In 1845 George Green of Wharton Hall, Little Hulton, and his brother leased land at Yew Tree Farm and sank a shaft to prospect for coal.
By 1858 the shaft was 250 feet (76 m) deep and the workings extended under the parish church.
[2] The colliery had two shafts, one for ventilation, sunk to the Rams mine at 600 feet (183 m).
The shafts were deepened in the early 1890s to access the Black and White mine.
[3] An explosion of firedamp, ignited by a safety lamp, in 1858 cost the lives of 25 men and boys.