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The report of the Children's Employment Commission in 1842 highlighted the atrocious conditions experienced in the mines of the time. Women and children were stopped from working underground soon after.
By the mid 19th century mines were becoming larger and were gaining coal from deeper underground.
"Shot Lighters" drilled holes in the coal and filled them with gunpowder. This was exploded and the coal was brought down. It was then loaded into tubs which the "drawers" moved from the coal faces. Ponies were used where the roadways were wider. The tubs were loaded onto "cages" (lifts) and taken to the surface where the coal was sorted before being transported from the mine by rail.
Mining was a dangerous occupation. Reverend Joshua Paley stated in 1842, "There are very few families in which one or more deaths have not occurred from accidents in the pits."
Multiple deaths occurring from explosions of "firedamp" (methane) were frequent. On August 18th 1908, for example, 76 miners were killed in an explosion at the Maypole Colliery Abram, Wigan. As late as 1979 ten miners were killed at Golborne.
In the early 20th century there were about 50 mines in the Wigan District employing about 30,000 miners.
Wigan's mining history ended with the closure of Bickershaw Colliery in 1992.
To read about conditions in the mines in 1841 click here.
Article by Adrian Morris