Bridgewater Collieries

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Bridgewater Collieries originated from the coal mines on the Manchester Coalfield in Worsley in the historic county of Lancashire owned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater in the second half of the 18th century. After the Duke's death in 1803 his estate was managed by the Bridgewater Trustees until the 3rd Earl of Ellesmere inherited the estates in 1903. Bridgewater Collieries was formed in 1921 by the 4th Earl. The company merged with other prominent mining companies to form Manchester Collieries in 1929. Small scale coal mining had been carried on since the Middle Ages where coal seams outcropped in Worsley and the surrounding area. John Edgerton, the first Duke of Bridgewater, bought the Worsley estate in 1630.[2] After inheriting the estate in 1748 the third Duke was keen to exploit the resources under his largely agricultural estate but the coal mines he inherited were small and particularly wet as water percolated through porous sandstone above the coal. The problem was solved by driving an underground level intersecting the coal seams northwards towards Walkden from the Bridgewater Canal into the rock face of an old quarry at the Delph.