History

by Ithel Kelly

 

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.

 

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

 

Year	Manager	Under Manager	Total Employees	Working Underground
1823				366
1896	Edmund Plunkett		460	410
1908			503
1918			215
1933	Charles Neate		413	340
1937	Charles Neate		433	360
1938	David Topping	E Williams	520	405
1940	Charles Neate		503	410
1945	David Topping	E Williams	465	340
1947	David Topping		383	283

 

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.

 

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.