Wardley Colliery

Wardley Colliery. There has been a colliery on this site since 1855, when it was opened by John Bowes & Partners Ltd. It was later owned by Washington Coal Company Ltd until 1947 when it was taken over by the National Coal Board. Whellan reports that in 1894 the colliery produced 1000 tons and employed 800 men. A miner's village grew up around the colliery. Whellan describes the miner's houses, the "neat" primitive methodist chapel, brick with stone dressings, dated 1884 and the board school, 1878, which could accommodate 180 infants. The miner's hall and institute were built in 1889, in plain brick, at a cost of £960. The second floor was a large hall for 600 people. The floor below was two cottages for the checkweighmen, a reading room and library. In 1959 Wardley colliery merged with Follonsby Colliery (which became known as Wardley No. 1 Pit. Wardley Colliery closed in August 1974.