The Winding Shaft was 420 feet deep and located 650 yards west by 2° south of the Speech House. An Air Shaft, situated 100 yards west-southwest of the Winding Shaft, was connected via a cross-cut to a water level, which itself had a mouth 60 yards south of Speech House Station. This level intersected all the seams from the Brazilly to the Lowery.
- 1880-1885 Great Western Coal Co.
- 1890 Great Western (Forest of Dean) Colliery Co. Ltd
The colliery was opened in 1841 by Richard James and later taken over in 1873 by the Great Western Coal Consumers Co. Ltd. It remained in operation until its closure in 1906. Even after mining ceased, the main shaft and headframe were maintained as an emergency exit for Lightmoor Colliery until 1937, when pumping finally stopped.
The site is now the Beechenhurst Picnic Site, managed by the Forestry Commission. Only the grassed-over spoil tips remain as evidence of the former colliery.
Publications (5)
- Anstis 1999 p 72, 95, 96, 100
- Oldham, Tony (1998); Mines of the Forest of Dean; 86 pages
- Pope p 265 ff
- Pope, Ian 1999 Speech House Hill Colliery Archive (22) 2-13
- Trotter p 24, 55 cf Lightmoor Colliery.
