Coal has been worked in this vicinity
since at least 1282 under the area known as Norchard Wood, which was outside
Crown land. Ownership of this land had passed in the 1700s to the
Bathurst family as part of Lydney Park Estate.
A level existed on this site in
1810 when it formed part of the ironworks concern leased by the Pidcocks.
In that year they were trying to dispose of their interests and the colliery
was described as consisting of:
....One Six Feet and Two Three Feet
Veins of Coal, and extends over about 500 acres, and at present worked
by one level and two Pits, but any more may be opened, and Works to the
River Severn where the Coals sell for 12s to 14s per Ton the present price
for getting the coal and delivering it to the River Severn through a private
canal belonging to the works about 5s 6d per Ton. These works and
Collieries are held under a lease from the Rt. Hon. Charles Bathurst, about
67 years of which are unexpired, at a yearly rental of £250 free
from the Poor Rates and Tythes'
Although the Pidcocks' interest
in the ironworks was assigned back to Bathurst in 1813, it would appear
that they retained an interest in the colliery as in 1814 John Pidcock
was applying to the Severn & Wye to make a turnout 'from one road to
the other' opposite his level at Norchard. It is possible that John
Pidcock and others made a fresh start at the level in 1842, but likely
that the main coal working was done through the Norchard Pit to the north-west
of the level, coal probably being loaded onto the railway after 1873 on
the siding at New Mills.
When in 1879 Kidnall's Siding was
laid it passed over the top of Norchard Level and it is doubtful if any
work was being done through the level at this time. Certainly the
1881 Ordnance Survey marks it as 'disused'.
In 1890 the Park Iron Mines and
Collieries Ltd. was set up to work Norchard and in 1891 adjoining works
were assigned to the company which were to later form the eastern workings
of Norchard. This company also worked the Tufts Iron Level near Tufts
Junction.
29 January 1892 Old Norchard Colliery for sale whole of engines, boilers, colliery plant, etc. in consequence of closing. Sale on 19 February.
12 February 1892 Norchard Auction
on 19th: 3 egg-ended, 1 cornish boiler, 1 drum ene boiler. Horizontal
hauling engine 81/2 x 20" stroke; vertical ditto 6" cylinder 12" strokeÖ
N.B. There is a railway siding to
the works.
In 1896 the concern was taken over
by the Park Iron Ore and Coal Company Limited, the directors of which included
Joseph Hale of the Lydney and Crump Meadow Collieries Ltd. and the Phipps
brothers who were brewers in Northampton. By 1900 it would appear
that the company was being run by Richard Thomas. It is possible
that when he had taken over the lease of the ironworks properties in 1871
the colliery was included and that he had sub-let it. It was in 1900
that the company applied to the Severn & Wye to be allowed to make
a second entrance into their workings under the railway and thus probable
that work was restarted through the level at this time. Use was now
made of Kidnall's Siding to load the coal won and by 1903 a set of screens
had been built over the siding, which then split into three roads before
joining up again to form a headshunt.
Empty wagons rolled down the siding
from the main line and up into the headshunt and returned by gravity through
the screens to await collection. In 1904/5 a new road was built between
Lydney and Whitecroft and a level crossing installed across the headshunt.
Access to the siding was by means of a single connection trailing from
the 'up' direction. This effectively meant that it could only be
serviced by Lydney-bound trains. In practice empties from Lydney
were first taken to Tufts where the locomotive from the north-bound train
ran round them and took them back to the colliery. It returned to
Tufts with loaded wagons which were left there for collection by an 'up'
train.
The single line section between
Lydney Town and Tufts Junction was, of course, occupied throughout the
operation, thus often causing delays. This was obviated to some extent
in 1906, when a loop siding was added alongside the main line, allowing
the colliery to be serviced from each direction. A new siding was
laid into the colliery at the same time, coming off the new loop at the
southern end and running alongside the River Lyd before connecting with
the original siding. A set of screens was built over the new line,
empty wagons running in on the original northern-most siding down into
the headshunt which now ended before the level crossing. From here
they ran through the screens, over the loaded wagon weighbridge and off
down the new siding to await collection. The new arrangements provided
accommodation for 50 wagons.
From about 1909 the Joint Committee
kept a close eye on the Norchard workings to make sure that they did not
interfere with the railway by causing subsidence. Annual inspections
were carried out by the Midland Railway's engineer but certainly up to
1923 no subsidence had been noted.
In July 1910 one hundred men and
boys at the colliery were effected by the decision to cease working the
Trenchard seam for a period due to the slackness of trade. The managing
director at this time was Richard Phipps who unfortunately died in December
just as he was supervising extensions to the colliery and the installation
of modern equipment. His death appears to have led to the formation
of a new company, the Park Colliery Co. Ltd., which was registered in July
1911. It was to be a private company with an authorised capital of
£15,000 in £1 shares. The subscribers were Charles Bathurst,
H. Webb M.P., R. R. Bowles of Lydney, Richard Beaumont Thomas, and W. Jones
of Lydney, all of whom took 500 shares and F. G. Way, colliery manager,
who took five shares. The new company leased the colliery from R.
Thomas & Co. and Richard Beaumont Thomas, the eldest son of Richard
Thomas, became a director. The chairman of the company was Charles
Bathurst under whose land the colliery mainly lay.
In 1921 a further set of screens
was built over the southern siding following a fire which destroyed the
1906 set. In 1923 the West Gloucestershire Power Company built its
generating station alongside Norchard from where it was supplied by coal
direct using an overhead conveyor belt from the screens. Coal was
also brought into the Norchard sidings from other collieries and again
moved to the power station using the conveyor. A siding leading off
the Norchard headshunt was also constructed into the power station to facilitate
the movement of equipment.
The Park Colliery Company also owned
several other gales which by September 1924 included Pillowell United.
The boundaries of this and a neighbouring gale were rearranged to enable
Pillowell coal to be worked through Norchard. In September, however,
the pumps in this area failed which led to the overpowering of the main
pumps at Norchard by the end of the year. In January 1925 the water
burst into the Princess Royal Colliery workings, which were adjacent to
Norchard's northern boundary, and the flow of water was not finally stopped
until October 1925. For the expense of pumping Princess Royal dry
£12,500 was claimed from the Park Colliery Co., plus compensation
for lost production. The Commissioners of Woods were approached for
financial help for Norchard, like all if the Forest's collieries, was going
through a difficult time due to poor sales. It was pointed out to
them that if Norchard was forced to close, Princess Royal would undoubtably
close also, due to the increased costs in keeping the pit free from water.
Thereby the Crown would lose the royalties from both, plus the dead rent
from Princess Royal. However, the Crown was unable to assist as they
had recently loaned money to Princess Royal and had no spare funds in their
coffers. The Commissioners of Woods were then asked if they would
mediate in the dispute as neither side would meet to discuss the problem,
the logical answer to which was amalgamation.
In 1926 came the problem of the
General Strike and this prolonged dispute between the miners and the coal
owners merely dragged Norchard further into debt. By 1928 Charles
Bathurst, by now Lord Bledisloe, was personally losing money each week
as he felt so strongly about his miners and wanted to keep them in employment.
During the strike in order to keep the pumps working he had rolled up his
sleeves and fired the boilers with the rest of the colliery management
team.
At this time the colliery sidings
were usually cleared once a day with the output being about ten loaded
wagons, plus the coal that went to the power station. In January
1930 an announcement was made that the statutory notice had been given
to the Gaveller of the closure of the Norchard gales. It was estimated
at this time that when Norchard closed the extra pumping costs for Princess
Royal would be £25,000 per year. Finaly, in February, agrement
on amalgamation was reached, with the Princess Royal Collieries Company
buying a controlling interest in Norchard from Charles Bathurst.
By 1932 a new roadway had been driven
to unite the two collieries underground, to aid ventilation and other services,
but, although they were physically linked, the two collieries were still
worked as separate concerns.
By 1936 it was becoming obvious
that coal production at Norchard was being concentrated in the Pillowell
area and that coal was being hauled about three miles to the surface from
the working face. It also meant that the colliers were having to walk the
same distance underground and their wages were paid from the time they
started work at the face. This was especially hard on the men who
lived in Pillowell as they had a six mile walk to win the coal from under
their homes! The decision was therefore made to drive a new heading,
or slant, to the surface at Pillowell. The entrance was to be known
as Norchard Pillowell, or New Norchard. Driving the heading from
within began in 1937 and it took about one year to reach the surface.
A tree, which the surveyors had taken as their target, virtually fell into
the hole as they broke through! To enable the coal raised through
this new 'horizon' to be carried back to the power station, three sidings
were laid on the site of the old Pillowell Level sidings which had been
lifted in 1898. New screens were also built here and the coal was
taken down the Mineral Loop to Norchard and the power station. Here
it was tipped into a hopper by the old screens and taken by the conveyor
system to the power station's boiler house.
A survey of Forest mines in 1946
forecast that Princess Royal and Norchard had a possible life of about
one hundred years. Within ten, however, the workings on the eastern
side of Norchard, towards Howbeech and Eastern United Colliery, reached
thin coal and as this was expensive to work the decision was made to close
in 1957.
The southern siding connection at
Norchard was removed in 1948, the original connection being retained to
enable coal to be worked into the power station. This was finally
removed in 1958, when all coal for the power station was brought in by
road. The sidings at Pillowell were also removed in 1958, the last
load being collected in November 1957.
Norchard was peculiar in that it
was the only colliery in the Forest of Dean which did not lie under Crown
land, being situated under the Lydney Park Estate owned by the Bathurst
family. At its peak it had given employment to 300 - 400 men and
produced 1,800 - 2,000 tons of coal per week. However, at times 38
tons of water had to be pumped in order to win one ton of coal.
THE NORCHARD DRIFT
Although coal winding ceased at
Old Norchard in December 1939 as already mentioned coal winning continued
through the New Norchard drift. Work here finally ceased on 5th December
1965.