The Bowson Gale was granted in June 1843 to Cornelius Walding of Ruardean Hill who was to get the coal from the Coleford High Delf vein and all the unalloted veins between it and the Churchway High Delf by means of a pit situated at a place near Churchway.  The work was to be known as the New Bowson Colliery.  The gale formed one of the ‘deep gales’ of the Forest and as such remained untouched until sufficient capital could be found to sink the shafts to the required depth.  Within the Forest a single Free Miner was unlikely to be able to provide such a sum and so it was not until 1863 that a company was formed to commence development on the gale.  Even so the area provided by the Bowson gale, about 128 acres, was insufficient for economic development and so a further 172 acres of coal were obtained by purchasing the northern part of the East Dean Deep Gale which had been granted in December 1852 to Richard Cook of Drybrook but like Bowson had not been worked as the development costs, estimated at between £60,000 and £70,000 could not be found.

The development of the gales was begun by the Great Western Deep Coal Company founded in January 1863 with a capital of £50,000 in the form of 5,000 £10 shares.  The promoters of the company were mainly from London and included Henry Whitworth who took 50 shares, Richard Ridley with 200 shares and a John Watson of Whitby, 50 shares.  Interestingly the majority of the shareholders came from the Pontefract area of Yorkshire and included members of the Holden family who came to have far more of an interest as will be seen later.  The first registered office of the company was at Whitworths address of Abchurch Chambers, Abchurch Lane, London but by December 1863 it was Carlton Buildings, Cooper Street, Manchester which again shows the north country interest in the concern.

In February 1864 it was reported that they had recently commenced sinking two shafts close to the Winning Pits belonging to Messrs. Goold & Heyworth the owners of the Bilson and Crump Meadow collieries.  This action soon led to a dispute between the two parties as in order for the Great Western Deep Coal Co. to reach their alloted coal they had to sink their shafts through ground already granted to Goold and Heyworth.  The coal in the Churchway Highdelf seam which had been worked from the Winning Pits was by this time exhausted and so the area had no real commercial value but local legend has it that when the shaft sinkings broke into some of the old Winner workings they were met by Goolds men and a fight developed underground.  Whether or not there was any truth behind the story is unknown but in the report on the ensueing litigation it is stated that the Great Western Deep Coal Co. commenced sinking and Goold’s immediately applied for a bill to restrain them.  Goolds’ also drove a level from one of their old workings in such a manner as to obstuct the Great Western Deep Coal Co. pit thus the tale could be true.  A notice was issued to the Great Western Deep Coal to stop working in February 1864 upon which they filed a cross bill against Goolds.  On reaching court in June 1864 the judge found in favour of the Great Western Deep Coal Co.  It was stated that water from their workings would pose no threat to Goolds as the Great Western Deep Coal Co. already had an engine at work capable of winding 5,400 gallons per hour whilst a new engine was being erected with a capacity of 30,000 gallons.

The sinking works were bedeviled with problems and accidents.  In October 1866 a labourer was killed by debris falling on him whilst he was engaged in the sinking which had by this time reached a depth of 200 yards.  The subsequent inquest, held at the Bell Inn, Ruardean, gives some detail of the operations.  The sinking was in the hands of one John Standring who had been engaged in the job since August.  He informed the coroner that he had never seen any rules for working and that none were displayed on the premises.  In over-all charge of the works was a Mr. Eggleston.  The problem with the shaft appeared to lie where it passed through the Rocky vein, here the brick shaft lining had been replaced with stone and the work had ‘been made substantial’ but the lining was still being forced out.  It was from here that a piece of stone fell thus causing the fatal accident.  To avoid a repetition workmen were soon engaged placing deal boards over the offending area as the Mines Inspector had pronounced the works unsafe.  At the request of the coroner a mining engineer, Mr. Trafford, had visited the works and on examining the shaft found it to be in a very unsatisfactory state.  The courses of bricks were irregular and crushed in some parts as well as being ‘quite out of the perpendicular’!  The Mines Inspector in his report was of much the same opinion but here he gives some details of the operation and of the plant in use.  The only means of communication between the bottom of the shaft and the surface was the human voice, although as they were now getting deeper they were preparing to instal a mechanical signalling device.  As to the winding engine in use it had a single twelve inch cylinder with a stroke of two and a half feet and a working pressure of forty pounds per square inch giving about twelve horsepower.  He considered this to be of insufficient power to work a large winding drum. However a small one was fitted, of only five feet diameter which was not large enough for round wire ropes.  The rope in use was barely seven eighths thick which he considered far too thin for such a deep pit.  To make matters worse when he returned to the surface after inspecting the shaft he noticed a broken cog in the pinion and stated that if he had noticed it prior to descending then he would not have gone down!

The pit was eleven feet in diameter and was down 228 yards.  The top eight or ten yards was faced in dressed-stone, although the thickness of the work could not be ascertained.  Below this was standard four and a half inch brickwork which was totally inadequate.  Then came another six yards of stonework at the depth of the Rocky vein beneath which came fifty yards of common brickwork, then nine or ten yards of iron tubing, then another thirty-two yards of brickwork followed by a dozen or fifteen yards of as yet unlined rock.  It was thought that the shaft could have been located in a better position as it was well known that sinking a new shaft through old workings brought about many problems.
The bad constuction of the shaft was not the only problem which the company was to encounter in sinking the shafts, water was also a great problem.  When one shaft, the deep pit, had been sunk to a depth of about 240 yards a feeder of water was met which came through the stone ‘like so many gas jets or springs’.  Worse, however, was to come as when a depth of about 280 yards was reached in the pit the sinkers tapped a rock and water came flooding in so quickly that the men were lucky to escape.  At this time the only method of removing the water was by hauling it up the shaft in wooden containers for which purpose ‘two large engines’ were being used.  In early September 1867 whilst this task was being performed the chain used for winding snapped when the load was within a few yards of the top and the heavy container full of water fell back to the bottom of the shaft with a resounding crash narrowly missing the workmen at the bottom.
This obviously contributed to the realisation by the management and the engineer, John Watson, that they could not possibly de-water their shaft by this method and so the decision was made to purchase a Cornish beam pumping engine from the recently closed St. Day United, or Poldice, copper mine in Cornwall.

This engine had been erected in 1821 to the design of William Sims with parts supplied by the Neath Abbey Ironworks in South Wales.  Originally it had a 90" cylinder but was rebuilt with an 85" in 1845, and between 1830 and 1850 it was reputed to be the hardest worked engine in Cornwall.  It was sold to the Great Western Deep Coal Co. for the sum of £700 and was dismantled at Poldice and taken to the nearby Perran Foundry for rebuilding.  Here a strange thing was done to what was obviously a sucessful engine.  On the instructions of Watson the engine was to be rebuilt as a double acting engine which entailed the scrapping of most of the original machine, indeed it is likely that only the cylinder was re-used which at £700 made it very costly indeed!

Another report in the Gloucester Journal,  dated 18 January 1868, reveals that a second shaft was down to a depth of about 168 yards, this was to be the Land Pit.  Three men were employed here at a depth of about thirty yards and one of them, Edward Hooper, required to return to the surface to collect some equipment.  They shouted to the banksman that they wished to be drawn up.  The banksman communicated to the engine driver, William Jordan, who started the engine.  Despite shouts to stop once the tub containing Hooper reached the surface winding continued taking the tub up over the winding wheel and through the opening into the winding engine house in the course of which Hooper was thrown out to his death.  The engineman, Jordan, was arrested and charged with manslaughter but found not guilty as the witnesses did not attend the court at the proper time!

A further accident occured in July 1868 when three of the sinkers charged a hole with gunpowder.  One of them unwisely looked into the hole using a candle for illumination.  The resulting explosion injured two of them.

With all of the problems involved in the sinking and with the expense of removing the water from the workings as the Cornish pump had not yet been delivered the Great Western Deep Coal Company gave up the unequal struggle and went into voluntary liquidation on the 19th March 1868.
A new company, the New Bowson Deep Coal Company Ltd., was formed in June 1868 with a capital of £25,000 in 250 £100 shares to purchase or lease New Bowson and a portion of East Dean Deep gales.  Once again the majority of the shareholders were from the north country including one Isaac Holden.  The company secretary was Henry Rowbotham who had performed the same task for the Great Western Deep Coal Co.
With a fresh injection of capital work recommenced at Bowson.  The work on the second-hand Cornish engine had continued at the Perran Foundry and now work was put in hand to receive the engine at Bowson.  The sinking of a staple pit to receive pumps was begun and by July was, according to the Mining Journal, down to a depth of 60 yards.  The same journal on the 2nd January 1869 reported that the enginehouse for the pumping engine was ‘up and covered in’.  The engine itself was installed by July 17th and in a working condition.  It would now be convienient to give a description of the engine itself as it was of a rather unusual nature.

As mentioned above it was built in 1821 to the design of William Sims using parts supplied by the Neath Abbey Ironworks.  Originally having a 90" cylinder it was rebuilt with an 85" in 1845.  After the sale to the Great Western Deep Coal Co. the engine was dismantled and taken to the Perran Foundry.  Here it was rebuilt as a double acting engine, hence the need to sink a staple pit.  The use of a double acting engine closely follows north country practice where the engine would draw up water from the bottom to a mid-point in the main shaft from where it would flow to the staple pit.  Here it would be drawn to the surface.  With the Bowson engine the staple pit was actually inside the engine house and because the engines beam had been extended at the cylinder end the pumping strokes were uneven.  At the outdoor end, over the main shaft the pump stroke was ten foot, as was the stroke in the cylinder, but because the pump rod in the staple pit was attached beyond the cylinder the stroke here was thirteen feet.

To make the engine double acting a new set of valve gear had to be fitted as steam had to be admitted to the cylinder on either side of the piston.  When starting the engine the driver had to guard against overstroking in both directions and so provision was made to cut off the steam prematurely.

It is reputed locally that the engine house cracked on the first stroke of the engine.  Unfortunately it is not recorded whether the crack was in the bob wall or internally.  It is possible that the Perran Foundry who, in the tradition of erecting Cornish engines, would have overseen the building of the engine house may have made an error in calculating the stresses that a double acting engine would impart.

Messrs. Insole and Bunning, writing in the British Society of Mining Students Journal in December 1881 list all of the pumping plants in the Forest of Dean.  Under Bowson they quote that in the main shaft was one 60 yard bucket lift and one 100 yard forcing lift whilst in the Staple pit were two 65 yard forcing lifts.  The engine was supplied with steam from four egg-ended boilers, three of which were in use at any one time and the nominal horse power of the engine was given as 296.

It would appear that the engine was unsuccessful in dealing with the water problem, possibly it was having to work at a reduced number of strokes per minute if there was a problem with the engine house, and a report in the Mining Journal for the 2nd April 1870 reveals the sad plight of the undertaking.
‘Report from the Forest of Dean, March 30th., ... The Bowson Company ... is considered ... to be a partial failure ... depth of their shafts is about 284 yards ... porous strat from which the water filled the shafts ... The company decided to erect an engine and pumps ... too small for the purpose ... although their manager asserted that they had the ‘Largest engine in the Forest’ ... they could not keep it [the water] out, the engine going about 8 strokes, (i.e. a little over 1,000 gallons per minute.)’

The water problem finally overcame the company which was wound up voluntarily on the 17th December 1870 and work was abandoned in 1871 after about £80,000 had been expended and lost.  To protect nearby gales a dam was put in the shaft in 1874.
It is likely that the gales now passed into the hands of the New Bowson Coal Company.  This company was started by members of the Holden and Illingworth families who had been connected with both of the previous undertakings.  They were working the adjoining East Slade Colliery and held other adjacent gales.

In 1877 they were attempting to sell off the plant at New Bowson.  An advertisement was placed in the   in early July and the plant was listed as;-
One Double Powered PUMPING ENGINE, with 85 inch cylinder and 10 ft. stroke; two lifts of pumps 18 inch diameter, and one lift 20 inch diameter; pump rods, rod plates, plungers, buckets, clacks and all complete.
One powerful CRAB ENGINE, with a pair of 12 inch cylinders and 2 ft. stroke.
One WINDING ENGINE, with a pair of 26 inch diameter cylinders and four ft. stroke.
Four BOILERS 50 ft. long, 5 ft. diameter, with fittings Etc. complete in working order.
Two BOILERS 30 ft. long, 6 ft. 6 inch diameter, complete.
SAW MILL ENGINE, with cylinder 12 inch diameter, 2 ft. stroke, and cast iron circular Saw Frame complete.  Four Horse Crabs, three sets of headgear, Etc. Etc.

It is certain that not all of the plant was disposed of as the 85 inch pumping engine remained unused in its engine house until finally dismantled in 1925.  Probably it was too much of a ‘white elephant’ for any other concern to want to take on.  In 1881 it was reported that Moscrop had personally invested £2,000 in the sinking of the shafts, all of which was now lost.

The hopes of working the deep coal at New Bowson were revived with the passing of the 1904 Dean Forest (Mines) Act.  The New Bowson and East Dean Deep gales were to be amalgamated with Holly Hill United and Richard Whites under the ownership of the New Bowson Coal Co. Ltd.  The Crown were prepared to carry out the amalgamation if several conditions could be met.  The New Bowson Coal Co. had to be prepared to acquire the Holly Hill gale after which the Crown would carry out the amalgamation.  The grant was to be extended for seven years but if new applicants came forward after that time prepared to develop the Coleford High Delf seam then the New Bowson Coal Co. would be given first option on sinking further down.  If they were not prepared to do this then all the seams below the Brazilly were to be surrendered subject to the newcomers paying the New Bowson Coal Co. £5,000 for the New Bowson Pits and machinery.  If fourteen years elapsed without any work being done then the Crown had the right to forfeit the seams below the Brazilly without any sum being paid.

In November 1906 it was reported that the Lydney & Crump Meadow Collieries Co. Ltd. wished to acquire the interests of the New Bowson Coal Co.  By this date the New Bowson Co. was largely in the hands of the Illingworth family.  Indeed the registered owners of New Bowson were given as Sir Angus Holden, Edward Holden, Alfred Illingworth, Henry Illingworth, May Illingworth, Percy Holden Illingworth, Albert Holden Illingworth.  The latter two suggest that the Holden and Illingworth families were probably united by marriage.  Both Alfred and Henry Illingworth senior were involved in the textile industry in Bradford and Alfred was also a Yorkshire M.P.  Henry Illingworth died in 1895 leaving his interest to his son Henry Holden Illingworth whilst Alfred died in 1907 leaving his estate to his wife and six sons of whom the eldest was Frederick.  The largest shareholder was Henry Holden Illingworth and the terms of amalgamation suggested that he should receive £4,500 in shares and debentures in the Lydney & Crump Meadow Collieries Co. Ltd. although he was to provide £1,000 in cash for development purposes.  In February 1907 it was stated that Illingworth had spent a total of £94,000 at Bowson and in the rest of the Forest since 1863. (Another interest held by the family was the ill-fated Arthur & Edward Colliery at Lydbrook [see Severn & Wye, Volume 3, Pope & Karau, Wild Swan Publications, 1988] which in 1907 was also sold to the Lydney & Crump Meadow Collieries Co. Ltd. who then made a go of it.)

It is reported that between 1906 and 1908 that 10,016 tons of coal was raised from the East Dean Deep gale.  This was undoubtably raised through another gale, possibly Crump Meadow or through the Duck Pit.

As allowed for in the agreement with the Crown the Holly Hill gale was transferred to the Lydney & Crump Meadow Collieries Co. Ltd. via the Free Miners in November 1907.  The entire amalgamated area came to be known as the Northern United gale.  Although it was reported that work on riming out one of the Crump Meadow shafts was to begin before the end of March 1909 no work seems to have been done until 1912/13.  The Brazilly seam had been proved by a staple pit sunk at Crump Meadow and the coal was being brought to the surface through the Crump Meadow shaft and also up the Duck Colliery, also owned by the Lydney & Crump Meadow Collieries Co. Ltd..

Around the period 1912/13 a Lancashire boiler was installed on the New Bowson site and it was said that it was intended to fill the middle pit.  The First World War, however, interupted this work and it was not until 1921 that it was resumed.  Then a new steel headframe was erected but by 1925 all hopes of winning coal from this site were abandoned and the engine house, together with the 85 inch Cornish pump were demolished.  The new headframe remained and in November 1929 some hope was raised locally when steam was seen to be coming from the engine house but no significance was attached to this.

The Northern United gale itself was not given up and in 1932 it was sold to Henry Crawshay & Co. who began work on a new site further north and gained the Coleford High Delf seam by sinking a new shaft.

4 July 1864  By a deed the interests of the New Bowson Colliery and ‘such a portion of the East Dean Deep Colliery’ became vested in John Watson of Abchurch Chambers, London and that by deed E.H. Moscrop conveyed two 24th parts in the said gales to John Watson.

22 October 1900(?) E.H. Moscrop died and vested interest to Messrs. Illingworth.

11 June 1877  Time for opening East Dean Deep about to expire.

29 October 1881  Moscrop had invested £2,000 in sinking the shafts.