9. The Coalfield after Nationalisation In 1929 Daniel Jones, the manager of the Kingswood collieries, was optimistic about the future, claiming that There are at least six sites in the suburbs of Bristol where... outputs of 1,000 tons a day from each could be raised... In the Somersetshire coalfield there is a tremendous area yet to be worked if only the necessary capital can be found. (Western Daily Press, 31 December 1929, p.4) Such optimism may have appeared justified in view of the Royal Commission report of 1871 which had estimated the total reserves of the coalfield at 6,154,000,000 tons, 69% of which lay at depths of no more than 4,000 feet. The Royal Commission of 1905 had amended the total to 6,083,600,000 tons (again with 69% at depths to 4,000 feet), but the Regional Survey Committee felt that insufficient research had been carried out since then to enable them to provide any more accurate estimate. (Bristol and Somerset Coalfield Regional Survey Report (1946: HMSO: London) pp. 42-43) However, both the Regional Survey Committee and the Fuel Research Coal Survey did attempt to provide estimates of the reserves available to the collieries then in production and their future levels of output, although the collieries are not named in the report, so it is not possible to identify all of them with any certainty. Of the thirteen collieries then operating, six were estimated to have a lifetime in excess of 100 years. The total estimated reserves of all the working collieries amounted to only 5% of the total reserves of the coalfield (7% of the reserves at depths of less than 4,000 feet), as estimated in 1905. The lifetime of the collieries was affected by factors other than their reserves, however, and thus, for example, the closure of Coalpit Heath in 1949 was at least partly due to the increased pumping burden imposed by the closure of Parkfield in 1936. (R A Buchanan & Neil Cossons (1969: David & Charles: Newton Abbot) The Industrial Archaeology of the Bristol Region, p. 88) The committee also considered the possibility of further collieries opening and reported that, although no definite plans were in hand, two of the firms already engaged in the coalfield were “interested in the future development” of the Bristol area. It was tentatively suggested that there was scope for the reopening of Dunkerton, Newbury and Old Grove collieries, and the sinking of new pits in the areas around Avonmouth, Warmley, Winterbourne, Litton and Paulton. (Bristol and Somerset Coalfield Regional Survey Report (1946: HMSO: London) p. 54) After nationalisation a number of boreholes were drilled and two seams each five feet thick were discovered at Avonmouth. (C G Down & A J Warrington (nd: David & Charles: Newton Abbot) The History of the Somerset Coalfield, p. 28) The only new colliery to be sunk, however, was Harry Stoke, near Filton, which began production in 1954. In 1950 the Evening Post had reported that the colliery would be one third of a mile deep and might well produce all the coal needed locally, whilst a spokesman for the South-West Regional Hospital Board claimed that it had proved necessary to reconsider plans to build an eight-storey nurses’ home at Frenchay Hospital as the National Coal Board was planning to extract coal from under the site. (Evening Post, 5 January 1950, pp. 1 & 7 & 6 January 1950, p. 1) In the event, the colliery proved to be a failure; two drifts were sunk and coal was worked under Pur Down, output rising to over 100,000 tons in 1959, but geological problems soon arose and the colliery closed in 1963/4. (John Cornwell (1983: D Brown and Sons: Cowbridge), Collieries of Kingswood and South Gloucestershire, p. 50) The final attempt at sinking a new colliery was undertaken, not by the NCB, but by a private company, Gasex (Mining Engineers) Ltd. Work on a level started at Common Wood near Hunstrete, but had to be abandoned when it was discovered that much of the coal in the area had already been removed by previously unknown eighteenth century workings. (C G Down & A J Warrington (nd: David & Charles: Newton Abbot) The History of the Somerset Coalfield, pp. 69-70) The NCB also invested considerable amounts at the existing collieries, most notably at Norton Hill which was effectively completely rebuilt at a cost of £488,755. [Somerset Record Office: NCB Papers, A/BDM 2/1] New Rock, which was winding all its coal 1,182 feet up a shaft 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, was linked to the wider shaft of Strap colliery which had been closed in 1879, a project which it was estimated would cost £139,659, although the actual amount expended is unknown. (C G Down & A J Warrington (nd: David & Charles: Newton Abbot) The History of the Somerset Coalfield, p. 258) To say that the industry did not develop according to plan is something of an understatement, since forecasts of output and colliery lifetime proved to be extremely inaccurate. Any detailed discussion of the causes of the decline of the industry after nationalisation is, strictly speaking, outside the scope of this essay, it seems reasonable to suggest that it was the result of the usual local geological difficulties combined with a failure to foresee the decline in demand for coal. It should also be noted, however, that the NCB encountered considerable difficulties in recruiting and retaining workers. In the period immediately after nationalisation a large number of foreign workers (chiefly Polish and Italian) were brought into the area and by 1954 they accounted for almost 10% of the workforce. In the 1960s it was found necessary to import labour from other coalfields, 157 men from Durham moving to the area between 1963 and 1965. Bonsall has suggested that the buoyant state of the economy in the Norton-Radstock area was an important factor in he demise of the industry, the ready availability of other work being indicated by the fact that in 1965, shortly before the closure of Norton Hill and Old Mills, the unemployment rate in the area was 0.6%, compared to the national average of 1.7%. (Penny Bonsall (1989) “The Somerset Coalfield, 1947-1973: Attitudes and Responses to Pit Closures in the Post-Nationalisation Era,” Southern History, 11, pp. 114-130, 116-120) By May 1973, only Kilmersdon and Writhlington collieries remained, and, as they were now making heavy losses, their closure was announced. The majority of the workforce of 430 was aged between 45 and 59, and there was concern about the impact of their redundancies on the local economy, but this was lessened by the fact that the local mining community had been fragmented and many of them actually lived in Pensford, Timsbury, Chew Magna, Frome and Bristol. (Penny Bonsall (1989) “The Somerset Coalfield, 1947-1973: Attitudes and Responses to Pit Closures in the Post-Nationalisation Era,” Southern History, 11, pp. 114-130, 122-123) Kilmersdon and Writhlington closed in September 1973, and the attitude of the miners is perhaps best summed up by a comment made by the foreman of the last production shift: “it’s somehow wonderful to think I won’t have to go down a pit again.” (Penny Bonsall (1989) “The Somerset Coalfield, 1947-1973: Attitudes and Responses to Pit Closures in the Post-Nationalisation Era,” Southern History, 11, pp. 114-130, 123) NEXT