Clintsfield Colliery

There are records of coal mining at Clintsfield in North Lancashire from the later eighteenth century and there are extensive surface signs of earlier workings to be found nearby. The surviving buildings housed in 1839 a 5 horsepower beam pumping engine and associated boiler and equipment. After the pit finally closed around 1856 the engine house was converted to a dwelling and this ensure its survival, albeit in a decayed condition with just the stump of the chimney remaining. The coal seam worked here never exceeded 2 feet in thickness and the investment in steam pumping equipment can scarcely have been paid for by the likely level of production.


Remains of early shafts.


More shaft remains.


Former pumping enginehouse.




Enginehouse with boilerhouse and stump of chimney to the right. The beam of the pumping engine would have projected through the arched window at the top of the front wall. The filled-in shaft is directly in front of the building.

What a nice little gem hiding there. It's always nice to see something from the "early days" of mining. We had many early mines like that surrounding Newcastle but alas none remain. The best we can hope for up here is the sight of an old foundation. Thanks for sharing.

Those early examples of mining are pretty rare indeed. This reminds me of the pumping engine houe at Scremerston COlliery near Berwick. Very similar structure.

Nice bit of history there. I am fortunate that where i live there are more old sites than you can shake a stick at

What a great site, eh! Seeing those grassed-over hills of remains reminds me of many of the sites where the old monasteries used to be. It makes me wonder if that's how a lot of the places today are going to end up.
I love that engine house. It's a very similar build to the one at the British Iron Works in South Wales. Excellent site.