A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



liery viewers, Whitehaven, and after their 

 deaths carried on by their widows until the 

 expiration of the lease in 1852. 



Mr. Edward Bowes Steel then became the 

 lessee of Gilcrux Colliery and continued to 

 work Jane Pit. In 1854 Eliza Pit, or Ellen- 

 side Colliery, was sunk about a mile east of 

 Jane Pit. 



In 1860, when Messrs. John Steel, M.P., 

 Cockermouth, and William Miller, White- 

 haven, became the sub-lessees of the colliery, 

 coal was worked at Jane and Eliza Pits. Jane 

 Pit had then been sunk to the Yard Band, a 

 depth of 76 fathoms, whence the upper and 

 principal seams were gained by drifts through 

 downthrow faults ; and, at Eliza Pit, the Ten 

 Quarters Seam was worked. The total out- 

 put at both pits was 250 tons a day. 



In 1859 the sinking of Ellen Pit near 

 Bullgill Station was commenced, and in 1862 

 was finished to the Lickbank Seam, a depth 

 of 101 fathoms. 



In 1866 Mr. Dykes granted a lease of the 

 colliery to the Gilcrux Colliery Co., Ltd., 

 who sublet it in 1868 to the Crosby Colliery - 

 Co., in which Mr. William Mulcaster, Flimby, 

 was the managing partner ; and they worked 

 it in conjunction with Crosby Colliery, com- 

 prising No. i and Rosegill Pits. 



The sinking of No. i Crosby Pit was 

 begun in 1854 and the Ten Quarters Seam 

 was reached in 1856. 



Rosegill Pit was completed to the Ten 

 Quarters Seam in 1863, and subsequently 

 the lower coal seams down to the Yard Band 

 were won by a dip drift. 



In 1867 No. i Crosby Pit was continued 

 to the Little Main Seam, which however 

 was only worked for a few years. The shaft 

 was afterwards the upcast for the other two 

 pits until 1893, when it was abandoned. 



Crosby and Gilcrux Collieries were trans- 

 ferred to the Lonsdale Haematite Iron and 

 Steel Co., Ltd., Whitehaven, in 1883, and in 

 1885, at No. i Crosby Pit, the dip drift which 

 proved the Carboni ferous Limestone, 60 fathoms 

 below the Little Main Seam, was begun from 

 that seam. 



In 1896 the Bullgill Colliery Co., Ltd., 

 took Crosby and Gilcrux Collieries, and Rose- 

 gill Pit was closed. 



In 1901 the Bullgill Coal Co., Ltd., took 

 over the Gilcrux, or Bullgill Colliery, and are 

 now raising coal at Ellen Pit from the Crow 

 Coal and Metal Band. 



The manor of Birkby with that of Brough- 

 ton was purchased in 1738 from the Duke of 

 Wharton's trustees by Charles, Duke of 

 Somerset, from whom it has descended to 

 Lord Leconfield. 



378 



In 1781 Mr. John Christian, Ewanrigg, 

 took a lease of Birkby Colliery from the Earl 

 of Egremont. 



In 1796 the vend of coal had increased to 

 6,430 tons. 



The colliery was untenanted from 1802 to 

 1832, when Messrs. Tickle and Thompson 

 leased it from the Earl of Egremont. They 

 gave it up in 1836. Birkby royalty was let, 

 from 1837 to 1856, to Messrs Ross, Fletcher 

 and Thompson, who however did not work 

 any coal there. 



About 1860 Mr. W. Tickle established 

 Birkby Brickworks and began to work from 

 adits in both banks of the Ellen the thin seams 

 of coal and fireclay below the Little Main. 



From 1879 to 1883 Messrs. Croudace and 

 Watson were tenants of Birkby works, which 

 were then sold to a company promoted by 

 Mr. David Burns, Carlisle. Mother Pit was 

 then sunk to the Little Main Seam, 12 

 fathoms, and in 1893 a further depth of 10 

 fathoms to No. 2 Seam. Shortly afterwards 

 the pit was abandoned, and thus ended all 

 coal mining in Birkby. 



The earliest reference to coal mining at 

 Oughterside is in the will of William Orfeur, 

 High Close, dated 1681, by which he be- 

 queathed the gear belonging to his colliery at 

 Oughterside to his son. An old map shows 

 that in 1700 the Duke of Somerset had two 

 pits north of Mr. Orfeur's colliery near the 

 Ellen. Nicolson and Burn in 1777 recorded 

 that there was then a good colliery at Ough- 

 terside. Coal mining in Oughterside was only 

 on a small scale until 1830, when Mr. Kirk- 

 haugh sank a pit at Westmoor to the Yard 

 Band, a depth of 48 fathoms. The seams of 

 coal in Oughterside are the Ten Quarters, 

 30 in., and Yard Bands. The two first are 

 in the Whitehaven Sandstone, and are absent 

 at Westmoor Pit; but were wrought at 

 numerous old pits and by Mr. Fletcher at 

 the Bank End Pit, abandoned in 1858. 



Before the construction of the Maryport 

 and Carlisle Railway, Oughterside coals were 

 carted to staiths at Allonby for shipment. 

 Mr. Kirkhaugh continued working his col- 

 liery until 1850, when he was succeeded by 

 the Aspatria Coal Co. (Messrs. Westray, 

 Fletcher and Bragg). 



In 1857 tne Yard Band was exhausted, 

 and a trial of the 30 in. seam, 30 fathoms 

 above, proved it to be unsatisfactory. 



About the same time as Mr. Kirkhaugh 

 began operations, Mr. Joseph Harris, Grey- 

 southen, was engaged at old Domain Colliery, 

 Oughterside, at Nos. I, 3, and Hall Pits, 

 where the Yard and 30 in. seam were ex- 

 tensively worked. 



