ARLEY COAL AND THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD

[Stanley]

In 1983 I spent a day down a private drift mine at Cliviger owned by Mr Simpson Little which was exploiting Arley Seam coal. The Arley Seam is one of the numerous seams in the Burnley coal measures and was always regarded as one of the best in the area. Due to faulting, large deposits of this coal on the Eastern border of the field were not mined commercially because the quantities were not large enough. There were many small independent drift mines exploiting these left-overs. At Cliviger the seam is 4ft 3" thick with a hard shale band above and below. It can be mined without propping and the output to the pithead is 100% clean coal.
Mr Little told me that the Arley coal was so highly regarded that it was the only coal the royal households bought. I have heard this from other sources but like many interesting 'facts' I never found what I would regard as good evidence.
I have been reading Jack Nadin's book, 'East Lancashire Mining Memories' and on page 82, Philip Entwistle, a retired miner in Cliviger, recalls seeing private coal wagons on the sidings of the Union Pit (which mined Arley coal) with SANDRINGHAM painted on the sides. He asked and was told that this was coal destined for the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk which had a regular order. Not conclusive evidence that the royal household burned nothing but Arley coal but a useful bit of reinforcement. I have more confidence now in the oft-repeated assertion that this was so.