Chatterley Whitfield

Chatterley Whitfield Colliery is a disused coal mine on the outskirts of Chell, Staffordshire in Stoke on Trent, England.

It was the largest mine working the North Staffordshire Coalfield and was the first colliery in the UK to produce one million tons of saleable coal in a year.

The colliery and pithead baths complex are on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register due to being in very bad condition and not in use.

A local tradition claims that the monks of the Hulton Abbey came to nearby Ridgeway during the 14th and 15th centuries, to work coal from some of the eight seams outcropping half a mile east of Whitfield.

Shaw's History of The Potteries tells us that in 1750, Ralph Leigh of Burslem collected coal from Whitfield twice a day.

In 1838, Thomas Hargreaves conducted a survey and valuation of the colliery at Whitfield on behalf of its proprietors, representatives of the late William Harrison.

Hugh Henshall Williamson, a local man who lived nearby at Greenway Bank Hall, was mining in the Whitfield area by 1853.

Work on the construction of the railway did not start until 1858, the line being partly opened for mineral traffic in 1859, and completed in 1860, passing within half a mile of Whitfield.

On the opening of the railway he immediately constructed his own rail link from the shafts at Whitfield and footrails at Ridgeway, to Chell Sidings alongside the NSR Biddulph Valley Line.

As the coal workings became deeper, ventilation was a major problem, especially in seams giving off large quantities of the highly explosive gas methane.

In November of that year, just before his death, the colliery changed hands and a group known as the ‘Gentlemen of Tunstall’ took it over, forming the first limited liability company to operate the mine.

On taking over, the new owners lost no time in starting a project to develop workings in the rich Cockshead seam of coal, and in 1874 they began to widen and deepen the old Bellringer shaft to a depth of 440 yards.

In 1874 the colliery company also started to widen and deepen an old shaft, originally sunk by Hugh Henshall Williamson in the 1850s and sited to the north-east of the Institute.

The latter fire was caused by the misuse of an underground blacksmith’s furnace which resulted in an explosion, killing twenty-four men and boys.

Later, an enquiry into the explosion was held at the nearby Norton Arms Public House, while at Staffords Assizes the Manager, Edwin Thompson, defended himself against a charge of manslaughter and was acquitted.

The line was finally completed in 1878 and considerably reduced the cost of transporting coal from Whitfield to the blast furnaces at Chatterley.

In the same year the liquidators came to an understanding with the North of England Trustee, Debenture and Assets Corporation Limited of Manchester, who agreed to purchase the old Chatterley Iron Company.

The colliery continued to prosper but, following a minor explosion in 1912 which fortunately resulted in no fatalities, it became obvious that additional ventilation was required.

The heapstead and winding engine house were constructed entirely of brick to a German design and is unique in British coal mining.

During the general strike of 1926, convoys of motor lorries travelled to Whitfield from all over the country to buy the small coal that was stocked at the colliery.

Those remaining at Pinnox Street dealt with the transfer of loaded and unload trains to the North Staffordshire Railway in Tunstall.

The canteen was opened and at the same time a new fitting and electric shop replaced the old one under the Middle Pit Power House which had become inadequate.

The 1930s were momentous for Whitfield because not only were there over 4,000 men employed, but in 1937 it became the first colliery in Britain to mine one million saleable tons in one year, a feat it also achieved in 1938.

With the advent of cheap oil supplies from abroad in the late 1950s, contraction in the coal mining industry began to take place.

In 1974 it was decided that Whitfield coal could be more easily worked from Wolstanton Colliery and an underground roadway was driven to join the two pits.

After coal production stopped at Chatterley Whitfield on Friday 25 March 1977, a brave venture was started by an independent charitable trust to turn the colliery into Britain’s first underground mining museum.

Derelict buildings were renovated, the underground galleries were made safe for visitors, and mining machinery restored in its original working condition in order to show in great realism the life and working conditions of local miners and to preserve an example of the country’s industrial heritage.

Incidentally during this period and following the findings of the official inquiry into the Aberfan disaster, the conically shaped spoil heap at Chatterley Whitfield was reduced in height by almost a half and took from 1976 until 1982 for the landscaping to be completed.

Each had its own set of pumps to keep the workings dry and these lowered the water level in the whole area, but over the last fifty years (1986) the collieries around Chatterley Whitfield closed one by one.

This meant that the water present would gradually rise to its natural level and slowly flood the abandoned workings at Wolstanton and then eventually Chatterley Whitfield.