations of the iron works next to bradford colliery

http://thehumanjourney.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=558&Itemid=40 
http://www.thisiseast.com/tag/local-history/ 
also
http://www.nce.co.uk/features/geotechnical/mine-makeover/8609381.article 
and theres a book about the excavations too

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rediscovering-Bradford-Archaeology-Manchester-Manchesters/dp/1907686045 

---

I bet they never filled the shafts and just capped them as the site was cleared in 1974 I understand. It would be funny if a yawning great hole appeared in the frozen produce isle one day! I read that the gasometer damage cost a million, but I though it must be a mistake with it being such a large sum! Shame you never bought the lamps, I bet they are long gone now. Still, I'll be keeping my eyes open for any memorabillia from the Manchester pits. I remember the concrete shaft winding towers at Agecroft very well - must have passed them on the train hundreds of times when I lived in the NW. That must have been quite fascinating pit with seams and roadways dipping at 1 in 2 - apparently the face chocks used to gradually work their way down hill and the bottom one would fall out and have to be moved the length of the face to be put back in at the other end! There is a paperback book called 'Last Pit in the Valley' concerning this mine written by an ex miner called Paul Kelly (from memory), quite a good read with many of his reminiscenses from the early 70s through the strike and up to closure in 1990. It available through the Irwell Valley Project. Strange how we don't know what we've got 'til its gone!
Morrisey, thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
Colin.

Lot's of little video clips on YouTube of Paul Kelly and the Irwell valley project
I believe Agecroft colliery continued working throughout the strike ?