Matthew Fletcher (mine owner and engineer)
Matthew Fletcher | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1731 or 1733 Lancashire, England |
| Died | 1808-08-24 |
| Occupation(s) | Mining engineer, coal mine proprietor |
| Years active | 1740s–1808 |
| Known for | Development of Wet Earth Colliery and other collieries; construction of Fletcher's Canal |
Matthew Fletcher (born 1731 or 1733 – died 24 August 1808) was an English mining engineer and coal mine proprietor based in Lancashire.
Family
Jacob Fletcher, residing in Bolton, owned several small-scale coal mines located in Harwood and Breightmet, Bolton. He had four sons, with Matthew being the second oldest. The eldest brother, John, established a pit in Atherton, which eventually led to the creation of Fletcher, Burrows and Company during the 1870s. Jacob also possessed a colliery at Darcy Lever and fathered two sons: Ellis—Matthew’s successor who passed away in 1834—and Adam, who died in 1799. Adam worked as a collier at Crompton Fold and had three sons: Matthew (deceased 1823), Jacob (circa 1800), and Peter, who died during infancy.
Wet Earth Colliery
One of Matthew Fletcher’s early significant contributions was advising John Heathcote, another mine owner, on the troublesome Wet Earth Colliery, recognized as the first deep coal mine in the Irwell Valley at Clifton. In the 1740s, Heathcote’s efforts to sink the mine were repeatedly thwarted by flooding caused by water infiltrating through the Pendleton Fault from the nearby River Irwell. To resolve this issue, Heathcote enlisted Fletcher’s expertise. The mine was shut down in 1750 due to ongoing water ingress until canal engineer James Brindley, related to Heathcote, proposed employing a Newcomen atmospheric pumping engine. However, obstacles included the absence of sufficient flowing water to power pumps and the pithead’s elevation above river level.
Between its closure in 1750 and reopening in 1756, ownership of Wet Earth Colliery was transferred from Heathcote to Fletcher. Subsequently, Fletcher sunk a new deep shaft, called Gal Pit—named after the Galloway ponies used as pit ponies—with a diameter of , reaching down to the Doe coal seam.
Later collieries
By 1760, Fletcher had excavated the shaft for Botany Bay Colliery approximately east of Wet Earth Colliery. He extended Brindley’s leat to this site (running parallel to the Irwell for about , then turning south) and installed a second waterwheel for winding coal up the shaft. Fletcher further developed several additional collieries nearby, including Clifton Hall Colliery off Lumn's Lane in Clifton, Ringley Colliery on the east bank of the Irwell upstream of Wet Earth near Brindley’s leat intake, Spindle Point Colliery at the intersection of Manchester Road and Slackey Brow in Kearsley, roughly west of Wet Earth, and Robin Hood Colliery positioned midway between Wet Earth and Botany Bay but further from the Irwell.
Fletcher constructed Clifton House close to his pits as his personal residence; this building was demolished in 1965.
Fletcher's Canal and the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal
In late 1790, Fletcher undertook widening and deepening work on the head race connecting Wet Earth and Botany Bay Collieries, converting it into a canal section that officially opened as Fletcher's Canal in 1791. Initially isolated from other waterways, it facilitated coal transport to a wharf for further shipment. In 1796, the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal commenced operation between Rhodes Lock (situated across the Irwell from Wet Earth) and Salford. The canal crossed over the river downstream of Botany Bay Colliery via the Clifton Aqueduct. Nonetheless, disputes regarding water rights delayed integrating Fletcher's Canal with this network for five years. Agreements restricted the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal’s water extraction from the Irwell and forbade any discharge into Fletcher's Canal. Fletcher’s initial lock design was incompatible due to differing fall levels compared to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. After consulting engineer Benjamin Outram, Fletcher expanded this lock into a chamber measuring long by wide with a fall of , enabling three narrowboats to pass simultaneously.
The connection established in 1801 between Fletcher's Canal and the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal allowed coal transportation approximately away to Manchester. Inspired by Brindley’s subterranean canal system for the Bridgewater Canal, Fletcher commissioned short underground arms at Wet Earth, Botany Bay, and Spindle Point Collieries that ended at basins adjacent to shafts. This design enabled direct loading of coal onto barges at pit heads.
Later life
Following enhanced market opportunities provided by the canal link, Fletcher reinvested in the Wet Earth Colliery by purchasing a steam engine in 1804 and initiating the excavation of a second shaft in 1805. He held the position of chairman for the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and was also a member of the committee for the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Company. Fletcher passed away on 24 August 1808, bequeathing the Clifton Estate to his nephew, Ellis Fletcher. Upon Ellis's death, ownership transferred to his son, Jacob Fletcher Fletcher, who died in 1857; thereafter, trustees oversaw the colliery operations until Jacob's daughter, Charlotte Anne Fletcher, became the heir to the enterprise.