Timsbury Workshop Estate | interesting place

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Site of Hayeswood Colliery (Disused)
This pit was opened around 1750 - one of the earlier pits in this cluster on the northerrn side of the Cam valley.
A Partnership was formed to operate the pit in 1792, comprised of Palmer, Mogg & Crang; a not unfamiliar group of names at that time, with other interests in neighbouring ventures.
The shaft(s) were 6' dia. X 642' deep.
In 1841, it was decided to erect a new coke oven with a further scheme of modernisation implicit in references to the oven.
Tragically, there was a serious accident in January 1845 when a hudge carrying seven men was drawn over the wheel, injuring the workers. It was put down to the inattention of the Winding-Engineman.
Worse was to follow just weeks later - on the 4th February 1845, the workings were inundated by water from older workings at a time when almost 100 men & boys were underground.
Seven men and 4 boys were drowned before they could be reached.
As a result of these events, the pit was closed with the men and output being apportioned among the nearby workings. Attempts were made to pump out these workings in vain, so Hayeswood finally closed after a relatively short life in June 1845.
S. S. Samborne, the landowner, took possesion of the pit / plant and by 1856, Hayeswood Pit was back at work.
Not for long! By May, 1858, and with its profitabilty questioned from the outset, it finally closed in or about 1862.
Though defunct, it remained as a ventilation shaft for some years.

The notable Vertical Winding-Engine House remains relatively intact up to the present, and given its age, has become something of a focal point over the years; initially when the site became a chicken farm and subsequently, as a thriving Trading Estate catering for a wide-range of small firms.
Ref:- Down and Warrington; Radstock Museum; Church; and observations.