This Cache commemorates the site of the Old Boston Colliery, Haydock, which was sunk in 1884 and closed in Nov 1952.
Its closure was due to a fire that was caused by gas cutting work on pipes in the shaft. This work was over a weekend in November when the pit was not working. By the time the fire was discovered by the pit undermanager, Alex Pownall, who at the time was walking his dog nearby and had smelt smoke, the fire was so bad, the pit had to be flooded and abandoned. Old Boston was set-up as a training centre after the abandonment of coal production and closed in the 1980s as part of the governments pit closure scheme.
The pit head bath facilities, was used by the nearby Wood Pit miners until the 1970s when Wood Pit closed.
You are looking for a small clip lock box with a pencil and log sheet.
I have also put one of my new small TBs in the box to get it on its way.
As most old colliery sites are now industrial estates or developed, the cache is placed as near to the site as possible on a public footpath. There may be security cameras on the nearby buildings so please use caution and guile in finding the cache. Tempory parking can be found nearby but don’t block any access to residents or vehicles.
Others in the small series are:-
king-coal-1-long-lane-colliery
king-coal-2-garswood-hall-colliery-new-pit
king-coal-3-park-colliery
king-coal-5-wood-and-lyme-pits-haydock
If you compleate all 5 in the small series, there is a photo for your profile. Contact me for the code to paste on your profile.
