Shevington Tunnel Canal

[Chris Lowe]

At the  moment I'm updating the canalmaponline map for the Leeds & Liverpool and have reached the Shevington Tunnel Canal at Crooke marina, I can see on old maps tunnels leading off from it does anyone have more info about this canal, I assume it was feeding collieries.

[David Mack]

I don't see any tunnels on the 1892 map. It is disused by 1907.

 

[Chris Lowe]

A tunnel seems to come off the canal where I've ringed in red, hopefully @Pluto will come along with more detail.

 

[BEngo]

JCrooke is right on the edge of the Orrel coalfield.  I think the tunnel had two purposes: one to drain the mines  and secondly to take the coal to market.  I cannot at the moment find my copy of a  book about the Orrel coalfield, by D Anderson but I think it has a chapter on the Douglas valley pits and the early Navigation.

 

The Orrel coalfield was worked out quite early (by about 1850)  so it is no surprise that the tunnel closed before the end o the 19th century.

 

N

[Pluto]

I did try to find details in the NCB records, but the plans were difficult to interpret. From them, I suspect that there was a short tunnel to the top of a shaft down to the seams, and that there may have been a further underground canal at the bottom of the shaft. The attached are the only records I have found, and are in the Standish family papers at Wigan Record Office. The first letter may be about land used for the Lancaster Canal at Borwick. I also have some notes, possibly from Geoff Wheat, which suggest the arm was opened in 1798. Another source suggests that the tunnel was about a quarter of a mile in length to Taylor Pit and was suitable for narrow boats. The best source is the 1957 lecture note, though the photo must postdate the closure of the tunnel and is possibly somewhere in the BCN.

D D ST C11 1 1, re Crooke.pdf

[Chris Lowe]

What appears to be another tunnel where tunnel canal bridge is marked on the map may just be a tramway, it seems to go to Shevington.

[Pluto]

The railway down to Crook seems to have been built around 1890. The 1887 canal company plan below does not show it, but does show stop gates on the arm. It does appear on the 1892 25 inch, but not on the 1843 6 inch which the L&LC used in 1902 to record coal workings under the canal. There were four sheets used for the Wigan area, with each sheet recording several seams. The one here records the Pemberton Coal. Note the fault lines, one of which is almost directly under Crook Lock, which closed around the time when Pagefield opened in 1904.

[Heartland]

The image of the legging If I recall is Dudley Canal Tunnel

 

The Industrial Railway Record had an article on the railway to Crook 

 

The Wigan Coal & Iron Co operated John Pit at Standish which had locos 

 

Also the 1855 Mineral Statistics lists several pits owned ny John Taylor .

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Heartland

[Heartland]

The Ordnance Survey 6in XCIII 1845 in more detail shows a tramway from Standish Colliery to the Tunnel Branch

 

 

[Chris Lowe]

On the 25 inch this looks like a tunnel coming off

 

[Pluto]

The earlier 25 in OS https://maps.nls.uk/view/126521219 does not show the 'junction', which may be a tramroad. The best source for tramway/railway details is probably Jim Peden's book on Industrial Railways, Wigan West. I can't really see it being a tramroad, as the railway from John Pit seems to pre-date it. In 1863 there were only 10,000 of coal delivered from Crook, and it was the c1890 railway and the development of John Pit which radically increased this tonnage.

If you are including basons, there were two on the off side below Dean serving a clay field. You can't see much today, but a couple of boats were sunk there.

[Chris Lowe]

I've been trying to add all the basins and wharfs

[Chris Lowe]

That certainly looks more like a tramway now that I've looked at the Lidar data.

you can see the road to the right and I've traced over a straight line diverging away.

 

[Pluto]

Comparing the nls maps, there does seem to be some sort of trackway up to Shevington, but it not shown on any as a tramroad. However, there were no OS editions for the second half of the 19th century for the area, and that was a particularly important period for mining here. I did find that they now have the 1840s 50 inch survey for Wigan town centre, which is well worth looking at, as there are several canal arms shown, particularly next to railway crossings. The one next to the LNWR main line was built by Hargreaves, who was a major rival to Pickfords in the northwest of England, and who operated several of the local railways around Wigan.

 

On the Douglas Navigation terminus, where the warehouses now stand, I have not been able to discover how it was connected to the river. It may have run in a straight line from Miry Lane Ends to the river. When the canal was connected to it, circa 1780, the bend at Seven Stars marks the location where the new canal met the old navigation. Originally there was a swing bridge here, with the bend being eased to the south when the present bridge was built

[Heartland]

The notes on the tramways are useful snippet of information, but do no mention the tramway from Old Shevington Colliery owned by George Gaskell and John Benson which was offered for sale September 23rd, 1834, This went to Gathurst Bridge (west of Crooke) wharf and they also mentioned in the sale a "long coal boat" what could this term mean ?

 

[Chris Lowe]

Parts of that line going to Shevington appear to be slightly embanked judging by the OS symbols, would they do that with just a cart track.

 

[Chris Lowe]

A hand drawn map pinched from https://www.crookevillage.co.uk/About.html at lot of interesting stuff on that web page.

 

[Pluto]

It does seem to be a tramroad. There were numerous collieries which just operated for a few years. This is a list of collieries in Wigan in 1865.

[Chris Lowe]

The other end of it seems to be at club house farm I haven't been able to follow it further.

Could it have been a supply tramway for Shevington Hall?

 

 

Theres a nice crop mark running across the filed making it stand out nicely.

[Tony Brooks]

Off direct topic but i find these posts absolutely fascinating, especially all the research resources from contributors, many thanks all.

[Pluto]

The 1892/95 6in os on the nls site suggests it went a bit further. There were rapid alterations related to collieries in this area, so tramroads may only have worked for a few years. I suspect this one ended on the tunnel branch so they did not need permission from the L&LCCo. Records are a bit sparse as the canal from Parbold to Wigan was built under the Douglas Navigation Act, rather than the L&LC Act. The Douglas had to be kept separate in the accounts until the last share was purchased in 1893.

[Chris Lowe]

I see what you mean it seems to make a right hand turn and possbly heading for that old shaft just off Arbour Lane at Bowling Green house

[Joseph]

Evenin all

 

I agree with Tony, fascinating contributions. 

 

Many thanks 

 

Joseph

[Pluto]

There was another arm off the canal at Gathurst, as shown in the 1802 survey of the canal. I have also attached details of the canal in Haigh Woods, which created a link between collieries there and the iron works on the river Douglas.

Clogs & Gansey 7, Haigh canal.pdf

[Chris Lowe]

Thats a good map, I knew about one basin at Dean locks and the ones at Roburite, but there are some that I would have missed.