Wigan Album

could be Garswood Hall pits bryn ?

sceening plant & slurry tower similar to garswood hall

My first thought was Gidlow area , but that slag heap in the distance looks a bit “Pembertony”………?

I'm not 100% on this, but could this be the Nook Pits near Tyldesley?

Looking at old 25-inch-to-a-mile maps (on the National Library of Scotland website), the railway sidings, two chimneys and three sets of winding gear look like there's half a chance.

There's also a photo in the railway book 'A Lancashire Triangle' which was definitely taken at Nook and looks like the same headgear and pair of chimneys seen from a different angle.

It's interesting the photo mounting says 'Nos. 5, 6 & 7 Pits'. There weren't too many collieries which had seven or more pits, and it seems there was only a maximum of four at Nook.

Maybe they were numbered like this to avoid confusion because the Nook, Gin Pit and St George's Colliery were all close together and part of the Astley & Tyldesley Collieries Company then Manchester Collieries before nationalisation.

If it really is Nook Colliery another bit of trivia is - in 1950, that's where an out-of-control LUT double decker crashed and submerged itself in the pit lodge.

The Leigh Journal had a brief article on it in 2019: https://www.leighjournal.co.uk/news/17593747.looking-back-bus-driver-rescued-crash-nook-colliery-tyldesley/
The 'Lancashire Triangle' book has a better picture, showing the bus submerged in the water halfway to its top deck windows.

Apparently the bus was empty at the time. The driver was rescued unharmed, but no mention either way about the conductor. Maybe he/she managed to jump off the back platform before getting wet. Bet the inspector back at the depot wasn't happy!

Thanks everyone for your information

English Electric, the article about the bus was funny, a bit of a caper that Stan and Jack would have got up too, and as you say old Dracula back at the depot wouldn't have been pleased.

Ignore my suggestion about the Nook Pits - the picture is, as AH said, Garswood Hall Colliery at Bryn. The slag heap peeping up to the right must be one of the Three Sisters.

A couple of local railway history books (Dennis Sweeney's 'Lancashire Union Railway' and 'The Industrial Railways of the Wigan Coalfield' by Townley, Smith & Pedern) confirm it's the New Pits at Garswood Hall, based on photos & maps etc.

There's also a photo already in this Album (item #20182) of the pithead taken from a different direction.

Sweeney's book has some information about Garswood Hall colliery around the time the photo was taken:-

"At nationalisation in 1947, only Long Lane No.1 and Garswood Hall Nos. 3, 5, 6 & 7 pits were still in operation, becoming part of the (NCB) St Helens, North West Division area and five (NCB industrial steam) locos still working, all based at Garswood Hall shed.

Long Lane closed in 1955 and the pits at Garswood Hall ceased production in August 1958. However the washery at this location remained open until 1962 to process coal brought in from other collieries in the area."


One sad fact - while I was searching for clues around the original 'where is it?' question, I was Googling quite a few of the pits in the Wigan & Leigh area. Almost invariably, what came up at the top of each search list was a reference to some bad accident at each pit. Almost as if every colliery of any size had an underground disaster (usually an explosion with multiple fatalities) at some stage in its life.

The early map 1850 shows old mines 6 and 7 near the old Worsley Hall.

Further to my last comment, the Winstanley collieries 1,2,3 and 4 at Winstanley. They spiral out to Worsley Hall and then round to Lady Lane and Goose Green nos. 9,10, 11 and 12 at Smithies Brook. I would suggest this photo was taken looking towards Goose Green with the Clapgate Lane pit rook in the distance. We used to climb this and pretend it was the north face of the Eiger.

i could well be bryn pit .