We’ll start in Stroud. The Great Western Railway Company
decided to make an example of some Union men, as a consequence of the Strike. We
should remember this act of victimisation each time we visit the railway
station, and also remember the fact that Stroud railway workers refused to
return to work at the end of the nine day strike, even when ordered to do so by
their union. The Great Western Railway’s response was to say that the only
people to have suffered victimisation were their shareholders.
In Gloucester, at the Docks, there were fights between
strikers and police when attempts were made to prevent boats moving up and down
the river and canal; there was a police baton charge when people tried to stop
the swing bridge opening. The motto in Gloucester was “ All out together, all
in together”; here follows Ralph Anstis’ description of the events at the
bridge in Gloucester (much more of Ralph later).
Three to five hundred pickets were involved after crews of three
vessels agreed not to move some goods. In consequence, volunteer labour was
utilised, with police presence. After “scuffles” between police and pickets,
the two barges and a tug set sail. This prompted the owners to want “to send a
tug and an empty lighter along the canal to Sharpness with scab labour to pick
up a cargo. Ralph writes: “Striking dockers tried to stop the tug from sailing
by preventing the bridgeman from opening the swing bridge. Police were rushed
to the scene. Hissing and booing, the crowd refused to give way and the police
made a baton charge to force the pickets from the bridge. Eventually the tug
and lighter got through. Fourteen men were arrested and thirteen of them were
later sent to prison for fourteen days with hard labour.”
We shall now look at the Forest of Dean – the weather was
against us this weekend, but we do intend to walk the colliery trails at some
point, using the below for context. In addition, the Dean Heritage Centre has
three leaflets available: The Speculation Trail, New Fancy and Cannop Ponds.
You could use these and this blog to re-create those far-off days of the
spring, summer and autumn of 1926. The Dean is quite well served by ‘bus
services; there is also the railway to Lydney and bike hire available. The campsite
recommended on an earlier posting on this blog impressed us when we visited, if
you fancy staying a while.
The miners were “locked out” for another seven months after
the TUC called off the nine day General Strike, and that, of course, had a dire
effect upon lives in the Forest. Seven thousand men were unable to support
themselves and/or their families; they needed assistance not just for the nine
days of the General Strike in May but right up to the month of November. The
Co-op saved many families from starvation when some Poor Law Guardians were
refusing food and outdoor relief for men who had been, let us remember, locked
out; they had not gone on strike. They had been locked out by their employers.
Think of that when you visit the Forest of Dean.
If you want to know more about the General Strike and the
Forest of Dean, then buy, beg or borrow a copy of Ralph Anstis’ “Blood on
Coal”. The following information is taken from that book but I can only touch
the surface – do try and read it, if you can. Having said that, let’s look at
the main collieries in the Dean in 1926, with grateful thanks to Ralph.
He provides a map and a list at the front of his book –
these are sites worth visiting to look at and write about; all contributions
gratefully received. So, let’s start with these bald facts, transcribed from
the map and Ralph’s evocative and detailed descriptions:
A: Norchard
(Betwixt the Lydney-Bream and Lydney-Parkend roads, on the old railway line,
just north-west and about 3 miles outside of Lydney.) Libby Bullock told me
that the main entrance was at Pillowell., but there is no sign of it now. In
its place is a small industrial estate, selling commercial cleaning equipment
B: Princess Royal (Betwixt the Bream-Parkend and
Lydney-Parkend roads, north-east of Bream). Clive Bullock said that if you were
travelling to Bream from Whitescroft, you pass the Royal Oak as you climb into
Bream and you pass the colliery site at the bottom of the hill. There is a
housing estate called Princess Royal.
C: Flour Mill (North-west of Princess Royal, on the
other side of the Lydney-Bream road, about one third of the way between Bream
and Parkend). The following are Ralph Anstis’ words: “ Started in the 1840s, it
was not until the 1860s that large-scale development began at Flour Mill
Colliery, Bream. Coal was sent down a rope-worked tramway to the screens at
Park Gutter (Princess Royal) for loading. The two pits were connected
underground in 1916 to improve working and ventilation. Flour Mill closed in
1928 and Princess Royal in 1962. Some buildings survive, one in use by a firm
repairing steam locomotives. The route of the rope-worked tramway can also be
traced.” Clive said: “Leaving Parkend, go up to the old Pike House, turn left,
and the site is a quarter of a mile up there on the left hand side.” By the
way, the locomotive that steamed on the 150th anniversary of the
opening of the London Underground was restored here.
D: Parkend (West of Parkend on the left hand side of
the road that leads towards Cockshoot Wood)
E: New Fancy (Follow the previous road north towards
a junction with Staple Edge Wood to your west, the colliery was north of and on
the other side of the junction.) Ralph wrote these words: “New Fancy Colliery,
on the hill above Parkend, employed many miners from that village following the
closure of the Parkend Royal Colliery. The pipes at the latter remained in
operation for ventilating “the Fancy”, as it was referred to by the men. The
colliery closed in 1944, despite the presence of large reserves, as it became
uneconomic to work. Today, the waste heap is a noted viewpoint and the imposing
stone wall of the loading bank can still be found in the woods.” Clive told me
that there is a working free mine near a quarry on the road from Parkend to
Lydbrook.
F: Cannop (On the road that leads from Parkend to
Lydbrook, just north of the junction with the Coleford-Speech House road, on
the left hand side). Ralph’s book has the following caption beneath a
photograph: “ A view of the Coleford to Cinderford road in the 1930s. Cannop
Colliery can be seen just down the road, with the Hopewell Colliery site in
view behind. Still working today, it has been turned into the Hopwell Colliery
Mining Museum and visitors can take trips underground. In the centre distance,
Speech House Colliery can also be seen; by this date it was use purely for
pumping water out of Lightmoor.”
G: Arthur and Edward (Continue north on the
Parkend-Lydbrook road, then follow the road west at the next junction; it will
be on your right, within the triangle of roads.) Ralph Anstis wrote this
description back in 1999: “Arthur & Edward Colliery or Waterloo as the men
preferred to call it, lay at the head of the Lydbrook Valley. It was connected
to the railway loading screens by a system of tram tubs, on a half mile-long
incline, connected by an endless rope and known colloquially as “The Creeper”.
The pit closed at Christmas, 1959.”
H: Trafalgar (closed) (East of G in Serridge
Inclosure and roughly equidistant between G and Cinderford, just north of the
old railway line). Clive told me to look
for Brierley, halfway between Lydbrook and Cinderford; locate a road opposite a
petrol station that goes down into a wood; Trafalgar was down there.
I: Crump Meadow (West of Cinderford, between two old
railway lines, north of the road that leads to Speech House, in Serridge
Inclosure.) Ralph’s book states that at the end of
the last century, “after bulldozing and landscaping, all that can be seen are
some concrete foundations and, perhaps, the remains of a loading wharf.” Ralph
also states: “Sunk in 1824, Crump Meadow was another old colliery which
did not long survive the General Strike; it closed in 1929. As with Foxes
Bridge, workable reserves of coal were becoming exhausted and Crawshays were
concentrating their energies on their new pit, Northern United, which opened in
1933; this pit provided employment for many who were out of work after the
closure of Crump Meadow and Foxes Bridge.” (This is where Clive’s grandfather
first worked.) Clive advised that you find an industrial estate in Cinderford,
then Winner’s Garage (a Skoda garage), where a track leads up into the woods;
there are signs of old workings about a quarter of a mile along.
J: Foxes Bridge (Just south of I) Ralph Anstis: “Yet
another Crawshay pit, Foxes Bridge sat atop the escarpment looking over Bilson
and Cinderford, and began producing coal in the early 1870s. In the 19th
century, Foxes Bridge, Trafalgar, Lightmoor and Crump Meadow collieries, which
lay within a couple of miles of one another, produced two thirds of the coal
raised in Dean. Foxes Bridge closed in August 1930.”
K: Lightmoor (South of J, south of the Speech House
road, west of Ruspidge) Ralph Anstis, wrote the following in 1999: “Lightmoor
Colliery lay in the heart of the Forest, close to Speech House and the Dilke
hospital, alongside the mineral loop line of the Severn & Wye Railway. The
colliery also had its own private branch line and locomotives, linking it with
Bilson Yard, near Cinderford. It closed in 1940 after a hundred year life and
is today the most intact Dean colliery site remaining, including one of the
engine houses.” The caption to a 1910 photograph in the book states that, “The
waste heaps in the centre foreground eventually became the tip which remains as
a landmark to this day. The nearer engine house still stands, albeit minus its
roof and is an extreme state of neglect.” The caption adds that its Cornish pumping
engine is now at the Dean Heritage Centre, “restored to working order.” Clive added that you look for a left before
you get to the Dilke Hospital and a sign saying “Forest Products”; you then go
down a track past ponds and the remains of the pit head.
L: Eastern United (South of Ruspidge, south-east of
K, on left hand side of the road that leads from Soudley to Ruspidge). Ralph
wrote: “Eastern United was also owned by Henry Crawshay &Co. Sinking began
in 1909. It was one of the easier pits to work, with wide, well-lit roadways,
and it returned handsome profits for the company. Following nationalisation,
the mine closed suddenly in 1959, much to the shock of the workforce, at a time
when it was thought the location of a new seam promised it a bright future.”
Clive said that when it closed the miners said there was more coal left down
below that they had taken out. There is warehousing there now and an industrial
estate. This is where Clive’s granddad finished. Clive said the colliers were
dumbfounded. It was such a big pit.
M: Speech House Colliery closed before the Strike; a
caption to a photograph in Ralph’s book states: “Speech House Colliery, circa
1910, after it had closed for coal production but was still in use for pumping
Lightmoor. The site is now a car park and a picnic area.” Look for the
Beechenhurst Picnic Site, going towards Coleford.
Libby Bullock reminisced while we drank our tea and said:
“When we were children, we used to go and visit the pit ponies. There were
about eight. We’d go the miners’ huts and have cheese on toast cooked by the
miners on an open fire.”
