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North Wales Miners Association Trust Ltd
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Black Park
Colliery |
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History (Ithel Kelly et
al) Black Park Colliery
was one of the oldest collieries in North Wales, reputed to date from at
least 1653. It worked the Main, Two
Yard, Yard and Half, Trevor, Seven Feet, Cannel, Bind & Benches and
Powell seams, although most production was House and Steam Coal from the
former two.
Surface Buildings [I
Kelly]
Shaft Top [K Aspinall] Coal was being mined
at Halghton, to the north-east of Chirk, as early as 1622. Sir Thomas Myddelton of Chirk Castle, who
was a partner in the Ruabon furnace in 1631-32, set up the Pont-y-Blew Iron
Forge on land near the Halghton coal pits in the early 1630s. It is not known if these pits were located
at Black Park Colliery . A legal
dispute. which took place in the 1690s between the Myddeltons of Chirk Castle
and the Trevors of Bryn Kynalt over the mining of coal, shows the importance
of coal in the Chirk area.
Black Park Colliery
was leased from Chirk Castle estate in the 1800s and in 1851 was owned by
Thomas Ward. By1869
it had been sold to John Stott, Milne and Co from Lancashire and in 1880 it
was acquired by the Black Park Colliery Co Ltd. Directors of the latter
were H A Bromilow, H C
Bromilow, C L Burrows, J Darlington, J C Eckersley, N Eckersley and R M
Pilkington. The company flourished under a succession of general
managers (most notably James Darlington between 1880-1933), who played an
active role in developing the town through the provision of community
recreation facilities and improved living conditions for the miners.
The following statistics
are from the HM Mines Inspector’s reports
The Black Park
Collieries Railway was an early 19th century horse-worked railway
that ran eastwards from the dock for over a mile to the colliery. At grid
reference SJ2850538863 is the entrance to a former canal spur to the railway,
later becoming the Glyn Valley Tramway Dock.
It is now sealed with brickwork where the canal arm left the main
canal channel under the towing-path. The area of the rectangular canal dock
at right-angles on the east side of the canal occupied the southern part of
what is a large water basin at the Chirk sewage works (just north of the
wood-chip plant).
In 1947, the colliery
was nationalised on what was called “Vesting Day” and an NCB flag was
flown. At that time, the adjacent Ifton
Colliery had seen its number of employees fall to 974, while Black Park had
402 employees. Black Park was close to
the western outcrop of the coal seams and its main shaft was only 272 yards
deep. In 1949, it was decided to close
Black Park and to work the remaining coal from the Ifton shaft. For this, a
910 yard long tunnel had to be driven at a 1 in 5 gradient to connect the
underground workings. The Black Park
miners were transferred to work at Ifton.
At that time, the
shafts at Black Park were filled with boiler ash and capped with cement. In 1966, it was
decided to re-open one of the Black Park shafts to act as a ventilation shaft
for Ifton and this involved the installation of a new fan and winding
engine. The old pit bottom furnace (used at one time to create a
draught for ventilation) and the underground stables still existed at that
time and were in first class condition. As a safety measure,
officials had to regularly travel the roadway between Ifton and Black Park to
check on the condition, going one way underground and returning on the
surface. It was necessary to be
familiar with these ways out in case of emergency where the main shaft was
not accessible. When Ifton closed in
1968 the Black Park shaft was re-filled and sealed. Billy Meredith is
perhaps one of the most famous names in British football. He was the game's first superstar and
achieved 22 caps for Wales. Meredith
was born in 1874 in Chirk and started work at Black Park Colliery as a pit
pony driver.
Model Truck The above model shows what the colliery’s private wagons looked like The locomotive
“Hornet” (Peckett & Sons 0-4-0ST No.1935) was ordered by the Black Park
Colliery Co Ltd on 2nd March 1937 and delivered by the LMSR to Chirk Station
(GWR) on 8th November of that year.
Pecketts built around 1500 small saddle tanks for industrial service,
mostly similar in appearance, using standard fittings and layout with outside
cylinders. No 1935 is a typical example and it is also the only survivor of
the Greenhithe class which has a lowered footplate and cab for working under
restricted loading gauges. When Black Park
Colliery was closed, "Hornet" was transferred to Weston Rhyn loco
shed during March 1951 and from here worked the NCB line to Ifton
Colliery. In November 1968, she was
transferred again to Bersham Colliery.
When eventually displaced by diesels, and after lying out of use since
March 1980, she was rescued & preserved in October 1983. “Hornet” is
currently receiving cosmetic attention at the Ribble Steam Railway Preston. http://www.ribblesteam.org.uk/
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