Report - Northern United Colliery, Cinderford June 2023

mookster · Jun 24, 2023

One from a recent jaunt to the industrial wastelands in the furthest reaches of Gloucestershire.

A coal mine, in Gloucestershire you say? That's crazy talk, but indeed, the Forest of Dean was home to a small coal industry, most mines were very small scale compared to the larger efforts further north, as the coalfield was much smaller, but there was indeed an industry involving many small collieries over the centuries. Most mines (known in the area as gales) historically were operated on the basis of freemining, being small personal plots people are granted leases to mine for themselves - much in the same ways as gold mining is done in Australia and elsewhere. The 1946 Coal Industry Nationalisation Act specifically exempted the Forest of Dean mines because this form of freemining had been established for centuries in the area.

The Northern United Colliery was the last operating deep coal mine (gale) in the Forest of Dean, it was established in 1933 and was operational until Christmas Day 1965, when it ceased mining operations bringing the age of coal mining in Gloucestershire to a close. Nowadays there are only a very small handful of operational freemining leases in the area, none of them deep.

There is a better history of Northern United Colliery here, from a 2002 description off an old history website -

Northern United was the last deep gale to be developed, after it had been purchased from the Lydney and Crump Meadow Collieries Co. Ltd by Henry Crawshay and Co. Ltd. The colliery provided employment for men from the previously closed Crump Meadow and Foxes Bridge Collieries. Sinking of the main shaft began in May 1933, after two shafts of the old Hawkwell Colliery were re-opened to provide ventilation and an emergency exit. The new shaft reached the Coleford High Delf Seam, here 7 ft thick, in the Pennant Group (middle Upper Coal Measures) at a depth of 696 ft. Electric power was used throughout the pit. In 1935 screens were erected and sidings, connected to the Churchway Branch of the Great Western Railway's Forest of Dean Branch, came into use; about 450 tons coal per week were being raised. Many problems were experienced, including low production quotas, absenteeism, and bad roof conditions, and the colliery was rarely profitable. Things were no better in NCB days, and 1960 was the only year in which a profit was made. The colliery closed on Christmas Day 1965, marking the end of deep mining in the Forest. Attempts were made to wash the tip for coal in 1994, but this was abandoned as the tip had burnt.

The buildings left are the pithead baths, what I believe to be a former office building and some form of workshop type structure. After closing in 1965, the surviving buildings were reused for light industrial stuff, the most recent being some form of recycling/waste disposal/skip yard. There are a few dozen skips sat on the land all filled with rubbish that has been there for what looks to be a good few years, I guess the company went under and simply upped sticks leaving all their crap behind. It was a nice easy explore, sadly there isn't a whole lot left internally however the beautiful white tiling in the pithead baths still remains. There is a small tower attached to the baths, however the only way in would have involved a long and protracted battle with spiky horrible undergrowth to get to the door and, given that it looked like the ladders to the top had been cut off and left at the bottom level I didn't really fancy it too much!

Pithead Baths building