Agecroft Colliery

Agecroft Colliery was a coalmine in the Agecroft district of Pendlebury, what is now part of the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England.

First colliery (1844-1932)

The colliery had two spells of usage, the first was between 1844 and 1932. The first pit was sunk by Andrew Knowles and Company and worked an area to the south of the Irwell Valley Fault. The Irwell Valley Fault to the north of the colliery with a displacement of 695 metres to the north east, formed a natural boundary to the colliery.

The colliey was located close to the Clifton Hall Colliery (Lumns Lane, Clifton), and enjoyed good access to the Manchester to Bolton railway line and the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal.

Second colliery (1960-1991)

In the late 1940s/early 1950s the National Coal Board was aware that some of the nearby collieries were becoming exhausted, and so looked at re-opening Agecroft Colliery. The NCB carried out some deephole-boring in July 1951. In total 7 boreholes were drilled, with the deepest being 1,155 metres (1,259 yards) in depth. In early 1953 it was deduced from this information, along with data from other nearby collieries, that there was an estimated 80 million tonnes of workable coal in seams varying from 68 cm to 213 cm (2 ft 2½ in to 7 ft 0 in) in thickness.

The old No. 3 and No. 4 shafts were realigned to allow coal extraction, however, a new No. 5 shaft had to be sunk (610 metres in depth, 7.3 metres in diameter) to provide adequate ventilation and for winding men and equipment down to the seams. After the old shafts had been relined, the tunnelling programme commenced in August 1957 and in all some 10,060 metres were driven to allow for development of initial output. First coal winding began in August 1960. New surface buildings had been built and the colliery was substantially complete by 1960.

Agecroft Colliery was the first new coalmine to be sunk in Lancashire since World War II. An investment of £9 million was utilised in realigning and restructuring the pit. The new Agecroft Colliery was situated between Agecroft Road (A6044), Dell Avenue and the Manchester to Bolton railway line.

Colliery disaster of 1958

In 1958 while construction workers were sinking new shafts for the National Coal Board an underground explosion killed 1 man and injured 12, trapping them at the bottom of a 1900 foot shaft. The accident was attributed to a misunderstanding in signalling, where men at the top mistakenly believed that the men at the bottom had left the pit, and commenced demolition sending tonnes of rock and debris down the shaft. [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Snt3jP83c&feature=related]

Agecroft Power Station

The colliery's main customer was the Central Electricity Generating Board’s Agecroft Power Station, which was on the opposite side of Agecroft Road (A6044) and close to the River Irwell. The coal was transported over to the power station via an enclosed conveyor belt which moved on a specially constructed bridge over Agecroft Road. Some coal was also moved by merry-go-round coal hopper trains which were a common sight, simply shuttling between coal mines and power stations and back again.

Final years of operation

Some workers at the pit participated in the National Union of Mineworkers' strike from 1984-1985. Pickets were held outside the entrance to the colliery, and many families suffered hardship over the winter months.

The colliery closed in March 1991 and demolition began later the same year. The closure of Agecroft Power Station was announced in November 1992. The station closed soon after; demolition of the site commenced in 1993 and culminated in the destruction of the four cooling towers in May 1994.

Post-closure and redevelopment

In the late 1990s, a business enterprise park has opened on the wasteland left over from the colliery. Much of the land is still without use, such as the pits adjacent to Dell Avenue. An international railfreight terminal was to have been built next to the Manchester to Bolton railway line, however, even though a spur line had been built off the railway, the railfreight terminal has yet to materialise. Further development on the land in the early 2000s has led to a small increase in jobs in the area.

A housing development has recently been built along Agecroft Road where the old Thermalite factory stood together with a new prison and youth offenders' institute close to where the power station used to be. This new prison is known as HMP Forest Bank. ( [http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=371,15,2,15,371,0 HMP Forest Bank] ). The land has been somewhat landscaped, and footpaths have been constructed to encourage people to use the land for recreational purposes.

Swinton Lions Rugby League Football Club has plans to build a new 6,000 seater stadium in the Agecroft area. Swinton (the Lions) currently play their home matches at Park Lane, Whitefield, home of Sedgley Park RUFC. Since their Station Road stadium was demolished in 1992, they have played their home fixtures at Gigg Lane, Bury (Bury FC) and Moor Lane, Kersal, Salford (Salford City FC) as well as their current base in Park Lane, Whitefield. [http://www.swintonlionsstadium.co.uk]

References

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bernard.platt/INDEX.htm "The Lancashire Coalfields"] , retrieved 4 July 2006
* [http://www.swintonlionsstadium.co.uk "Swinton Lions Stadium"] , retrieved 4 March 2007

External links

* [http://www.frazerweb.demon.co.uk/Agecroftmain.html] "Mine Photos - Agecroft Colliery", retrieved 4 July 2006
* "BBC News - The British Landscape" - A before and after comparison using images from 1983 and the modern day (images [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/in_pictures_the_british_landscape/html/1.stm "1"] & [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/in_pictures_the_british_landscape/html/2.stm "2"] ; [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/in_pictures_the_british_landscape/html/9.stm "9"] & [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/in_pictures_the_british_landscape/html/10.stm "10"] ), all retrieved 4 July 2006.