The Cinderford Bridge gale was granted in 1833 to J. Cowmeadow and
others.
A description by Buddle c1833 survives in which the ‘Bridge Level
Colliery’
is described as being galed to Messrs. Cowmeadow & partners.
It was drained by a free level and coal in the Hill Delf vein was won
by
means of two pits, although at the time only one was at work. The
gale had a width of only 35 yards but its length was unlimited.
To
the land it was cut off by the old level which was the original crop
working.
By 1838 the gale was held by Moses Teague, probably in conjunction
with the Cinderford Iron Works further north, but whether any coal was
won is uncertain. Teague died in February 1840 and by March 1841
the concern was bought by James Cowmeadow who was also working Addis
Hill
Colliery, and had an interest in Tormentor Colliery.
In September 1842 Cowmeadow was applying to enclose one and a half
acres of ground on which to store timber and erect pay and other
offices,
stables, smiths, carpenters and other workshops. Cowmeadow, to
support
his need for the buildings, pointed out that the pay office was
necessary
as following the act which forbade the practice of paying colliers in
public
houses or beer shops, and which also stopped the employment of women in
mines, he had to have a paying out point. The sketch map which he
supplied to the Crown delineating the area of ground he required also
marked
on ‘Cinderford Bridge Pit (now being sunk down to the coal’. This
suggests that before this date little work was done on the gale,
certainly
coal was not being won previously from this point.
As well as Cinderford Bridge Cowmeadow owned the Celestial Colliery,
the two being worked in conjunction. Celestial was granted in
June
1843 to Cowmeadow to continue the Cinderford Bridge Colliery in the
Coleford
High Delf vein south-westward as far as the north-east boundary of the
Findall Mine Level.
By April 1848 James Cowmeadow had died and the Crown was pressing his
widow, Elizabeth, for the payment of rent arrears. She pointed
out
that they owed her £10 for a pit which was sunk on the gale by
her
late husband close to the proposed site of St. Johns church,
c1842-3.
This had been done at the request of the Crown to discover if any coal
had been worked under the site of the new building. The Deputy
Surveyor
was not content with just sinking a shaft near to the site and had a
heading
driven a short distance. Once it was ascertained that no coal had
in fact been worked and thus the church would not subside the shaft was
filled up. According to Elizabeth Cowmeadow the fact that a
heading
had been driven made the sum due closer to £20!
The gale was disposed of to a Mr. Wagstaff some time prior to May 1854
in which month he applied to build a broad gauge siding off the South
Wales
Railways Forest of Dean Branch. This was to curve off the branch
in a south-easterly direction, over the end of the pond which once
served
Soudley ironworks, and then split into two sidings before crossing a
remaining
portion of the tramroad on the level and reaching the pit. This
proposal
soon brought a complaint from Mr. Crawshay who claimed ownership of the
mill (Cinderford Mill) below the pond. He was worried that by
putting
and embankment across the end of the pond the works of the Cinderford
Iron
Co. would be liable to inundation.
The mill building and wheel had formerly been connected with old
workings
on Cinderford Bridge and were used for drying coal. A lease and
license
to convert the building into a corn mill was granted to a Thomas Brace
in 1819. The pond was made by the Cinderford Iron Co. circa 1826
by constucting a dam about a quarter of a mile below one existing in
1818.
The mill was purchased by Moses Teague and subsequently by the
Cinderford
Iron Co.; not by Crawshay alone. At this time the mill had two
sets
of stones of about four feet diameter.
By June 1856 the Cinderford Iron Co. and Wagstaff had come to an
agreement
over the siding and it may be presumed that it was built soon
afterwards.
Correspondance fron Wagstaff at this time is on paper headed
‘Cinderford
Collieries Office’ at 36, Cannon Street, London.
Problems with Cinderford Mill arose again in September 1857 when the
mill building, which by this time belonged to the Crown. and the mill
house,
which still belonged to the Iron Co. were damaged by subsidence from
Cinderford
Bridge. This led to Wagstaff appearing in Court as the defendant
in an action brought by Allaway on behalf of the Iron Co.. He had
been sued for the damage to the buildings caused by his underground
workings.
The Court found in favour of the Iron Co.
Wagstaff was not only having problems with the Iron Co. as in 1858
his pump broke which stopped him winning coal. He stated that he
had spent about £28,000 on the works and made an attempt to get
the
Crown to reduce his arrears of dead rent. On the 3 April 1858 it
was reported to the Crown that the baliffs were in at Cinderford
Bridge.
This worried the Crown as they were owed the sum of £115. A
sale of plant and equipment was due to be held on the 6 April and the
notice
of sale read:-
‘Sale of railway plant, engine, machinery of Cinderford and Bilson
Green Collieries’. Included were ’19 Adams and Cos. Registered
Railway
Coal Trucks, Muck Waggon, 22 Coal Trams, 40 Pit Carts; 3 Working Pit
Engines
(complete), 5 Weighing Machines; Wire Guides and Ropes, large and Small
Crabs; Ropes and Chains; Railway Plates, Pullies, Working Tools; New
and
Old Iron; Blacksmiths Forges and Stock; 4 Sets of Harness; Horse Cloths
and other valuable Effects.’
The Bilson Green Colliery mentioned was the Old Leather Pit.
The debt for which a distress order had been issued was, however, paid
and as a result the sale did not proceed. The debt to the Crown
on
the other hand was not settled and it continued to grow until in June
1859
it had reached £149. This was broken down as follows:-
On the Cinderford Bridge Gale £105. 0. 0
On the Celestial Steam Coal Gale 1. 10. 0
On the Richard Whites Gale 37. 10. 0
On the Whites Delight Gale 5. 0. 0
It would appear that Wagstaff may have gained an interest in the
last
two gales mentioned around 1855 but details are unknown. The only
property on which goods were available for sale as distress was at
Cinderford
Bridge.
A sale was arranged for 30 August 1860 at ‘Bridge End Colliery’ where
there was ‘one engine, two boilers, crab etc. etc.’ and at the ‘Garden
Pit’, south of Cinderford Bridge Pit, was ‘one engine, one boiler etc.
etc.’ The sale, however, was abandoned when Wagstaff deposited
his
bond with the Gaveller. It was also stated at this time that
Wagstaff
was about to lease the Moseley Green New Engine gale on Moseley Green
from
a Mr. Corbett.
Wagstaffs financial problems were coming to a head. In August
1862 it was reported that in January 1858 Messrs. Child & Co. lent
Wagstaff £1000 secured against his properties. In January
1861
Wagstaff was adjudged a bankrupt and on the 29 August 1861 an order for
the sale of his properties was issued. It was pointed out that
the
total purchase monies, which did not exceed £900, did not even
pay
off the capital of the debt.
The next period in the history of the gale is rather hazy. It
is likely that the sale went through and that the purchaser was a Mr.
John
Vincent. In August 1862 there was a renewal of a lease to a Peter
Plumley. By August 1876 Vincent wished to surrender the gale if
it
could not be disposed off. A schedule of the machinery was given
which included;-
Winding Engine; single cylinder horizontal of 60h.p. The cylinder
was 16" diameter by 5' stroke. It had a 10' flywheel and two 8'
diameter
flat wire rope drums working first motion.
Pumping Engine; details as per the winding engine but with a 4' spur
wheel and an 8' cog wheel with crank motion connected by rod to a ‘T’
bob.
The engines were stated to have been erected about 1855 and in work
for about five years. Both were in a fair state of repair.
Boilers; Three egg-ended, two 29’x5' other 27’x5' - all in a good state
of preservation.
Pit Framing; Single pit headframing with 9' sheaf. A single deck
cage in iron and wood. Two 31/2 “ flat wire ropes, one 100 yards
in length, the other 140 yards. Round 11/4 “ wrought iron pit
guides.
A counter balance wheel 9” in diameter. 150 yards of tram plate
(underground)
of about 24lbs per yard.
The pit framing and the cage were reported as rotten.
Colliery Sidings; old GWR broad gauge laid without sleepers.
A broad gauge 24 ton weighing machine by Pooley’s. A switch and
crossing.
The siding consisted of about 4 chains double road and 1ch. 50 links of
single.
The weighing machine was apparently ‘much out of repair’.
Buildings; Carpenters shop, blacksmiths shop, offices and engine house,
all of which had a slated roof.
These buildings, which were mostly under one roof were in a dilapidated
condition. The office was being used by a person named Marfell as
a dwelling house. The range of buildings eventually became known
as Wagstaff House and were probably built under a Crown license dated
11
August 1854 when Wagstaff applied for an area of land to build a
dwelling
house with stables and offices.
It was observed that there were no trams or tools belonging to the
colliery as they had been disposed off some years before. The
shoots
for tipping small coal into railway wagons had rotted away although the
walls themselves were still in good condition.
The sale appears not to have been arranged as both Cinderford Bridge
and the Celestial Steam Coal gales were forfeited to the Crown in
February
1878.
The gale was re-granted on 11 June 1906 to a Henry Fox and nine
others.
They had originally applied for the re-grant in February 1878
immediately
after the forfeiture. On 14 July 1906 they assigned the gale to
William
Llewellyn Davies and P. Evans. It would appear that Evans
assigned
his interest to a Hugh Harries. In February 1914 they were
granted
a reduction in the dead rent from £20 to £10 per year on
the
grounds that the gale was mostly covered by houses and that it
contained
large quantities of water. Some work was probably being carried
out
at this time using a pit sunk opposite the Forge Hammer Inn at the end
of Victoria Street, they had, however, recently had to pay heavily for
surface damage caused by subsidence.
In April 1918 there was a conveyance from Hugh Harries to James Harries
who in November 1919 also gained the interest of William L. Davies in
the
concern. Whether much work was now done on the gale is unknown
and
it was surrendered on 11 June 1926. The deputy gaveller decided
that
it would not be re-advertised due to the amount of housing on the
surface
above but despite the fact that no advertisement appeared in the local
press a Charles Jenkins put in his application. He held the gale
until surrendering it on 23 February 1929.
There were 891 applications for a re-grant of the gale in May 1929.