The Axwell pits were free draining and so were worked very early. The earliest known date is 1320. There is then a long period of inactivity at Axwell. In 1599 Sir John Lumley leased his coal property to William Jenison, Hostan, and Timothy Draper. Output began at 500T and may have reached 700T. Old free-draining pits were reopened in 1609 but were unprofitable and abandoned a year later. In 1617 the Lumley coal estate was lost by mortgage. The pits may have been drowned or coal may have ran out. Output by then may have only been 100T. By 1622 the pits had disappeared. In 1669 James Clavering paid a fee to empark Axwell and so mining must have ended there.