This colliery was sunk one kilometre north-east of Henfield, on the A678, near the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in the late 1870s. The Hathorn, Davey pumping engine was installed in 1880.

It was linked underground to Whinney Hill Colliery. By 1885 it was being worked by the Altham Colliery Co. It worked the Lower Mountain Mine until 1920, when the Upper Mountain Mine was also worked.

Ownership passed to Hargreaves Collieries Ltd in early 1930s and the National Coal Board in 1947. The Board stopped coal getting in March 1949, but used Moorfield as a pumping station by the NCB until around 1970.

On the 7th November 1883 a methane explosion killed 68 and injured a further 39. The source of the gas was traced to a fall at a fault and the gas was coming in “with a noise like steam rushing through water”. Such was the amount of gas that the miners saw their safety lamp “blaze” and it is thought that this might have ignited the gas. The full report can be found here.

Further reading:

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