A Welsh Coal Mines web page

Hook Colliery, the sinking of Park Colliery, c.1880s.

Hook Colliery, Hook, Near Haverfordwest, c. 1912.

Photograph taken some years later .

The Hook aerials showing group of men standing in front of where they would load the coal onto the boats. Photograph sent by Susan Pyart-Schulze it belongs to her mother, Mrs Beatrice Pyart, whose grandfather died when the mine in Hook flooded in 1916. His name was William James, another who died in this incident was Joseph Thomas. An account of this tragedy can be found via the following link to the forum, with  thanks to Paul Ware. HERE

NGR Hook Colliery SM977110 Google Map
NGR Hook West Park Colliery SM989113 Google Map

Situated on the western bank of the Cleddau estuary, opposite Landshipping. Thomas Harcourt Powell opened this anthracite colliery around 1849/50.

A catastrophe of a most distressing character by which five men lost their lives on Wednesday the 7th Aug 1850 off Picton Point Pembrokeshire. It appears that the ill-fated men Abraham James, Henry Phillips, William Falland, Benjamin Phillips and Thomas Falland the latter a boy of 17yrs of age, were employed at the Hook colliery under the superintendence of Mr James Wilson, and had been sent with other men that morning by boat to Blackpool, a distance of four miles, for the purpose of loading two lighters or barges with timber, which had been purchase for use at the colliery. At night after having accomplished their task four of the men returned by land being afraid to venture by water, as it blew very hard and rained heavily and endeavoured to persuade their companions to accompany them as they were unaccustomed to the management of a boat in foul weather. They however disregarded the entreaties made to them, and they proceeded in the boat.

It is thought that they must have reached Landshipping ferry with much difficulty, as they had a head wind all the way, but when off Picton point ( where there is always a considerable swell, especially when the wind is high ) and whilst turning the boats head towards Hook, she shipped several seas which nearly filled her. They became alarmed at their perilous situation and all except the boy jumped overboard and all were instantaneously drowned although it was known some of them were very good swimmers. The boat continued to fill and within a short time the boy also jumped into the water and met with a similar fate, notwithstanding that the boat was at this time within a few yards of the shore.

Their distressing situation was witnessed by a poor woman named Eleanor Francis who lived in a lonely cottage on the bank of the river opposite the Landshipping Ferry Her cries however were to no avail as the wind was too powerful for her voice to be heard and the thick mist which prevailed prevented anyone from seeing from Landshipping .The two men named William and Thomas Falland were brothers , and all of them were nearly related to each other, and we are informed industrious and steady men. Abraham James has left a widow and several children in extreme poverty. The bodies of the poor fellows were picked up on the following morning in a dreadfully mangled state, their faces having been partially eaten by fish.

From The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Adviser, 24th of November 1871.

"A serious explosion of fire damp occurred on Wednesday morning at the Hook Colliery, about 4 miles from Haverfordwest. It appears that the explosion occurred about eight o'clock in the morning, just after the men had entered the pit and before they had commenced their work. The injured men were brought to the pit's mouth as soon as assistance could be procured, and it is said tbat including men and boys more or less severely burned by the explosion, the number is about 17. The injuries are in no case expected to result in the loss of life."

During 1880  West Park Pit was opened.

By 1918 a new drift had been driven and there were 69 men employed at the Hook new drift.

In 1920 the company changed its name to the Hook Anthracite Colliery Co.

From a list 1923, there were 130 employed at Hook (Margaret Pit), producing Anthracite from the Rock Vein. At this time the Slant had ceased production.

Later it came under the ownership of Watts, Watts and Co. Ltd., who closed down the Margaret pit in 1936 and opened a drift to the Timber seam further to the west.

During 1945 there were 95 men employed.

It closed in 1948 after flooding of the West Drift.

Much more from Ray Lawrence.

HOOK/WEST PARK COLLIERY

Hook, Haverfordwest, Pembroke.

The Hook Colliery name covered such pits as; Green, New Aurora, Old Aurora, winding pit, Beam, Pill Pit & Slope, Pill Slope Pit, Slide, West Park Level, West Park Pits, Margaret Pit, West Drift, and Commons. Also in that area were the Ballarat Pit, Sprinkle Pit, Stumpy Adit, Freystrop Colliery, Middle Hill Level, American Pit, Cardmakers Pool, Talyors Pit, Amen Pit and the New Drift (M.R. Connop Price in Pembrokeshire – the Forgotten Coalfield).

In 1888 a Waddle type ventilating fan was installed at the West Park , it was 8 feet 9 inches in diameter. In 1891 the colliery was described as consisting of the West Park and upcast pits. It was working the Timber Vein by the pillar & stall method of coal extraction using safety lamps.
The West Park pit was elliptical measuring 8 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 6 inches and it was 324 feet deep. The upcast pit was also elliptical measuring 6 feet by 5 feet 6 inches and was 264 feet deep. Ventilation was by a Waddle type fan. At that time it employed 130 men.

In 1899 the West Park was managed by R.H. Collingdon and employed 103 men, manpower more than halved to 50 men in 1900 and dropped yet again to 30 men in 1901. In 1905 the Pill Slope employed 53 men and in 1907 the Hook, Pill Slope employed 38 men working underground in the Timber and Rock Veins and 38 men at the surface of the mine. In 1910 the New Hook was managed by D.R. Lloyd and employed 60 men, the managed was Thomas Worthing in 1912/20 with manpower being 77 in 1912.

By 1913/16 the New Hook Colliery was still in production and at that time employing 80 men, and in 1918 it was managed by Thomas Worthing and employed 40 men underground and 29 men on the surface. It was still managed by Mr. Worthing in 1920. In 1922 to 1926 it employed 110 men while in 1923 it was managed by T.J. Jones and was listed as developing the No.2 which employed 140 men in 1927/9 and was then managed by Samuel Davies. By 1932 the company was called Hook Anthracite Colliery Company Limited of St. Benet's Chambers, Fenchurch Street, London, the chairman and managing director being Sir C.W.M. Price and the other directors were; R.F. Gibb, H. Stanley and L. Cook. This company was not a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. In 1933 the listings for Hook Colliery comprised of the West Pit which employed 3 men and the Margaret Pit which was managed by Mr. Samuel and employed 226 men. In 1934 the colliery was purchased by Watts, Watts & Company but they soon encountered the perennial problem of the Pembrokeshire Coalfield – uncharted old workings and plans to work the Lower Level seam to the north of the Margaret Pit were abandoned and that pit was closed.

In 1935, two mines were listed; the West Park Nos.l and 2, which employed 1 man underground and 2 men on the surface, and the Hook Pit, which employed 65 men on the surface and 234 men underground working the Rock and Timber Veins. The manager was still J.C. Samuel. In 1937 the Hook Slope employed 131 men with B. Spencer as the manager while in 1938 the West Pit was lying idle and the New Drift employed 113 men with the manager still being Mr. Spencer. In 1945 the New Drift was listed as being owned by Watts, Watts and Company of London and employed 62 men underground in the Timber Vein and 33 men on the surface, the manager was E. Jenkins.

On Nationalisation in 1947 the colliery was placed in the National Coal Board ' s, South Western Division ' s, No.1 (Swansea) Area, and at that time was called the Hook New Drift, employing 31 men on the surface and 61 men underground working the Timber Vein. The manager at that time was E, Jenkins. This colliery closed on the 23rd of April 1948 and at that time employed 94 men.

After closure boreholes proved the Timber Vein in this area with a possibility of also working the Two-Feet seam, it was then agreed to drive an exploratory drift that was 130 yards from the south bank of the Cleddau near the village of Hook . The Timber Vein was said to be between 39 and 54 inches thick with the area to be worked bounded by the outcrop to the north-east, the old Commons pit workings to the south-west, the Slide Fault to the south-east and old workings to the north-west. Estimated reserves would last 7 ½ years at 200 tons of coal extracted per week with a possible extra 2 ½ years work under the East Hook Farm. Work started in February 1950 but it had only reached a distance of 300 yards before it encountered serious water problems and was abandoned on the 22 nd of June 1951 . In 1955 the Hook Unemployed NUM Lodge was the smallest NUM Lodge in the South Wales Coalfield with eight members.

The Pembrokeshire part of the South Wales Coalfield was very disturbed, and most of its mines were small. Peak working was in the 1850s when approximately 19 mines were in operation. From the turn of the 20 th Century the coal industry in Pembrokeshire declined rapidly until by 1913 only four mines were in operation. A particular danger in this area was that of earlier uncharted workings, most of which were filled with water. The fear of hitting these workings caused the NCB to close this, the last colliery in Pembrokeshire.