North Staffordshire Coalfield

After nationalisation in 1947, the industry was gradually reduced in size as smaller pits closed or merged with larger, more modern mines.

The industry began its final decline after the 1984-85 miners' strike and the last deep mine, Silverdale, closed on Christmas Eve 1998.

The coalfield's worst-ever loss of life occurred on 12 January 1918, when 155 men and boys died in the Minnie Pit Disaster.

Chatterley Whitfield, bordering Chell Heath, which was the first UK mine to produce more than 1 million tons of coal per annum, closed in 1976.

[5] The Phoenix Trust, an independent not-for-profit foundation, is campaigning to turn the North Staffordshire Coalfield into a World Heritage Site due to its historic economic significance, leading role in the industrial revolution and role as the birthplace of Primitive Methodism.