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Broad Lane, BRISTOL, BS36 2TY

Steam made the extraction of coal much more effective when the engine was installed here. Although not a large machine, it was powerful enough to move the miners, pump out water from the levels and raise a kibble (bucket) with about ¾ tons of coal.

The old colliery site is now a shadow of its past: the shafts are closed and the engine house much reduced in height, with the engine itself removed. After the mine closed in 1867, some of the land was bought by the Great Western Railway in 1898. They drove the railway right through the site, leaving a few structures remaining. After they sold parts of the land back to the market, the colliery was largely abandoned and earth dumped on it. In 1980 a project to reveal the old coal mine was started. The fruits of the labour has brought a piece of industrial heritage back into the light and is looked after by volunteers today. This beautifully carved wooden bench welcomes visitors. It depicts the old horse-drawn Dramway that took away coal in carts.

Ram Hill colliery used steam power from around 1832 until the pit's closure in 1867. The small but powerful engine is thought to have had a cylinder, 12ft beam, flywheel and drum; a reservoir would have been close by to keep the engine supplied.

Ram Hill Colliery was a concerted commercial enterprise that began in the early nineteenth century. Coal deposits are plentiful in this part of the world, associated with the larger seams of South Wales. Coal pits, drift workings and bell pits have been recorded since the thirteenth century. By about 1832, Ram Hill Colliery was a busy and profitable business and so a steam engine was purchased. It stood in these structures, and used steam (powered by coal fires, of course) to move the men and extracted coal.

Ram Hill Colliery used to be an active mine until 1867. There were three levels of coal under the land, with the deepest being a 170m (558ft) drop to the High Seam, reached by this shaft. The rest of the shaft is under private land adjoining the remains of the colliery buildings.

View of the footbridge that crosses the railway at Ram Hill.

View of the footbridge that crosses the railway at Ram Hill.

Ram Hill colliery removed around 10,000 tons a year at its height in the mid nineteenth century. The deposits would have been piled here beside the Dramway, where it would be packed onto carts and sent off down the line to the river.

The Ram Hill colliery had a rail line to take the carts to the River Avon and back again. Originally the coal fields of north Bristol built a 4ft 8" rail line (the Dramway) to connect them to the river in 1828, and Ram Hill joined up in about 1832. Initially it was horse-powered, but steam power arrived nine years later. At the terminus of the tracks a single arch was built, made with barely a single layer at the top. Surely it would not have withstood much weight, certainly not lots of coal, so why it was built is a mystery. See Image] for a contextual view.

Coal was extracted from the seams at quite deep depths and brought to the surface by steam power. Once loaded into carts, the coal was taken across north Bristol to the River Avon at Keynsham by rail. Initially, the Dramway was a horse-powered system and the carts were lined up at this terminus. Looking at the ground, the old rail beds can be seen. See Image] for a closer look at the arch.