Foxes Bridge was galed c1826 to William Montague of Gloucester (two-thirds share), and Moses Teague (one-third).  but between 1838 and 1841 it became subject to a claim by Edward Protheroe under an agreement to pay him a royalty.  Moses Teague was a free-miner from Cinderford and had an interest - together with Montague and William Crawshay, a South Wales ironmaster - in the Cinderford Iron Company, who owned the large ironworks at Cinderford.  Teague and Crawshay were also in partnership at Lightmoor Colliery. (see page 000)
The original workings of Foxes Bridge were further south, situated close to the Cinderford - Speech House road and to the west of Lightmoor Colliery.  Work was begun on this site in 1855 but, although the shafts were probably almost completed, they were flooded before any coal could be won.  By 1869 these workings had been abandoned and a new start made about three-quarters of a mile further north.  This abandonment of the original site had a disasterous effect upon the Forest of dean Central Railway which was at that time under construction with the pits at Foxes Bridge as its intended terminus.
Returning to the colliery itself, by 1868 Protheroes’ interest had passed to Osman Barrett, possibly soon after Protheroes death in 1857.  In 1868 Barrett and Henry Crawshay, who had taken over his father Williams’ interests in the Forest, were granted a Crown license to build a tramroad down to the Great Westerns Forest of Dean branch at Bilson.  It was probably under this license that the railway incline from the colliery down to Bilson yard was built.  It is interesting to note also that the Crawshay’s had retained their interest in the concern and indeed were to do so until final closure.
In 1870 it was reported that the colliery raised more than 50,000 tons which suggests a slightly earlier date than 1869 for work to have begun on the new site.  An accident report for August 1873 shows that cages were not in use in the shafts at Foxes Bridge.  A collier had a fit whilst descending in a cart and fell out to his death.  It would appear that ten men were being taken up and down at a time in the carts which were free to swing about in the shaft.  As a result cages were to be provided but alterations to the winding engines were necessary before this could be done.
In February 1874 a further accident occured when a badly patched boiler exploded destroying an engine house a hurtling debris over a wide area.  The unfortunate engineman was also buried in the rubble and badly injured.  At the resultant enquirey the practice of patching defective boilers was severely criticised.
The period in the colliery history from 1876 to 1881 is something of a mystery.   In 1876 it was reported that Osman Barrett [Barrett dead by this time, Barrett Brothers?  See Easter, Brick Pit etc.] had sold the coal rights at Foxes Bridge. This may have been a little premature speculation locally as a new company, the New Bilson, Crump Meadow, Foxes Bridge and Central Collieries Ltd had been formed to acquire the various concerns in its title but nothing came of it and the company was wound up in April 1877.  In December 1881 it was stated that Barrett and others had conveyed the concern to Charles A. Goold the brother of Aaron Goold, who, as has already been seen, had an interest in the Bilson and Crump Meadow Collieries at this time.
On the opening of the Mineral Loop in April 1872 a connection was made with Foxes Bridge.  A short branch, stemming from a loop, served the screens, beyond which connection was made, via  wagon turntables, to the incline down to Bilson Yard.  Traffic from the colliery must have been heavy in 1882 as for a period a locomotive was hired from the Severn & Wye.  The engine concerned was Raven (Boulton, 1876) which arrived at the colliery each day after banking the early morning coal empties up the Mineral Loop from Tufts Junction.  After working all day at the colliery it returned light engine to Lydney.
In 1886 a short siding was put in at Foxes Bridge for the S&W in order to enable the loading of ash and cinders from the colliery to be used as ballast.  The S&W paid the colliery proprietors £2. 2s. 0d. in respect of the fee charged by the Crown for the license to lay the siding.  The period of its existance is unknown but it had been removed by 1898 probably having been removed during the remodelling of the sidings c1895.  In those alterations a northern connection to the Mineral Loop was added which enabled empty wagons to be propelled in via the souther connection and loaded wagons to be removed via the northern outlet.  The alterations gave accommodation for eighty wagons.
In January 1888 a limited company, the Foxes Bridge Colliery Co. Ltd., was formed with a capital of £121,000 in 12,100 £10 shares.  The promotors were Charles Goold; Arnold Thomas, colliery manager; William Crawshay, Henry’s second son; John Richardson; Charles Wilson; Joseph Bennett; and Winter Morgan.  Of these John Richardson of Swansea was the largest shareholder with 3,757 shares followed by William Crawshay with 3,025.  Between them the promotors held 11,502 shares, or 95% of the company.  Manager Mr. G. E. J. McMurtie
In May 1888 £8,000 for working capital was to be raised by a mortgage of the whole property.  In March 1892 a further £12,000 was raised, by the issue of twenty-four £500 Debentures, to enable a portion of the Lightmoor gale to be purchased from Henry Crawshay & Co.  This coal would be better worked from Foxes Bridge due to geological difficulties making it very expensive to work from Lightmoor Colliery.  The remaining £2,000 was for working capital.
Returning to the working of the colliery, following a breakdown of the winding engine on the incline down to Bilson yard the Severn & Wye handled all traffic for a period of three weeks in September 1899.  During this time the bulk of the traffic was taken to Lydney whilst that destined for local Great Western stations was taken to Bilson Junction for transfer.
By 1902 the colliery was beginning to run short of tip space on the western side of the Mineral Loop and so applied to the Joint Commmittee for permission to construct a bridge over the railway to enable further tipping to the east.  Authorisation was given on the conditions that the work was carried out to the satisfaction of the railway engineer.  It was Keeling’s intention to view the works that took his inspection train onto the Mineral Loop when it was involved in the accident of 5th February 1903.
Unfortunately, as well as running out of tip space the colliery was also running out of areas of workable coal.  The area of coal obtained from Lightmoor helped somewhat as well as assisting Lightmoor itself.  Without the extra area Foxes Bridge would have closed earlier thereby increasing the pumping costs at Lightmoor.
As with all the other housecoal collieries water was a problem at Foxes Bridge and the management were always looking for ways to ease the situation.  In December 1907 they applied to the Crown for permission to fill the old Laymoor Quarry from where water entered the workings.  It is probable that Laymoor Quarry was that worked by Charles Braddock, the contractor on the Cinderford Extension of the S&W. (See Volume 2, page 000)  Before the quarry could be filled there was some debate as to whether the cost should be borne by the colliery, the Crown, or both!
A change in the ownership of the colliery came around 1904 as an indenture dated 17th May 1904 conveyed all of Foxes Bridge and parts of the Lightmoor and Soundwell gales to Henry Crawshay & Co. although the Foxes Bridge Colliery Co. remained.  Potts Mining Register  for 1908 states that 555 were employed below ground at the colliery while 86 were employed on the surface.  The manager at this time was Mr. W. R. Champness who lived at ‘Fairmead’ Belle View Rd., Cinderford, until March 1911 when he moved into Rock House, Cinderford.
As mentioned under the history of Trafalgar Colliery (Volume 2, page 000) the managements of Foxes Bridge and Lightmoor bought Trafalgar between them in 1919 in order to protect the two collieries from the water in Trafalgar should that colliery cease pumping.
In 1923 the Foxes Bridge management fell into dispute with the Crown when it was discovered that the colliery was occupying a far greater area of surface land than they official leased.  As a result the surface rent paid to the Crown was increased from £4 to £21.  The colliery company objected strongly to this increase pointing out that times were hard and that the workable coal was running out thus this large increase would be a hard blow.  The Crown saw no objection especially as they pointed out the colliery company had had free use of the land for many years.
In June 1924 the water problems for the colliery grew when a feeder of water broke into the Deep Pit shaft at a depth of 382 feet.  It was estimated that the rate of flow was approximately 410 gallons per minute.
In order to keep the colliery going the Foxes Bridge Colliery Co. Ltd. approached the Forestry Commission for the loan of £20,000.  They supported their case by saying that the livelihood of some 750 workmen was at stake and that, if Foxes Bridge were to close, then other collieries would be affected.  It was feared that if it did close and the workings flooded then ultimately Lightmoor would close, with the loss of 900 jobs, and also Crump Meadow, 150 jobs and New Fancy, 400.  It was estimated that up to another 6,000 people would be affected, either directly or indirectly, in an area where more men were unemployed or under-employed, than in any other district.
It was also pointed out that the Crown would lose the royalties from Foxes Bridge and if the other collieries were forced to close then the loss of royalties from them all would be greater than the £20,000 asked for.  Another statistic given was that even if just Foxes Bridge closed then in 25 weeks the men would have received as much in unemployment benifit as had been asked for.
The colliery company required the money to overcome the water difficulties and to open up new areas of coal.  It was estimated that there were sufficient reserves of coal  for ten or twelve years, with one untouched seam estimated at one million tons.  Over the two years prior to 1928 the colliery had only averaged two and a half working days per week.  The main problem , however, was the water.  The estimated amount pumped in 1928 was 63,000,000 gallons, of which 95,000,000?????? came from the feeder in the Deep Pit, whilst in December 1927 the main pump had broken down and the water was on two occasions within 1' 6" of overcoming the pit.  At this time the colliery was busy installing electric pumps and these were rushed into action to deal with the inrush.  The output at this time was approximately 100,000 tons per year.
In reply to the request the Forestry Commission pointed out that, although they agreed with everything that had been stated, the only way to find the money would be to reduce their planting programme to the extent of about 2,000 acres.  Although they did not want to see a colliery go under their funds had been eaten into by an advance of £25,000 recently made to the Princess Royal Collieries Co. Ltd. (see Volume 1, page 000).
The Forestry Commission were also not completely satisfied that the Colliery Co. were in such a bad position as they made out in that they had paid dividends to their shareholders within recent years.  The company countered by showing that their overdraft at the bank that week was between £8,000 and £9,000.
The Forestry Commission saw two alternatives.  The first was that the group of collieries, Foxes Bridge, Crump Meadow and Lightmoor, should be amalgamated with regards to water pumping as they were so closely linked.  Secondly the company could go to the owners and shareholders.  The question was asked as to whether money had been raised on Debentures.  The reply was that although they had the power to borrow £20,000 only £8,000 actually had been.  It was this last point that was the downfall of the company’s case.  In September 1928 the entire property was mortgaged to Lloyds bank for £20,000.
The colliery only continued to work until 1930.  In May a special resolution was passed at a Board meeting to the effect of: ‘
That, in consequence of the heavy losses sustained by this Company in helping to deal with the menace of Trafalgar Colliery water during the years 1919 to 1923, combined with the present additional cost of dealing with the influx of water from the abandoned Crump Meadow Colliery, it is impossible to carry on the working of Foxes Bridge Pits, and the Company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business’
The final nail in the coffin of Foxes Bridge appears to have been the closure of Crump Meadow and the ensueing increase in water to be pumped.  In May 1929 Foxes Bridge pumped ten million gallons which the following year had increased to twenty-four million gallons.  It seems also that water had actually broken in from the Crump Meadow workings as well and over a five month period £3,000 was spent on dealing with it.
The company therefore went into liquidation and on the 6th June notice was given to nearly 500 employees.  Pumping would have to continue for some time under the conditions of the Crown lease.  Once pumping did cease, however, a million tons of coal would be out of reach for ever.
On the 27th June it was reported that dismantling was taking place at the colliery.  Over five miles of tramlines had been lifted and four districts had been stopped with 160 men being displaced.  Over 100 tons of rail and pumps had been taken out from underground.
Foxes Bridge finally ceased work on 10 August 1930 although attempts were still being made to keep the colliery open.  A report in the Daily Express for 3rd September stated:
‘An amazing dispute between the Government and an old-established colliery company here (Cinderford) over a few thousand pounds threatens to throw 1,000 miners into permenant unemployment and devastate one of the most beautiful and prosperous mining towns in the Forest of Dean’.
The Foxes Bridge management had asked for £3,000 of electrical pumping machinery installed at the head of the old Crump Meadow shaft together with another £3,000 to pay for the operation of the machinery for one year.  They had appealed to the Forestry Commissioners for the Crown to do the work.  This they were not prepared to do although it was pointed out that the dole payments to the miners would be about £50,000 per year.  ‘The Government will not spend £3,000 a year to save £50,000 a year, apart entirely from any moral considerations’.  This plea, however, fell on deaf ears and with pumping being suspended on 8th November there was no further hope of re-opening.