Collieries belonging to the Wigan Coal and Iron Company in 1896 were the Alexandra, Bawkhouse, Bridge and Meadow Pits in Haigh and Lyndsay in Wigan. The largest, the Alexandra Pit employed more than 650 workers and the Lindsay Pits more than 350. The Crawford, Kirkless, Moor and Woodshaw Pits in Aspull employed over 1,000 workers. Eatock Pits in Westhoughton employed 484 underground and 89 surface workers whilst the Hewlett Pits in
Hart Common employed 981 underground and 182 on the surface. Ladies Lane Colliery in Hindley employed 282 underground and 40 surface workers. The Westleigh Pits were Priestners which employed 387 underground and 70 on the surface, Snapes, and Sovereign which had 180 underground workers and 68 on the surface. The King Coal Pit at Blackrod was a pumping pit, retained to drain the colliery workings. In Standish the company owned the Broomfield, Giants Hall, Gidlow, John, Langtree, Robin Hill, Swire and Taylor Pits. The largest of these was the Langtree Pit with more than 540 employees. The Wigan Coal & Iron Company had an operation on South Quay, Douglas, Isle of Man in the early 20th century, presumably importing coal from Lancashire The company operated Berkune pit, an iron ore mine near
Dalton in Furness, until 1898. In 1930, the Wigan Coal & Iron Co. Ltd and the Pearson & Knowles Coal & Iron Co. Ltd combined their
coal mining operations to establish the Wigan Coal Corporation. In the same year, the iron and steel activities of Wigan Coal & Iron were conglomerated with Pearson & Knowles, Ryland Bros, and the Partington Steel & Iron Works Ltd, to create the
Lancashire Steel Corporation. The corporation was headed by the Earl of Crawford & Balcarres. The separate coal and steel corporations continued until nationalization in the 1940s.
Notes Bibliography •