The Baggeridge Colliery was an enterprise of the Earls of Dudley, whose ancestors had profited from mineral extraction in the Black Country area of the West Midlands for several centuries.
The journal article speculated that coal might be found across the boundary at 'a much greater depth' than in the existing coalfield but also stated that 'it is the opinion of most geologists that there is every evidence of coal existing beyond the fault, and it will no doubt be found by the never-tiring energy of the Earl of Dudley's agents' [1] In 1896, a trial borehole was sunk by Vivian's Boring Co. Work on the colliery's first shaft started in February 1899 and a thick seam of coal was discovered in 1902.
As predicted, the coal seams were to be found at a greater depth than those exploited over the centuries in the Black Country region of the West Midlands.
[2] The colliery was served by a branch of the Earl of Dudley's Pensnett Railway a network of mineral lines that linked many industrial sites in the west of the Black Country.
[4] Despite this, WMPTE continued to provide short additional workings on service 564 (Wolverhampton to Sedgley) for a number of years after the pit closure.