If you were to ask most people across the country where they would mostly commonly associate coal mining and where collieries were established in Britain they would mostly probably speak about the collieries and their communities in Yorkshire, Wales and Scotland, but very few might even be aware there were collieries and mining communities situated in Kent, often considered as the Garden of England.
Explorations for coal had already begun in Northern France during the 1660s, in the Nord Pas de Calais Mining Basin. A rich seam was discovered in part of the western part of the coalfield, which covers an area of 1,200 square kilometres, spreading across to the border with Belgium. By 1880, the output of coal was almost 8 million tonnes, accounting for a third of all coal mining in France during the early 1900s. As a result, British geologists began speculating that coal might also be found beneath Kent from as early as the 1840s, following the discovery of coal at Oignes, near the French city of Lens. By 1852, there were several new collieries being developed in the 1850s, at Lens, Bruay and Courrieres in France and Belgium.
In 1867, the consultant mining and railway engineer John Hawkshaw and his English Channel Tunnel Company presented a scheme to the Anglo-French commission for the proposal of a Channel Tunnel, who would be provide with financial support by the London Chatham & Dover Railway (L.C.D.R.). However, the L.C.D.R. were unable to raise the necessary funds to start the project. However, in 1875, Edward Watkin, who was the Chairman of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and Metropolitan Railway in London, had persuaded the South Eastern Railway to provide financial assistance to a further project for a Channel Tunnel. Working in conjunction with the Nord Railway, the South Eastern Railway formed the Submarine Continental Railway Company, with the site for initial trial works being located below Shakespeare Cliff, situated on the water’s edge of the Channel between Dover and Folkestone. In 1882, the trial borings produced an access shaft to 160 feet in depth. Unfortunately, work was soon halted due to the British Government having concerns with the possible military implications of creating a Channel Tunnel linking Britain to France.
Never a man to refuse any opportunity, Arthur Burr setup the Kent Coalfield’s Syndicate in 1896 after he had been made aware that both coal and iron ore reserves had been discovered during the trial borings below Shakespeare Cliff. The company purchased the mineral rights and commenced trial borings for further coal deposits at what became known as the Shakespeare (Dover) Colliery. The sinking of the No.1 shaft (Brady Pit) was sunk in June 196. Two further shafts were eventually sunk, but during the early stages of the colliery’s development the shafts were often affected by flooding, which resulted in the deaths of several sinkers (miners responsible for digging and sinking a shaft). Part of the problem with flooding was due to the coal seams being situated so deep underground in such think undulating seams, which would always be difficult to mine. Pumps were often brought into to try and assist with the boring of shafts, but the miners could be working while wading in water. There was the constant threat of flooding in the shafts and on some occasions, sinkers died while working down the shafts that were almost 1,000 deep and flash floods breaking out and reaching the surface of a shaft within just a few minutes.
Over the next twenty-five years, the Kent coalfield came close to being completely abandoned on numerous occasions, mostly due to the constant problem of flooding in colliery shafts, which in turn lead to a chain of financial issues. Forty separate boring sites were scattered across the county of Kent, mostly in the south-eastern region to identify more accurately some idea of the scale of the Kent Coalfield. Just prior to the First World War, there were eight different collieries established, each consisting of trial shafts being sunk to the coal seams, with surface buildings also being built. The four collieries were built – Woodnesborough Colliery, Guilford Colliery, Stonehall Colliery and Wingham Colliery – but did not continue after the First World War.
Arthur Burr would eventually form and become the manager of no less than twenty-two small companies that were all involved with helping to develop the collieries situated in the Kent Coalfield, and during April 1906, he created the Foncage Syndicate, which would be responsible for sinking a shaft near Eythorne and became known as the East Kent Colliery, later becoming known as Tilmanstone Colliery. The first wages were paid to the workers at the colliery 7th July 1906, and work began on sinking the first shaft at the colliery on 19th July 1906. Just a couple of miles away, a viable coal seam was soon found at a trial boring close to the Waldershare Park estate near the village of Coldred, on land owned by Lord North, who was also the Earl of Guilford. This soon led to the Guilford Colliery, or Waldershare Colliery being established, also owned by the Foncage Syndicate. Work soon began on sinking a shaft to test the coal measures, but in October 1906 the Syndicate had increased the capital to £20,000 for the provision of necessary equipment. It was realised this would be insufficient capital to allow the completion of the work.
Further development of the colliery was halted through the winter, due to issues with limited access through the country roads to approach the site. An alternative transport method was soon devised, which then lead to the development of the East Kent (Light) Railway, to help transport the construction materials to the colliery. The first application for the proposal of the railway was submitted in November 1909, for a lease of land at Coldred, seeking permission to lay railway track between the Guilford Colliery to join with the pre-existing South Eastern & Chatham Railway at Shepherdswell. The railway was heavily promoted by the Kent Coal Concessions Company. The first application was refused, but in May 1910 the Kent Coal Concessions Limited applied for powers to build 31¼ miles of railway, that was estimated would cost £173,500 to build. Part of the original project was later withdrawn, but a Light Railway Order was eventually granted to cover 19¼ miles of track. The proposed lines would run from the mainline at Shepherdswell to Sandwich and as far as Richborough, near Sandwich, and to Wingham, bisecting at Eastry on route. The line also passed Eythorne, bisected to link with the Guilford Colliery, and passed close to the developing East Kent Colliery. By 1911, only Guilford and the East Kent collieries were showing any signs of striking the coal measures. By December 1911, the first section of the railway was opened for freight traffic, with earthworks and a branch line to Guilford being completed by October 1912. Under the arrangements made to build the railway, the East Kent Construction Company was contracted to build it, with the actual constructed work being subcontracted. The route between Shepherdswell to Eastry was laid by William Rigby, while the line from Eastry onwards was constructed by the engineer Holman Fred Stephens.
During November 1912, shareholders were given the opportunity to ride of a passenger train on the railway and visit each of the collieries to see where their money was being spent. On section of the line was possibly going to be forced to divert, but instead a tunnel was built under Golgotha Hill, on the line between Shepherdswell and Eythorne. The tunnel had originally been built to accommodate for two sets of tracks, but only one line was fully laid, and as a result only part of the chalk inside the tunnel was excavated. By 1914, some of the collieries had been abandoned and by the time Britain entered the First World War in August 1914, the railway company sought permission to open the line to passenger traffic. Special workmen’s trains were also begun with its own timetable of train services.
At the East Kent Colliery, a second shaft was started on 19th November 1907, with the first sod being tuned by one of Arthur Burr’s granddaughters, with the shaft being named the ‘Gabrielle Pit’. By May 1908, the first shaft had reached a depth of 913 feet and had been bricked up for the 631 feet, with the remainder then being left unlined. However, part of the shaft did begin to collapse and most of the lower section was filled, and the shaft had to be resent. The sinking of a third shaft went ahead in August 1910, which was named after another of Arthur Burr’s granddaughters, and known as the ‘Rowena Pit’. A viable coal seam was not reached until 12th March 1913, striking the Beresford Seam at a depth of 1,560 feet.
Just a few miles away work was started on Snowdown Colliery, near the village on Nonington. The first shaft was begun on 28th February 1907, and the first sod was tuned by Mrs. Weston Plumptre, the wife of the landowner. The site had been chosen well, with it being situated adjacent to the mainline of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway between Dover and Canterbury. Snowdown Colliery also came under the management of the Foncage Syndicate. The colliery would eventually be the first to strike the Beresford coal seam at a depth of 1,370 feet during November 1912.
The most northerly colliery established in Kent was situated just a few miles from Canterbury, which became Chislet Colliery. In 1911, the Anglo-Westphalian Coal Syndicate Limited leased land near the village of Chislet. A viable coal seam was eventually reached at a depth of 1,350 feet. Chislet Colliery was opened in 1914 and was another of the Kent collieries situated adjacent to a mainline railway, between Canterbury to Margate. The first was not mined there until 1918, from the two shafts sunk to 1,470 feet and 1,457 feet deep. The last colliery to be established in Kent was situated near the village of Finglesham and became Betteshanger Colliery, under the management of Pearson & Dorman Long. Work begun on sinking the first shaft in 1924, with one of the widest shafts in any of the Kent collieries, measuring 24 feet in diameter. Progress on the development of the colliery was rapid, with the shafts reaching viable coal seams by 1927.
It was not until the mid-1920s, that permanent housing estates were being planned to house the miners and their families. Small housing estates were initially built close to each of the collieries as accommodation for safety men and colliery officials. By the late 1920s, much larger housing estates were being built, with several hundred houses built at Aylesham for Snowdown Colliery, Elvington for Tilmanstone Colliery, Hersden for Chislet Colliery, and the Mill Hill estate for Betteshanger Colliery. Prior to these housing estates being built, the miners and their families had to find accommodation in many of the local towns and villages, when they first arrived. Many of the first miners and their families had experienced some animosity when they first arrived, as they were often seen travelling to and from work at the collieries in their “pit black” since colliery Bath Houses containing showers and changing facilities had not been built until the early 1930s. The animosity continued when it was noticed that many of the new mining community houses were built with purpose-built facilities and gardens. Other houses built at Woolage for Snowdown Colliery, and also at Lydden for the Stonehall Colliery. The were threats of the Kent collieries closing during the 1960s. The first of the collieries to be closed in Kent was Chislet Colliery, with the colliery closing in July 1969. After the events of the 1984/85 Miners Strike, further closures resulted both Tilmanstone Colliery being shut in October 1986, followed by Snowdown Colliery in 1987. Betteshanger Colliery remained until 1989, becoming the last colliery in Kent. Other than the Kent mining communities, very little remains today of the colliery themselves. There is several large crumbling buildings left abandoned and derelict at the former Snowdown Colliery, while the other sites at Tilmanstone Colliery and Chislet Colliery have since become Industrial Estates, while the site of Betteshanger Colliery and its spoil heap have recently become part of Betteshanger Park, which itself has seen the opening of a Kent Mining Museum.
Written by Colin Varrall
