Great Haigh Sough
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Under the Haigh Hall estate in Haigh, Greater Manchester, England |
| Coordinates | 53°33′33″N 2°37′03″W / 53.559088°N 2.617436°W |
| Status | Abandoned |
| System | drainage tunnel |
| Start | 1653 |
| End | 1670 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1670 to present day |
| Owner | Coal Authority |
| Technical | |
| Length | 1,120 yards (1,020 m) long |
| Tunnel clearance | 4 feet (1.2 m) high |
The Great Haigh Sough is a tunnel or adit driven under Sir Roger Bradshaigh's estate between 1653 and 1670, to drain his coal and cannel pits in Haigh on the Lancashire Coalfield. The sough's portal and two metres of tunnel from where it discharges water into the Yellow Brook at Bottling Wood is a scheduled monument.
Cannel had been dug from bell pits on Bradshaigh's estate since the 14th century where the seam was very close to the surface near the Old School Cottages. The sough was driven to drain the pits, which produced both coal and cannel and extended the life of their shallow workings, which were prone to flooding. The sough, a major investment was considered preferable to winding water from the workings by the primitive methods available at the time. Bradshaigh recorded a detailed survey of the construction of the sough and its shafts with instructions for maintenance so that, "the benefit of my 16 years labour, charge and patience (which it pleased God to crown with success for me and my posterity) may not be lost by neglect."
The 1,120 yards (1,020 m) long tunnel, up to six feet wide and four feet high, had ten ventilation shafts each up to 3 yards (2.7 m) wide and up to 49 yards (45 m) deep. Driven from Bottling Wood to Park Pit, work started in 1653 and finished in 1670. The miners used picks, hammers, wedges and spades and would have encountered blackdamp which would have extinguished their candles warning them of its presence. The sough was completed without using explosives but it is possible that fires were lit against the rock at the end of a shift to help break it. The shafts were used to remove rock as the miners cut the tunnel. Progress averaged 66 yards (60 m) per year or about 4 feet (1.2 m) a week. Between its outlet and Park Pit the sough passed through several layers of hard sandstones, mudstones and the Cannel and King Coal seams. Seven ventilation shafts, roughly aligned with the main drive to Haigh Hall, were worked as small collieries and the rest filled in. The first shaft from the outfall, Cannel Hollows Pit, was 23 feet (7.0 m) deep. The fifth shaft, Sandy Beds Pit, was sunk 30 yards (27 m) to the sough and met the coal seam at 14 yards (13 m). Its shaft was rectangular in section but the others were round. The last shaft before Park Pit was 48 yards (44 m) deep to the sough and met the Cannel seam at 32 yards (29 m). The shaft at Park Pit was 46 yards (42 m) to the sough and met the King Coal seam at 41 yards (37 m).
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