Former Whitehaven coal colliery on the Cumbrian coast, with surviving scheduled monument engine house and No. 5 shaft headframe, previously operated as a museum that closed in 2016.
Haig Colliery, situated on the cliffs above Whitehaven in Cumbria, was a coal mine in operation for almost 70 years. Its shafts were sunk by the Whitehaven Colliery Company Ltd between 1914 and 1918 as a new access to the existing Wellington Pit workings, with full production beginning in 1925. The mine was named after Field Marshal Douglas Haig.
The underground workings spread westwards out under the Irish Sea, reaching over four miles beneath the sea bed. The mine produced high volatile strongly caking general purpose coal. Between 1922 and 1931 three firedamp explosions killed 83 miners, of whom 14 bodies were never recovered.
Wellington Pit, to which Haig was underground connected, closed in 1932. Haig was nationalised in 1947 and closed in March 1986, the last deep coal mine in Cumbria, with 180 jobs lost. The winding engine house became a Scheduled Monument in 1998 and was operated as the Haig Colliery Mining Museum from 1994, with major refurbishment completed in 2015; the museum closed in January 2016 due to insolvency.
The surviving No. 5 shaft headframe and winding engine house, with two Bever Dorling steam winding engines, remain on site.
Haig Colliery's shafts were sunk by the Whitehaven Colliery Company Ltd, which had acquired the Whitehaven collieries in 1913. The sinking of No. 5 shaft started in August 1914 and was completed in May 1916; it was 21 feet in diameter. No. 4 shaft was started in October 1916 and completed in March 1918; it was 18 feet in diameter. The two shafts were 40 yards apart and were 720 yards south-west of the Wellington Pits and 300 yards above the high water mark. Both shafts were walled throughout. The shaft numbering began at 4 because Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were the Wellington Pit shafts located closer to Whitehaven Harbour. The mine was intended to serve as new access to the Wellington Pit workings. The winding gear and steam engine for No. 5 shaft were not installed until 1920–21, with production starting in 1919 and full production not commencing until 1925. The engines powering both shafts were built by Bever Dorling of Bradford. No. 5 shaft had a horizontal twin cylinder steam winder with 40-inch diameter cylinders and a 7-foot stroke; running at 40 rpm and 120 psi it developed 3,200 hp and turned a 21-foot diameter drum.
The new sinking was connected to the existing workings of Wellington Colliery in 1922 and the two mines worked in conjunction until Wellington closed in 1932. Initially Haig was operated by the bord and pillar method, with longwall mining taking over from the late 1930s. Initially No. 4 shaft was used to transport everything in and out of the mine; following reorganisation of ventilation in 1933 all coal came via No. 5 shaft. No. 4 shaft was 1,200 feet deep and No. 5 shaft was slightly wider. The mine produced high volatile strongly caking general purpose coal used in the local iron-making industry, gas making, and domestic fires. In later years, following the closure of Workington Steelworks in 1980, coal from Haig was used in electricity generation at Fiddler's Ferry.
Between 1922 and 1931 three major firedamp explosions caused the deaths of 83 miners, of whom 14 bodies were never recovered. The explosion of 5 September 1922 in the Six Quarters Seam killed 39 men; an explosion on 13 December 1927 killed four men; on 9 February 1928 further explosions while recovery work was being conducted killed 13 men including mine inspectors; and on 29 January 1931 an explosion in the Main Band Seam killed 27 men and injured 13 others.
Haig Colliery was nationalised in 1947. No. 4 shaft was used for man riding during the later period of the mine's operation. In almost 70 years of production the mine brought 48,000,000 tonnes of coal to the surface, averaging approximately 700,000 tonnes per annum. In 1983 a major fault was encountered at Haig and the future of the pit came into doubt. By the time of the miners' national strike of 1984, Haig was the only deep mine remaining in Cumbria. Despite miners at Haig voting to work through the 1984–85 strike, flying pickets came to the pit from Northumberland and elsewhere. After further recovery work following the fault encounter, Haig finally ceased mining on 31 March 1986, with 180 jobs lost. On closing in March 1986 the shafts were capped and most of the surface was cleared to form the Haig Enterprise Park. The No. 4 shaft headframe was demolished when the shafts were sealed in 1986. The winding engine house with the No. 5 shaft headframe and two Bever Dorling steam winding engines survived.
Restoration work on the winding engine house began in early 1994, undertaken by volunteers. The winding engine house became a Scheduled Monument in 1998. The Haig Colliery Mining Museum formally opened; after the museum closed for repairs in 2014, a £2.4 million refurbishment was completed in February 2015, which involved building a new visitor centre and renovating the headgear. One of the two steam winding engines was returned to working order. The museum attracted more than 15,000 visitors but faced financial difficulties and closed in January 2016 due to insolvency. Some of the buildings have since been used by West Cumbria Mining as its main operating base for coal exploration drilling off the Cumbrian coast.
