An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens

Part 13 (of 58) - Sutton Manor Colliery Part 2 (1960 - 1991)

Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXI Contact Me

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Sutton Manor Colliery History Part 2 Header image: Sutton Manor Colliery headgear winder

Sutton Manor Colliery St.Helens sign
The British Coal sign at the entrance to Sutton Manor Colliery (Frazer Nairn Collection)

By the beginning of the 'swinging '60s', Sutton Manor Colliery was in a strong position with 1600 men on its books and coal output levels rising. Now controlled by the National Coal Board (NCB) since the industry's nationalisation in 1957, the colliery was annually outputting over 300,000 tons of coal and it seemed to have a rosy future. They could even afford to knock down and rebuild part of their new social club because there was not enough elbow room in their snooker room!

The new Sutton Manor Institute or Welfare Club had been built in 1959 to replace the original building that had opened in 1922. It was financed from a Lancashire miners' welfare fund grant, of which the NCB contributed halfpenny for every ton of coal from Lancashire pits. However, soon after construction, the miners began complaining of cramped conditions inside the snooker room.

The club's committee limited the number of spectators, rearranged the furniture and even bought shorter snooker cues. But it was all to no avail and so three walls of the newly-built club were knocked down and it was rebuilt. The story of 'Miners Snookered!' even made it into the Times!

A hazard of mining at Sutton Manor Colliery through geological pressure

As revealed in Part 1 of the history of the pit, working underground at Sutton Manor Colliery could be highly dangerous, something that Harry Hickson is very much aware of. Between 1959 and 1966, Harry worked for the National Coal Board as an engineer, initially at Bold Colliery but then working out of the Haydock Area Office, he regularly visited Sutton Manor dealing with underground and surface installations. Harry describes how the above photograph illustrates some of the dangers:

This clearly shows one of the hazards of underground mining, namely extensive geological pressure being applied to an area. In this case it’s a roadway going into and out of the Coal Face. You could get the floor being pushed up, or as in this example, the roof being pushed down by the various faults in the geology of the strata. The Belt Conveyor shown, brings coal from the coal face out to a loading point, where it passes into the Tubs and then taken to the surface. The original roadway construction would consist of the heavy steel arch supports being evenly placed down the tunnel, with intermediate cross supports being placed all the way round between each arch to prevent loose rock from falling onto the conveyor, or more importantly, onto anybody walking to and from the coal face. The steel arches have been bent and twisted by tremendous roof pressure, the intermediate supports have been broken, or have come out, and about halfway on the right, there has been a considerable fall of roof material under the conveyor. On the left side the service pipes (air / water), have been pushed off their block supports and are bent / twisted. It will take a large amount of time and much material input to make this a safe working area.

This 1964 view from St.Nicholas church tower has Sutton Manor Colliery behind Mill Lane - contributed by Jim Lamb

During the early '60s, the National Coal Board began a study of the industry's pits, assessing long-term economic viability and cost-effectiveness. In October 1965 as a consequence of their controversial 'streamlining' initiative, the NCB decided to close the apparently uneconomic Clock Face Colliery.

However, the adjacent Sutton Manor with its record-breaking production figures seemed to have a much more secure future. Having initially (and rather surprisingly) placed Sutton Manor in the 'jeopardy' class of at risk pits, the NCB removed it from their list and began an advertising campaign to recruit boys to Sutton Manor and Bold collieries. In a series of advertisements placed in the St.Helens Reporter during 1966, 15-year-old school leavers were promised a job for life:

Coal mining offers Apprenticeship and a Lifetime's career....boys entering coal mining today can look forward to a lifetime in the industry.

Sutton Manor tallies were issued to each miner as a safety check so that managers know how many men were underground

Fresh young recruits were promised "good pay right from the day you start". If they chose to work underground they'd receive a weekly wage of £7 3s 6d a week. The wage on offer for a 15 year-old surface worker at Sutton Manor was only slightly less, at £6 9s 6d. Employment benefits on offer included access to the canteen, pit-head showers, club and sports facilities.

Underground locomotive in Sutton Manor Colliery
Albert the underground loco at Sutton Manor Colliery (contributed by Les Dunning / Ian Lally)

Ex-miners were also targeted by the National Coal Board as part of their recruitment campaign using the headline 'Come Back Into Mining'. They were promised better pay than before plus "permanent employment and a secure future". The strap-line of the ads used uppercase to emphasise the longevity of employment on offer:

Britain will need coal and mines for a LONG, LONG TIME

(St.Helens Reporter advertisement 29/10/1966)

Sutton Manor Colliery, St.Helens in British Coal's in-house magazine Sutton Manor Magazine
The colliery portrayed in British Coal's publication 'Sutton Manor Magazine'

Miner at Sutton Manor Colliery St.Helens

In the Spring of 1968, Sutton Manor Colliery was reorganised and coal production ceased in no.1 pit as the management believed that there were more economic seams contained within pit no.2. As a consequence, there was a reduction in the workforce of 481 men, leaving 937 men still on the books who were producing about ½ million tons of coal per year. Shaft no.1 was still used by the colliery, however, for essential ventilation and winding operations.

In 1974 a new 10 ton triple drilling rig was introduced that was said to resemble a mechanical octopus and 2 years later an untapped coal field was discovered just south of Sutton Manor at Barrows Green. A scheme was proposed which would involve driving two underground roadways of 1,150 yards in length through a major geological fault.

The Colliery Manager Peter Male was quoted in the St.Helens press as saying that this boded well for the future:

Sutton Manor has been in jeopardy for some years because of a shortage of results from the coal face and we have lost some money. But this new field opens up new roads for the future and there are reserves of coal to last the pit for up to thirty years.

mining families on a trip to russia 1974

Coal was also being obtained from the two faces in the Higher Florida and Wigan Four Feet seams and marketed locally to industry, power stations and the domestic market. Although Sutton Manor now had a slimmed down workforce, there weren't as many accidents and the colliery seemed to have a good future. One mineworker's family was also able to enjoy a free trip to the Soviet Union!

Tommy Ludden worked in the Powder magazine and distributed detonators to shotfirers. About 1974 Tommy and his wife Mary - a former Sutton Manor pit brow lass who was then working at the colliery as a cleaner - travelled to Russia with daughter Jane on a three week all-expenses paid holiday. This was as a result of an arrangement between the super-power's Miners Union and Britain's National Union of Mineworkers.

It was a wonderful opportunity to get away from the dirt and grime of the pit in the company of fifty other mining families from all over the UK. This group picture was taken in a Black Sea resort with 11-year-old Jane sat on the front row (3rd left) next to her mother and enjoying three weeks off school! Manor miners were selected from a rota and they had to be union members to qualify.

In 1982 the colliery announced its intention to sell surplus methane gas to the ICI Pilkington Sullivan works at Widnes. A 5 mile-long pipeline linked Sutton Manor with ICI and over 5 million therms of methane - equivalent to 3 million gallons of oil - was pumped through it. Cooling, distribution and pumping facilities were sited at the colliery and filtration and metering equipment at ICI. The scheme cost £3 million and began on July 14th, 1983.

Sutton Manor Colliery in St.Helens
Photographed in August 1986 the new no.1 headgear and no.2 headgear (Mel Moran Collection)

St.Helens Star newspaper articles on Sutton Manor Colliery in St.Helens

In December 1983 the National Coal Board announced a £14 million investment in Sutton Manor which they predicted would provide a "kiss of life" for the "viable" pit, converting it into one of Britain's most modern collieries. The St. Helens Star began its report of the cash injection by saying:

Happy days could be here again for pitmen at one hard-grafting colliery (St.Helens Star 15/12/1983)

The 1984 strike was a particularly difficult period in the colliery's life. However, it is remembered by many as a time of great generosity for the miners and their families who were denied state benefits.

There were gifts from many sources, especially from people in Liverpool. Sutton Manor's Brian Mitchell and Jim Smith took a brightly painted Play Bus into the city each week and people came out of their homes and donated whatever they could. There were also collection centres in Hardman Street and at the Liverpool Seamans' Offices.

For almost a year the Printers Union took Sutton Manor miners to a local cash and carry to buy fruit, bacon, eggs and vegetables. Every week a man, who no one knew, turned up at the institute with a large bag of carrots and one of onions.

For the children of the strikers, the free school dinner was a lifeline that served as their main meal of the day and the community also ensured that the children had an annual Christmas party.

plan of Sutton Manor Colliery, St.Helens
1) Forest Road 2) Colliery canteen 3) Main gates 4) Manager's block 5) Pit baths clean side 6) Pit baths exit
7) Pit baths dirty side 8) Surveyors office 9) Toilets 10) Engineering workshops 11) Lamproom (pic Ian Lally)

In 1986 the NCB's successor, British Coal, shocked Sutton Manor mineworkers by announcing that they were going to make 250 redundancies. The pit was now considered uneconomic and was losing £25 for each tonne of coal that it produced. Jack Evans of British Coal told readers of the St.Helens Star that in his opinion some members of the workforce weren't grafting hard enough:

Despite our best efforts to make the pit a success, there is an apparent reluctance on the part of some members of the workforce at Sutton Manor...Its future is in the hands of the men.

(The St.Helens Star October 9th, 1986)

Sutton Manor Colliery, St.Helens output table January 1990

The redundancies left just 425 men on the colliery's books and by February 1990 with a downsized workforce, matters seemed to be improving. In the 5th edition of in-house publication 'Sutton Manor Magazine', then Colliery Manager K.A. Leech praised the men for breaking 3 output records since the previous edition of the 4-page newsletter.

For week ending 20/01/1990, total weekly output had been a record 15,096 tonnes and the colliery results for the month of January 1990 were shown as an operating profit of £157,000, with net profit after capital charges of £46,000.

Miners at Sutton Manor Colliery in Sutton St.Helens
A photograph which appeared in 'Sutton Manor Magazine No.5' (February 1990)

Happy mineworkers posed for a photograph (above) propping up a board which detailed their record breaking activities, subtitled as 'Manor Men Are Back Again' . The caption underneath the picture in 'Sutton Manor Magazine', referred to the output levels as a "grand achievement". Colliery Manager Mr. Leech in an article entitled 'Well Done!' explained that "work is well underway" on a new coal face.

By December 1990 the Colliery Manager was P.G. Redford and in the Christmas edition of 'Sutton Manor Magazine (no.9) he informed the pitmen that in the quarter that ended in October, output had gone down. He claimed that British Coal had lost money and so Sutton Manor had been put back into the 'Reconvened Review Procedure'. However, the colliery manager also revealed that since October, the week by week tonnage was starting to rise and there was some cautious optimism for the future with Redford also referring to planned development work.

So there was some bewilderment when just weeks later British Coal announced that the pit was unviable and scheduled for closure in June 1991. They claimed that Sutton Manor Colliery had lost £23 million over the previous five years and a British Coal spokesman was quoted by the St.Helens Star on May, 30th 1991 as saying that "The pit was losing money and not hitting output targets". It finally closed on the 24th May, 1991 with 40 years of coal still underground.

St.Helens newspaper cutting on the closure of the Sutton Manor Colliery, St.Helens.

St.Helens Star report on the closure from May 30th, 1991

There is so much heritage in the Sutton Manor site. Not many know that it was the last colliery in the country to employ a steam winder as the St.Helens Reporter reported thirty years ago:

The sounds and smells of steam engines have left the railways and the factories but they still hang over Sutton Manor Colliery. For steam power is alive and well and putting in a 24 hours a day shift...every year visitors come from all over the country to take a look at one of the last refuges of the steam age. (St.Helens Reporter 14/7/1978)

Sutton Manor Colliery (St.Helens) – the remants of shaft no. 2.

During its latter years, the colliery was unique in possessing one of the newest winding engines in the country as well as (pre-1986) one of the oldest in the steam winder. This was used for winding men and materials and the same company that built the engines for the ill-fated Titanic, also manufactured the steam winder's engine.

The old National Coal Board gates in Jubits Lane and the remnants of the pit shafts (see right - pit no.2) are all that’s left to remind visitors of the site's illustrious past. Due to their depth, a decision was taken not to fill in the shafts. Instead two concrete plugs, about three yards thick, were lifted into position over the twin shafts with venting pipes provided for the methane. From being a productive colliery with enormous slag heaps, the 230 acre site is now a Forestry Commission-managed woodland enjoyed by many.

The people of Sutton haven't forgotten the site's illustrious past and, hopefully, the old NCB gates will remain as an ever-present physical legacy. In 2009 a number of heritage seats were installed on the site, courtesy of nearby Sutton Manor Primary and artist Bernadette Hughes, and a heritage art trail will be installed in 2010. Former miners have considerable affection for their former workplace and quite a number have had their ashes scattered or interred there.

The certificate awarded to Noah Lamb who spent 48 years at Sutton Manor
The NCB certificate awarded to Noah Lamb who spent 48 years at Sutton Manor - Contributed by Jim Lamb

A number of former Sutton Manor pitmen have become councillors or civic leaders such as Harry Williams who worked at the colliery for fifty years as a foreman in the power house. He held the distinction of being the Mayor of St.Helens in 1973, its final year as a borough council prior to becoming a Metropolitan Borough under Merseyside.

Former Sutton Manor pitman Brian Spencer was until 2010 the Leader of St.Helens Council for several years and Mike McGuire became MP for Ince from 1964 to 1983 and for Makerfield from 1983 to 1987. Dr. Ken Moses CBE from Thatto Heath became General Manager at Sutton Manor Colliery and later was a senior executive at British Coal.

Another with a distinguished Sutton Manor service record was Noah Lamb (1898-1990) who spent forty-eight years down the pit. Noah is pictured right sitting on his bed inside his white cottage at 30 Chester Lane in Marshalls Cross where he was born. Being a miner for almost half a century didn't do Noah any harm, as he lived to the ripe old age of ninety-two.

Pit deputy George Streete pictured in 1960 and at his retirement in 1980 (contributed by Esther Streete)

George Beresford Streete worked at Sutton Manor for thirty years after arriving in the UK from his native Jamaica in 1950. He served as a pit deputy and is remembered by colleagues for his ever-present smile. George's German-born wife Esther was a district midwife for 35 years after starting nursing at St.Helens Hospital. The mine also employed a large number of Polish, Lithuanian and Russian pit men. On Saturday nights during the 1940s, the Polish and Lithuanian miners would regularly fight each other outside the Griffin pub!

However, working down Sutton Manor was not easy. Ex-miner Gary Conley described the conditions on BBC North West Tonight on March 4th, 2009, in a report that commemorated 25 years since the start of the 1984 strike:

It was hotter than the flames of hell in some sections and cold as the Antarctic in others.

Despite the often harsh conditions, the bonds of friendship between the workforce, in what's been called a family pit, were very strong. Almost twenty years since the closure, many mineworkers still have a considerable connection to the site. On May 31st, 2009 as part of the Big Art Project, a work of public art called Dream was officially opened at the apex of the former colliery's spoil heap, which rises 270 feet above sea level. This artwork towers over the M62 and was designed by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa both to serve as a memorial for the site's heritage but also to look forward to the future. Appropriately, former Sutton Manor pitmen have played a pivotal role in commissioning this monument to the blood, sweat and toil that took place underneath the statue for eighty-five years of the twentieth century.

Sutton Manor Colliery mineworkers in 1980s (Mel Moran Collection)

Next: Part 14) Clock Face Colliery; | Research Sources, References & Bibliography

          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #1   (44 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #2   (45 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #3   (50 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #4   (44 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #5   (44 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for a plan of Sutton Manor Colliery (courtesy Mel Moran)

Also see Memories of Sutton Manor by Stan Johnson who worked at the colliery from 1955-62

I am continuing to research Sutton Manor Colliery. If you have any further information or photographs do please contact me. Thank you! Stephen Wainwright

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