Brandy Bottom Colliery, part of Parkfield Colliery

Reasons for Designation

Coal has been mined in England since Roman times, and between 8,000 and 10,000 coal industry sites of all dates up to the collieries of post-war nationalisation are estimated to survive in England. Three hundred and four coal industry sites, representing approximately 3% of the estimated national archaeological resource for the industry have been identified as being of national importance. This selection, compiled and assessed through a comprehensive survey of the coal industry, is designed to represent the industry's chronological depth, technological breadth and regional diversity. The term `nucleated' is used to describe coal mines that developed as a result of increased capital investment in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are a prominent type of field monument produced by coal mining and typically consist of a range of features grouped around the shafts of a mine. The simplest examples contain merely a shaft or adit with associated spoil heap. Later examples are characterised by developed pit head arrangements that may include remains of engine houses for pumping and/or winding from shafts, boiler houses, fan houses for ventilating mine workings, offices, workshops, pithead baths, and transport systems such as railways and canals. A number of later nucleated mines also retain the remains of screens where the coal was sized and graded. Coke ovens are frequently found on or near colliery sites. Coal occurs in significant deposits throughout large parts of England and this has given rise to a variety of coalfields extending from the north of England to the Kent coast. Each region has its own history of exploitation, and characteristic sites range from the small, compact collieries of north Somerset to the large, intensive units of the north east. A sample of the better preserved sites, illustrating the regional, chronological and technological range of nucleated coal mines, together with rare individual component features are considered to merit protection.

The Brandy Bottom Colliery site contains the remains of a complete 19th century steam powered colliery. Amongst the standing buildings are a single storey twin cylinder horizontal steam winding engine house, a steam powered fan house, a Cornish beam engine house and a stone and brick built boiler chimney, with some of the buildings, for example the fanhouse, being rare survivals nationally. As a group these features demonstrate the spatial arrangement and workings of a late 19th century mine. It is very unusual for a site of this period to survive in such a complete form, and the undisturbed buried remains of engine bases, boiler settings and additional features will be present and represent considerable potential for the study of the coal mining industry in this area. The colliery is accessible to the public by virtue of a footpath and cycle way which run through the site, and is one of only a few sites remaining in this area which represent this once widespread industry. The Parkfield Collieries were only one of the firms with interests in the Bristol Coalfield, a coalfield which, in the late 19th century produced over 500,000 tons of coal, and had a significant impact on the economy of the Bristol area.

Details

The monument includes a 19th century steam powered colliery built on the site of an earlier 18th century colliery. It lies at the foot of a west-facing slope 2km east of the outskirts of Bristol in an area containing a number of springs and wells within the Bristol coalfield. Sunk in the early 1800s, Brandy Bottom Colliery was owned by Lord Radnor. In the 1850s it was leased to the firm of Wethered, Cossham and Wethered, to assist the adjacent Parkfield Colliery which lay about 1km to the north east, in pumping and ventilation. Brandy Bottom then became known as Parkfield Colliery South, with a depth of 225yds according to Handel Cossham's note book. Brandy Bottom Colliery or Parkfield South was closed in 1936, and since then has been derelict. It is unclear as to when coal was first dug east of the River Severn, but documentary evidence shows that it had been dug in Kingswood from at least the reign of Edward I, and by the 13th century it occurs regularly as an item in accounts. By 1679 the Kingswood area of Bristol had become such a typical colliery district that the coal pits were recommended to visitors to the neighbourhood as a sight worth viewing. One of the most important colliery owners in the Bristol mining district during the later 19th century was Mr Handel Cossham. Until his death in 1889 he was the controlling power in the management of the Kingswood and Parkfield Collieries, and the property of his company comprised in 1891, about 3000 acres of mineral freehold, with a daily output from the collieries from 700 to 1000 tons of steam and house coal, while employment was found, above and below ground, for on average 1500 people. The site forms a rough triangle bounded by a disused railway cutting, about 2m deep, on the north west side. The railway served as a means of transporting coal from the colliery, and a sample is included in the scheduling. On the south side a spoil tip is included and marks the limit of the site on this side, and on the north east side a shallow ditch, believed to be a field drain, 0.5m deep and about 1m to 1.5m wide, defines its extent. At the north end of the site, near the railway line, is an unroofed brick building, which measures 3m by 2m, thought to be a weighbridge. Close to the weighbridge are the two halves of a large spoked iron wheel, about 6m in diameter, thought to be part of the headgear of a pit. This was imported from a coal mine in South Wales, but is included in the scheduling as it is of the same type as that used at Brandy Bottom, it relates to the technology of 19th century mines, and contributes to an understanding of this monument. About 40m to the south west of the weighbridge is a spoil tip approximately 60m long, 20m wide and 5m high, at the south end of which is a group of buildings including a chimney, engine house and workshop. These buildings are composed of brick and stone and are also unroofed. The chimney is about 40m high, and largely of brick although the lower 15m is of stone. The stonework of the other buildings stand to about 5m high. To the south west of these and included in the same complex of buildings is a heapstead, beam engine house and boiler house. The heapstead stands to about 5m high, the first half in stone, the remainder in brick. The Cornish beam engine house is thought to retain its internal engine settings. About 20m to the south west of this complex is the shaft, a fan house and a horizontal steam winding engine house, although nothing survives of the engine settings. Steam driven fans were common on 19th century and early 20th century collieries, although few standing examples now survive. The fan house at Brandy Bottom is brick built and contains a complete circular fan housing. Abutting the fan house, on its south side, is a second irregularly shaped spoil tip measuring 160m east-west by about 70m north-south and 5m to 6m high. Between the disused railway line and the main colliery buildings is a pond and the ruins of South Parkfield Cottage which are included in the scheduling. A building on the site of South Parkfield Cottage is shown on the 19th century map, and is therefore thought to be contemporary with the colliery. The function of the building is not known, but it was part of the colliery landscape. The pond is about 10m wide at its widest point and is 20m long, it appears to be a couple of metres deep and is marshy. At the north west end of the pond is a brick built culvert, with a corresponding stone built one at the other end. The pond is thought to have provided water for the steam driven engines of the colliery. A number of features are excluded from the scheduling: these are the tarmac surface of the community forest path, sign posts and the metal post and wire fencing around the site buildings.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

28872

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Gloucester, (1907), 236
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Gloucester, (1907), 237

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry