Before the eighteenth century coal mining was effectively a cottage industry with most coal going for domestic use in the immediate vicinity of the pit. But then demand for coal increased rapidly as the Industrial Age dawned. At the same time the transport infrastructure improved dramatically, starting with the Turnpike Trusts which revolutionised roads, and followed by canals and railways. The industrial uses of coal were varied and expanding. For example coal was used in limekilns to produce lime, which was much in demand for mortar production for building purposes and by farmers to improve soil. From 1820 it was used to produce gas for town lighting and to drive the woollen mills in the area. Cokes uses included drying malt in the brewing industry! And of course with all this industrial development came the expansion of towns and domestic demand. No wonder then that coal mining "took off"in Somerset in the nineteenth century, with around 80 different pits operating at one time or another. The peak years were 1900 to 1920. However the decline was just as quick; from 30 at the beginning of the twentieth century to 14 by the mid-thirties, 12 at nationalisation on 1/1/1947, 5 by 1959 and none after 1973.

In order to facilitate the distribution of coal from the mines around Radstock, which were increasingly facing competition from cheaper Welsh coal, a canal was proposed in 1792. The canal was to join the Kennet and Avon at Dundas Aqueduct. From Limpley Stoke it was to follow the Midford Brook through Monkton Coombe to Midford, from where it would divide into two branches. The north branch followed the Cam Brook and passed through Combe Hay, Dunkerton and Camerton on its way to Paulton. The bottom branch followed Wellow Brook through Wellow to Radstock. The northern branch was complete by 1801 with an inclined plane at Coombe Hay, instead of the revolutionary Caisson Lock originally proposed. Within a few years conventional locks were built to replace the inclined plane and this part of canal operated profitable for over 50 years. On the southern branch the planned flight of locks up to Midford was never built and instead a horse tramway from Twinhoe was used. In fact this southern section was never really viable as a canal and only operating as one for 10 years,between 1804 and 1814, before it was converted into a tramway with horses pulling trucks from Radstock to Midford. The success of this venture can be judged by the fact that 66 000 tons of coal was transported in 1812 and 138 000 tons in 1838. The Somerset Coal Canal's commercial viability declined rapidly when a broad gauge Frome/Radstock railway link was completed in 1854 by the GWR. A standard gauge Radstock/Bristol link through Pensford was completed in 1874 by the Bristol and North Somerset Railway. Soon afterwards the Somerset and Dorset Railway bought the southern branch of the old coal canal and the converted tramway became a standard gauge extension from Radstock to Frome. The northern branch struggled on as a canal for a while but by the 1890's activity was minimal, with final closure occurring in 1898. The final blow had been the opening of a 3 mile railway branchline between Hallatrow and Camerton. The GWR eventually bought the canal company in 1903 and rapidly built a railway along the northern branch extending its branchline from Camerton onto Limpley Stoke, where it met its Bristol to Westbury line.

Coombe Hay Locks

Several solutions were tried at Coombe Hay to overcome the height difference between Paulton and Midford. Initially an ingenious boat lift, known as a Cassion Lock, was constructed in 1799. Its sides tended to bulge causing the lift to jam and it was replaced by an inclined plane within a year. This involved transferring coal twice (to wagons from barges and back) and was only used until 1805, when a flight of 22 narrow locks, known as the “Bulls’ Nose”, came into operation. The map below shows the positions of everything. A footpath passes by the remains of the locks from number 11 onwards.

Dorset and Somerset canal

DO NOT confuse this canal with the completely separate Somerset Coal Canal!! In 1793 a canal linking Bath to Poole was proposed. It was to link into the Kennet and Avon Canal at Widbrook and to pass through Frome, Wincanton and Sturminster Newton. There was to be a branch from Frome to the Mendip Collieries in the Stratton/Coleford area. When the final route was approved in 1795 it was agreed that the branch line should be built first. Fussell, who owned the iron works at Mells, was a shareholder and enthusiastic supporter. Construction began in 1796 but by 1803 money had run out and construction stopped for good. At that time the canal was complete from Edford to Coleford and passed over an impressive aqueduct, known as the "Hucky Duck"( which is apparently local dialect for "aqueduct") which is now the largest and best surviving structure from the canal. The section from Mackintosh through Vobster and on to Barrow Hill was also more or less finished.

The Railways

Railway development in the area started with the opening of the Great Western railway (GWR) Bath to Bristol line in 1840. The route from Westbury to Frome followed in 1850 and was extended to Yeovil by 1856. A goods only line had also been built between Frome and Radstock by 185. All these lines were broad gauge (7ft and 1/4 in). A single standard gauge line, built by Bristol & North Somerset Railway Company, between Bristol and Radstock opened in 1873 and was taken over by GWR in 1884. The Somerset and Dorset Railway Company (S&D) opened a line between Evercreech Junction and Bath via Radstock on 1874. The Hallatrow to Camerton Branch line opened in 1882 and was later extended along the line of the canal through to Limpley Stoke. A passenger service only operated for a short while from 1910 to 1925 but freight was moved from 1907 right up until 1951.

Newbury Railway

This line was built in 1858 by the Westbury Iron Company , which had been formed a year earlier, to supply coal to its blast furnace from the colliery it owned at Newbury (1847 to 1927). It more or less followed the route of the abandoned Somerset and Dorset canal (see later) and fed into the broad gauge GWR Radstock to Frome railway line at Mells Road station. Very conveniently during construction limestone, another raw material needed by a blast furnace, was found at Vobster Cross. Mells (1863 to 1881, then 1891 to1943) and Vobster Breach pits (1863 to 1875) were sunk immediately after the link opened, and Mackintosh (1867 to 1919) ten years later. A narrow gauge tramway was built to connect Vobster and Vobster Breach, via an incline The horses that were used originally on the Newbury line were replaced by locos in 1910. Iron making soon declined and eventually stopped in Westbury just after the turn of the century. However demand for limestone remained high, allowing Vobster quarry to flourish until the 1960's, and for a while coal mining continued too, with Mells pit being the last to close in 1943.

Some information on various old coalpits

Coleford:
The site of Coal Barton Pit, the scene of a firedamp explosion which killed nine miners in 1869, is just beyond the Hucky Duck viaduct.
Just north of Coleford there were once the collieries of Newbury and Mackintosh. The only remaining evidence of the mine at Mackintosh is a concrete platform near a mucky farm which is probably a capped shaft. Mackintosh opened in 1867 and finally closed in 1919, due to flooding. Unfortunately the pit ponies had to be destroyed; they were too fat to be brought to the surface! Straight ahead is a track that was originally a narrow gauge (2ft4in) tramway connecting Mackintosh to Newbury. Nearby, down a minor road is a line of miners' cottages and the Dorset and Somerset canal was intended to pass these before entering a tunnel (never built). The Natural Stone Products factory is built on the site of Newbury Colliery. This pit started around the beginning of the 19th century and closed in 1927. The building which previously housed a Cornish Beam Engine (for pumping water out of the pit) is still standing and nearby down a ramp a row of coke ovens once stood. From the colliery there was a railway branch line which joined the GWR Radstock to Frome line at Mells Road junction. The route of this Newbury line, still very obvious today,was itself built mainly along the route of the ill-fated Dorset and Somerset canal.
Camerton:
From above Camerton Court twin wooded hills are prominent ahead. The one on the right is the massive batch of Camerton New Colliery, which started in the very early 1800s, and on the left is that of Camerton Old Colliery, which predates it by about 20 years. The pits were connected underground and also overground by a tramway. The dismantled Hallatrow to Camerton railway, a branchline of the Bristol and North Somerset Railway (later GWR) connected Bristol to Radstock via Pensford. Originally of course this was also the route of the northern branch of the coal canal from Paulton Basin. There is a massive statue of a miner is on the site of the Camerton Old Pit, and near it concrete plugged shafts. The main one had a diameter of 7 feet and descended 900 feet. Old Camerton batch is before a lane, which was originally the tramway between the pits, to New Camerton. The deepest shaft here was sunk to 1800 feet! The original lease to mine coal at Camerton was given to James Stephen, the Lord of the Manor. The Jarretts gained control of both Manor and mines when Herbert Jarrett married a daughter in 1801. Old Camerton closed in 1898. Frank Beauchamp, whose family already owned a large number of pits including Farrington, Norton Hill and Welton, bought the collieries in 1911. Camerton New Pit survived to be nationalised, eventually closing in 1950. Maximum amount was 77 000 tons in 1903. Accidents were common in the pits. In 1792 Parfitt lost his life when a rope broke and 17 year old Payne caught his thumb in the rope clasp and was lifted 140 fathoms holding on grimly to the coal basket by his other hand before his shouts were heard. (his thumb was reported to be "as flat as a knife"). In 1793 sparks from nails in his shoes led to a 16 y.o. blowing himself up in the gunpowder room. In the following decade Cook was killed at the bottom of a shaft when loose earth fell on him, and a similar disaster accounted for Cottle, one of the many small boys employed in pits. Around the same time drunkenness, a common factor in accidents, led to Horler's demise. "After drinking at a local public house Aaron Horler endeavoured to slide down the rope (by which coal is hauled) to the bottom but going too quick, not being able to retain his hold, he fell down many fathoms and was dashed to pieces, his hands being much burnt by the velocity with which the rope passed through them before he let go his hold ..". In the 1820's Job Cromwell died when the rope of the gug-wheel wound round his body and Robert Payne's candle was extinguished in more than one way when he "stepped into space and was dashed to pieces when his candle went out". The best remembered event was a massive coal dust explosion at Camerton New in 1893 which killed two miners.

Dunkerton:
Dunkerton, a relatively modern pit, opened in 1905 and soon became the largest colliery in the vicinity. However it had a bad reputation, it being said that the owners were more concerned with profit than miners' safety, and there were riots here during the 1908/9 strike. It closed in 1925.
Vobster area:
Mells colliery, first opened in the 1860's. After operating for 20 years, it closed until 1909; final closure came in 1943.
There is no visible evidence of a small pit called Bilboa, which predates Mells pit and was near the old flooded Bilboa quarry (which closed in 1933) .
Both Vobster and Vobster Breach pits closed in 1874. There is a slightly raised footpath between them as it follows the line of the old tramway connecting the two pits. Vobster Breach was sunk around 1860 to connect with a seam already being worked at Vobster pit. The pits used a steam engine to operate winding gear, but water wheels to pump out water. By far the most significant relics in this area are two lines of crumbling old coke ovens, a double row of 12 on the left and a single row of 12 on the right. Although a few of the arches remain intact the whole area is sadly neglected.