Bedford Colliery

Bedford Colliery, also known as Wood End Pit, was a coal mine on the Manchester Coalfield in Bedford, Leigh, Lancashire, England. The colliery was owned by John Speakman, who started sinking two shafts on land at Wood End Farm in the northeast part of Bedford, south of the London and North Western Railway's Tyldesley Loopline in about 1874. Speakman's father owned Priestners, Bankfield, and Broadoak collieries in Westleigh. Bedford Colliery remained in the possession of the Speakman family until it was amalgamated with Manchester Collieries in 1929.

Bedford Colliery exploited the Middle Coal Measures which were laid down in the Carboniferous period and where coal is mined from seams between the Worsley Four Foot and Arley mines. The seams generally dip towards the south and west and are affected by small faults. The Upper Coal Measures are not worked in this part of the coalfield.

Bedford was a rural community until the arrival of the Bridgewater Canal; a large basin built at Butts in 1795 proved to be a catalyst for the development of industry in the township. Coal however had been got from small pits in the northeast of the township. Wood End Farm was an area of Bedford with many old small coal pits including Milner's Pit which was working in 1853.

John Speakman began sinking two shafts south of the railway line in 1874, and by 1876 coal was being produced. The shafts were 197 yards (180 m) deep and reached the Crombouke mine. In 1883 No. 2 shaft was deepened to 420 yards (380 m) to access the Seven Foot mine and to 627 yards (573 m) to access the Trencherbone mine. Three years later No. 1 shaft was deepened to reach the Arley mine, at 891 yards (815 m).

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