Speech House Hill Colliery began life as the Royal Forester gale worked by Richard James in the 1830's and 1840's. It was purchased by the Brain brothers in 1847; they already owned the Rose-in-hand gale next door.The Speech House Hill Colliery Company in 1869, but four years later it was bought by Great Western (FoD) Coal Consumers Co. Ltd. This was a Crawshay company. In 1874, within the year, a branch had been constructed to the Severn and Wye Railway Company.
In 1880 57,000 tons of coal was mined from the Upper Coal Measures (Supra-Pennant Sandstone). The winding shaft was dug reaching the Churchway High Delf Seam, which was about 3 feet 3 inches thick. It reached the seam at 393 feet, extending to 420 feet deep. Over the next several decades the colliery changed hands several times until it was purchased in 1903 by the Henry Crawshay & Company Ltd. They owned the adjacent Lightmoor Colliery. Over the next three years the company closed nearly all of the surface workings The main shaft at Speech House Hill continued to be maintained as an emergency exit for the nearby Lightmoor Colliery until 1937 when the gale was given up.
The site, greatly modified, is now the highly popular Beechenhurst Picnic Site, owned by the Forestry Commission.