Cheadle Coalfield
Encyclopedia
The Cheadle Coalfield is a coalfield
in the United Kingdom
. Centred around the town of Cheadle, Staffordshire
and its outlying villages it lies to the east of Stoke-on-Trent
and the much larger North Staffordshire Coalfield
. The area has been mined for many years, with documentary evidence from Croxden Abbey
citing coal mining in the 13th century.
Deep mining ceased in 1965 with the closure of Foxfield Colliery by the National Coal Board
. Private adit
mining and opencast
mining ceased in 1994 with the exhaustion of economic reserves.
.
The boundary of the coalfield in the west is the Village of Forsbrook
, and nearby Callow Hill where a small fault marks the western boundary. The coalfield then underlies the villages of Dilhorne
and Kingsley. Further east a major fault in the Churnet Valley throws the coal upwards. Over millions of years the upper seams in this area were washed away and the lower seams outcrop around Ipstones
, Foxt and Alton
. The coalfield's eastern boundary is the Millstone Grit
and Limestone
of the Pennines
around Ipstones Edge.
Despite the coalfield being detached from its much larger neighbour, the North Staffordshire Coalfield, and developing from the latter in relative isolation, geological analysis by the National Coal Board
in the mid 20th century correlated the coal seams of the two coalfields.
Around the coalfield the measures are covered with alluvium and marl with sizeable amounts of industrial sand, gravel and limestone predominating in certain areas. The Sherwood sandstone
group is the predominant rock that occurs, and comprises up to 205m of conglomerates and sandstone with scattered siltstone and mudstone.
Within the area the Sandstone group has been subdivided into three lithostratigraphic formations, and quarrying for aggregates and minerals is an important industry around the coalfield
area.
The coal is found at a shallow depth which made mining in the area relatively easy. As the coal
outcrops around the Cheadle area, the seams that were heavily worked are the deeper seams in the North Staffs field, in many cases seams that were too deep to mine economically in North Staffordshire. However they were found in shallow depths around Cheadle.
and encountered Coal Mining
around Cheadle
and Kingsley. George Barrow, a nineteenth Century geologist who did a survey of the Coalfield
said that:
The industry, however, had its heyday during the 19th century. The 1880 edition of the Ordnance Survey
plan of the area shows 66 coal mines, along with a number of Ironstone
mines. Mining around Cheadle was done on a relatively small scale compared with the nearby Potteries and many of the miners knew the owners of the mines, as most were owned by local landowners.
In particular, the Whitehurst and Bamford families owned collieries around the Dilhorne area in a partnership. Their biggest concern was the Dilhorne Colliery, which was a large pit and incorporated the Old Engine Colliery, one of the first in Cheadle to have a Steam Engine
. The Bowers family of Harewood Hall were local coalmasters for a number of years and originally owned the famous Woodhead Colliery, and Robert Plant, a local character who was prominent in some small mining ventures.
The industry gradually reduced in size in the early 20th century and by the late 1930s the only two deep mines left were Foxfield Colliery and New Haden Colliery. Both were fairly large mines for Cheadle and were very modern. Foxfield was heavily modernised during the 1930s when it was decided to close Parkhall Colliery and concentrate production at Foxfield, mainly due in part to the rail connection the colliery had to the Stoke
- Derby
railway line at Blythe Bridge
. Extensive new surface facilities were built and, in what was unique for Cheadle, Concrete
headgears were erected.New Haden Colliery, which had the early nickname of the "Klondyke" due to the thick Woodhead
coal the pit mined was one of the first mines in Staffordshire to be electrified underground and, in addition to the colliery, there was a brickworks in production.
Foxfield grew steadily under the ownership of the National Coal Board
until it employed nearly 600 men by the mid 1950s.Output also peaked during this period at 210,813 tons in 1954. During this time the only Coal now Mined was The Big Dilhorne in the Dilhorne 19 and 20's Faces. The pit's surface buildings were again modernised and a new shower block for the miners was constructed, along with improvements in the Coal screens and washing facilities. However, output and manpower steadily decreased from the mid '50s peak and the colliery was finally closed in 1965. The majority of the miners were transferred to Florence Colliery in Longton
, where a fully mechanised face in the Moss
seam was prepared for the Cheadle miners. Some miners also transferred to Hem Heath Colliery in Trentham
.
Foxfield was the last deep mine in the Cheadle Coalfield and had worked for 83 years, which was a record for a Cheadle pit. It had also stretched its boundaries further than any other pit in the coalfield and was indeed a worthy colliery and one that Cheadle should be very proud of. The last face that was worked at Foxfield was Dilhorne 21's,which lies under the Dilhorne Rocks area.
Ironically, and considering the scale of the coal industry in Staffordshire, the winding gear and surface buildings at Foxfield still exist to this day and are owned by the Foxfield Steam Railway who run heritage steam traction to the former colliery along the branch line from their base at Blythe Bridge.
After the end of deep mining, coal was mined in Cheadle right up until the mid 1990s by opencast mining methods. There were also a few small adit, or drift, mines which were situated where the coal outcropped.
Until the end of deep Coal Mining in Staffordshire during the 1990s, Cheadle was still very much a mining town with a lot of men working at Florence and Hem Heath Collieries and, regular Buses were laid on by British Coal
to transport the Cheadle Miners to work in the Potteries Coalfield.
All the thicknesses are approximate.
The seams are generally named after where the coal outcropped, ie, Woodhead, Dilhorne, Foxfield, Litley, etc.
Of all the coal, the Woodhead is probably the most famous in the coalfield and was the seam that was most sought after by the miners and the owners. The Dilhorne seam is famous as it was extensively worked by Foxfield Colliery right up to the closure of that pit. The Crabtree and the Third Grit were almost exclusively mined in the areas to the East of the Churnet Valley as all the other seams has long since eroded away.
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Centred around the town of Cheadle, Staffordshire
Cheadle, Staffordshire
Cheadle is a small market town near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, with a population of 12,158 according to the 2001 census. It is roughly from the city of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Birmingham and south of Manchester...
and its outlying villages it lies to the east of Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
and the much larger North Staffordshire Coalfield
North Staffordshire Coalfield
- Introduction :The North Staffordshire Coalfield is an historic coalfield in the County of Staffordshire, England. The Coalfield emcompasses an area of nearly and that area is virtually wholly contained within the boundaries of the city of Stoke on Trent and the borough of Newcastle under Lyme...
. The area has been mined for many years, with documentary evidence from Croxden Abbey
Croxden Abbey
Croxden Abbey was a Cistercian abbey at Croxden, Staffordshire, England.In 1179, Bertram de Verdun, the lord of the manor of Croxden, endowed a site for a new abbey, and 12 monks arrived from the Savigniac Cistercian mother house of Aunay-sur-Odon in Normandy to build the new abbey over the next 50...
citing coal mining in the 13th century.
Deep mining ceased in 1965 with the closure of Foxfield Colliery by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
. Private adit
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...
mining and opencast
Opencast
Opencast is a term to describe audio and video content, primarily in an academic context. It combines the terms "Open" for Open Source and/or Open Access and "Broadcast"...
mining ceased in 1994 with the exhaustion of economic reserves.
Geology
The Cheadle Coalfield covers an area of about 20 square miles (51.8 km²) and lies to the East of Stoke on Trent and its larger neighbour, the North Staffordshire CoalfieldNorth Staffordshire Coalfield
- Introduction :The North Staffordshire Coalfield is an historic coalfield in the County of Staffordshire, England. The Coalfield emcompasses an area of nearly and that area is virtually wholly contained within the boundaries of the city of Stoke on Trent and the borough of Newcastle under Lyme...
.
The boundary of the coalfield in the west is the Village of Forsbrook
Forsbrook
Forsbrook is a village in Staffordshire, around three miles southwest of Cheadle and situated on the edge of the Staffordshire Moorlands.It is an old village and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, with the rather unflattering description as waste ground....
, and nearby Callow Hill where a small fault marks the western boundary. The coalfield then underlies the villages of Dilhorne
Dilhorne
Dilhorne is an ancient parish and village in Staffordshire, three miles from Cheadle and six miles from Stoke-on-Trent.The village is within the Staffordshire Moorlands area....
and Kingsley. Further east a major fault in the Churnet Valley throws the coal upwards. Over millions of years the upper seams in this area were washed away and the lower seams outcrop around Ipstones
Ipstones
Ipstones is a village and civil parish in north of the English county of Staffordshire.It is part of the Staffordshire Moorlands district; within the boundaries of the civil parish are the hamlets Foxt, Consall Forge and Bottomhouse...
, Foxt and Alton
Alton, Staffordshire
Alton is a village in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is noted for the theme park Alton Towers, built around the site of Alton Mansion , which was owned by the Earls of Shrewsbury and designed by Augustus Pugin....
. The coalfield's eastern boundary is the Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills...
and Limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
of the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
around Ipstones Edge.
Despite the coalfield being detached from its much larger neighbour, the North Staffordshire Coalfield, and developing from the latter in relative isolation, geological analysis by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
in the mid 20th century correlated the coal seams of the two coalfields.
Around the coalfield the measures are covered with alluvium and marl with sizeable amounts of industrial sand, gravel and limestone predominating in certain areas. The Sherwood sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
group is the predominant rock that occurs, and comprises up to 205m of conglomerates and sandstone with scattered siltstone and mudstone.
Within the area the Sandstone group has been subdivided into three lithostratigraphic formations, and quarrying for aggregates and minerals is an important industry around the coalfield
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological...
area.
The coal is found at a shallow depth which made mining in the area relatively easy. As the coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
outcrops around the Cheadle area, the seams that were heavily worked are the deeper seams in the North Staffs field, in many cases seams that were too deep to mine economically in North Staffordshire. However they were found in shallow depths around Cheadle.
History
The coal measures around Cheadle were worked for a number of centuries and there is documentary evidence that the coal was worked before the 17th century. Dr Robert Plot, a Don from Oxford visited the area in the 1680s whilst surveying for a book he was writing on StaffordshireStaffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
and encountered Coal Mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
around Cheadle
Cheadle, Staffordshire
Cheadle is a small market town near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, with a population of 12,158 according to the 2001 census. It is roughly from the city of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Birmingham and south of Manchester...
and Kingsley. George Barrow, a nineteenth Century geologist who did a survey of the Coalfield
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological...
said that:
- The district possesses a peculiar interest on account of the great antiquity of these workings, they can be traced back as far at least of the reign of Richard IIIRichard III of EnglandRichard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
.
The industry, however, had its heyday during the 19th century. The 1880 edition of the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
plan of the area shows 66 coal mines, along with a number of Ironstone
Ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
mines. Mining around Cheadle was done on a relatively small scale compared with the nearby Potteries and many of the miners knew the owners of the mines, as most were owned by local landowners.
In particular, the Whitehurst and Bamford families owned collieries around the Dilhorne area in a partnership. Their biggest concern was the Dilhorne Colliery, which was a large pit and incorporated the Old Engine Colliery, one of the first in Cheadle to have a Steam Engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
. The Bowers family of Harewood Hall were local coalmasters for a number of years and originally owned the famous Woodhead Colliery, and Robert Plant, a local character who was prominent in some small mining ventures.
The industry gradually reduced in size in the early 20th century and by the late 1930s the only two deep mines left were Foxfield Colliery and New Haden Colliery. Both were fairly large mines for Cheadle and were very modern. Foxfield was heavily modernised during the 1930s when it was decided to close Parkhall Colliery and concentrate production at Foxfield, mainly due in part to the rail connection the colliery had to the Stoke
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
- Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
railway line at Blythe Bridge
Blythe Bridge
Blythe Bridge is a village situated in the Staffordshire Moorlands District, although it is effectively a south-eastern suburb of the city of Stoke-on-Trent.-Etymology:...
. Extensive new surface facilities were built and, in what was unique for Cheadle, Concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
headgears were erected.New Haden Colliery, which had the early nickname of the "Klondyke" due to the thick Woodhead
Woodhead
Woodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England, situated 18 miles from Manchester and 17 miles from Barnsley. It lies on the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail...
coal the pit mined was one of the first mines in Staffordshire to be electrified underground and, in addition to the colliery, there was a brickworks in production.
Nationalisation to the present day
By the time of Nationalisation of the entire British Coal mining industry in 1947, Foxfield was the last deep mine in the Cheadle Coalfield. New Haden had closed in 1943 after heavy flooding underground rendered the mine uneconomic. The workforce was either transferred to Foxfield, or to Berry Hill Colliery in the Potteries.Foxfield grew steadily under the ownership of the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
until it employed nearly 600 men by the mid 1950s.Output also peaked during this period at 210,813 tons in 1954. During this time the only Coal now Mined was The Big Dilhorne in the Dilhorne 19 and 20's Faces. The pit's surface buildings were again modernised and a new shower block for the miners was constructed, along with improvements in the Coal screens and washing facilities. However, output and manpower steadily decreased from the mid '50s peak and the colliery was finally closed in 1965. The majority of the miners were transferred to Florence Colliery in Longton
Longton, Staffordshire
Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...
, where a fully mechanised face in the Moss
Moss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
seam was prepared for the Cheadle miners. Some miners also transferred to Hem Heath Colliery in Trentham
Trentham
Trentham is the most populous suburb of Upper Hutt, a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. The suburb is located in a widening of the Hutt Valley, five kilometres to the southwest of the Upper Hutt city centre....
.
Foxfield was the last deep mine in the Cheadle Coalfield and had worked for 83 years, which was a record for a Cheadle pit. It had also stretched its boundaries further than any other pit in the coalfield and was indeed a worthy colliery and one that Cheadle should be very proud of. The last face that was worked at Foxfield was Dilhorne 21's,which lies under the Dilhorne Rocks area.
Ironically, and considering the scale of the coal industry in Staffordshire, the winding gear and surface buildings at Foxfield still exist to this day and are owned by the Foxfield Steam Railway who run heritage steam traction to the former colliery along the branch line from their base at Blythe Bridge.
After the end of deep mining, coal was mined in Cheadle right up until the mid 1990s by opencast mining methods. There were also a few small adit, or drift, mines which were situated where the coal outcropped.
Until the end of deep Coal Mining in Staffordshire during the 1990s, Cheadle was still very much a mining town with a lot of men working at Florence and Hem Heath Collieries and, regular Buses were laid on by British Coal
British Coal
thumb|right|British Coal company logoThe British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation in the United Kingdom responsible for the extraction of coal...
to transport the Cheadle Miners to work in the Potteries Coalfield.
Seams of the Cheadle Coalfield
Because the coalfield developed in isolation from the Potteries coalfield, the seam names are different from those in use in the Potteries. However, as stated earlier, the seams were correlated together in the 1950s by the analysis of marine bands. Below are the seams in the Cheadle Coalfield, the shallowest at the top. However, the shallow seams in the Potteries don't exist in Cheadle, having been washed away millions of years ago. The equivalent seam in the Potteries coalfield is shown in brackets, and the approximate thickness is shown in feet.- Delphouse (Bellringer) 2'6"
- Two Yard (10 Feet) 5'0"
- Getley 2'0"
- Half Yard (Bowling Alley) 2'8"
- Yard (Holly Lane) 3'0"
- Litley (Hard Mine) 2'6" (the coal is split by a 4" dirt band into upper & lower Litley seams)
- Four Feet (New Moss) 4'0"
- Thin (Flatts) 1'6"
- Little Dilhorne (Banbury) 2'8"
- Big Dilhorne (Cockshead) 5'0" (also nicknamed the Cheadle, Huntley or six feet)
- Blackstone 1'6"
- Ouster (Limekiln) 0'9"
- Parkhall Sweet (Whitehurst) 1'0"
- Little Alecs 1'6"
- Alecs (Bullhurst) 3'6" (nicknamed the stinking due to high sulphur content)
- Foxfield (Winpenny) 1'0" (the seam is named after Foxfield wood where it outcrops, not the Pit)
- Cobble (Brickiln) n/a
- Rider (little Cannel Row) n/a
- Woodhead (King) 3'0" (the most famous Coal in Cheadle)
- Crabtree (Crabtree) n/a
- Third Grit/sweet n/a (mainly found around the Foxt/Ipstones area)
All the thicknesses are approximate.
The seams are generally named after where the coal outcropped, ie, Woodhead, Dilhorne, Foxfield, Litley, etc.
Of all the coal, the Woodhead is probably the most famous in the coalfield and was the seam that was most sought after by the miners and the owners. The Dilhorne seam is famous as it was extensively worked by Foxfield Colliery right up to the closure of that pit. The Crabtree and the Third Grit were almost exclusively mined in the areas to the East of the Churnet Valley as all the other seams has long since eroded away.