Matthew Fletcher (mine owner and engineer)

Matthew Fletcher (1731 or 1733 – 24 August 1808) was a mine owner and mining engineer in Lancashire, England.

Jacob Fletcher lived in Bolton and owned small coal mines in Harwood and Breightmet, Bolton. He had four sons. Matthew was the second eldest. John the eldest, sank a pit in Atherton that led in the 1870s to the formation of Fletcher, Burrows and Company. Jacob became a colliery owner at Darcy Lever and had two sons, Ellis (Matthew Fletcher's heir who died in 1834) and Adam (died 1799). Adam, was a collier at Crompton Fold and had three sons, Matthew (died 1823), Jacob (died circa 1800), and Peter who died in infancy.

Matthew Fletcher came from a family of mine owners and his first notable work was on the property of another mine owner, John Heathcote. During the 1740s, Heathcote had attempted to sink Wet Earth Colliery, the first deep coal mine in the Irwell Valley at Clifton. The workings were plagued with water from the River Irwell via the Pendleton Fault. Heathcote engaged Fletcher to advise on how to solve the flooding. John Heathcote closed the pit in 1750. Heathcote and Fletcher were at a loss as how to dewater the pit until it came to the attention of Heathcote's relation, James Brindley. He was a canal engineer whose feats included the Bridgewater and Trent and Mersey Canals. He suggested using a Newcomen atmospheric pumping engine but the engine had been plagued with problems. His revised scheme relied on water power but there was no flowing water on the site to power a pump and the pithead was 23 feet (7 m) above the level of the River Irwell.

At some point between the 1750 pit closure and the 1756 reopening, John Heathcote signed over ownership of Wet Earth Colliery to Matthew Fletcher. After the reopening, Fletcher sank a new 159-foot (48 m) deep 13-foot (4.0 m) diameter shaft at Wet Earth, known as Gal Pit from the Galloway ponies traditionally used as pit ponies. Gal Pit reached as far as the Doe coal seam.

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