Kelston Sparks Workshop Office and Yard

United Kingdom / England / Clutton-Temple Cloud /
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Originally the site of Bromley Colliery

THE SINKING OF BROMLEY PIT
Gaining coal from nearby was proven, and the prospect of a 'deep pit' at Bromley would seem to have gained momentum as the 19th C progressed.
Early records are sketchy & the pit's fortunes were seemingly less than promising from the outset. Said to be sunk in 1860, there is no definite mention of Bromley until 1893 when it was owned by Messrs L & N Gibbs. It might be mentioned that the winding shaft was some 4ft 6'' square and sunk to a depth of 475 ft. (Small but not untypical in North Somerset).
Always something of an isolated outpost, it truly was a 'rural' pit - surrounded by fields & with no hard & fast plans to link the mine to a railway.

At the time of the proposed extension of the Blagdon line, an output of 1000 ton per week was used to illustrate viability, though it was only after some considerable investment and some 30 years later when Bromley achieved that level of output!
As early as 1914, there was further talk of this modest pit closing, in part because the costs were high and there was the added impact of the increased costs of transporting coal to Pensford.
It would seem that the prospect of Pensford's imminent opening provided the stimulus to keep Bromley open, and then obtain the advantages of the two pits eventually working advantageously together. (One would be working the Radstock Series of seams, the other the Farrington Series equivalents in the Pensford Basin).

Despite all the uncertainties & apparent absence of confidence, there were as many as 220 employees at Bromley in 1932; though from then on, this number progressivly declined through the 30s & 1940s.
This is a far cry from the position at Bromley in 1896, when the Peak District Society's Records show that only 3 men worked at Bromley at that time (2 underground / 1 surface worker!)
And how it further contrasts with the late 20's / early 30's when there were more than 520 men & boys employed at Pensford & Bromley taken together. It remains difficult to imagine that so many men could have been busily gaining coal in some capacity just a few hundred yards from the A37 when driving past 'Chelwood Bridge' and the very visible batches at Pensford.
By 1951, with only 67 men, and with the NCB simply unable to to introduce any cost-effective changes to make the pit more productive (given the inherent limitations of the size of the winding shaft, working methods, the suspect layout, the volume of pumping required etc ), output at that time was the lowest of all the pits in Somerset.
Pit ponies were still being used up until 1955, and it was just a matter of time........ The pit finally closed in May, 1957.
There are still detectable remains of the course of the tramway (2 ft guage), and its path can be traced throughout most of the length to Pensford Pit.


Ref:- Down & Warrington; Radstock Museum; Ray Ashman - (Mining surveyor) Oral History; & other websites.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°21'13"N   2°33'57"W

Comments

  • Please confirm this entry to protect its integrity. John Gibson.
  • Since it gives the present use and name, this should not be tagged 'disappeared object' Instead, the present use should be expanded upon at the beginning of the article and the history can come after this.
  • How can this site be readily identified as the former site of Bromley Colliery (Disused), give the above comments about its present usage. Your advice would be much appreciated. John.
This article was last modified 4 years ago