Industrial Change in Wolverhampton and District

Coal Mining

Wolverhampton is sited on the north-western edge of the South Staffordshire Coalfield. The dominant feature of this field was the "Thick Coal" or "Ten Yard Seam" in which 14 coal seams lie so close together that it gives the impression of one continuous seam.

Bradley Mine Bilston (H5/BRA/1)

This coal bed was rarely more than 400 feet below the surface and as such there were a large number of small shallow coal mines that were cheaper to run than deeper mines. Parts of the city, Parkfields, Monmore Green, Rough Hills, Portobello and Bilston, were areas where coal mining took place.

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Ordnance Survey Map 1887 showing over 30 coal mines, coal pits and shafts (sheet LXII.15)

Mining began in the area in the 14th century. Coal is known to have been dug at Bradley by 1315, at "le Hayeschute" near Wednesfield in 1325 and at Bilston by 1401. By the 17th and 18th centuries coal mining had expanded rapidly.

The system used to work the mines in the area was known as the "Butty" system. Under this system a contractor or "Butty" agreed to supply coal to the owner or leasee of the mine at a set price.

The mines in the area of Parkfields, which were shallow workings were known locally as Gin Pits.

Gin Pit at Parkfields 1893 (L6/GIN/2)

Coal mines in the Bradley area of Bilston tended to be deeper and needed a deeper shaft and more machinery to extract the coal

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Extract from Bilston Mining Map 1960 (Map/BIL39)

The map is based upon a number of maps from the 1830s, and it shows the location of mines.

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19th century print of a Bradley Coal Mine (H/BRA/2)

By the latter part of the 19th century much of the shallow coal had been removed. Coal that was situated deeper underground was obviously more difficult and more expensive to extract, which explains the closure of a number of mines in this period. Between the years 1860 and 1928 a total of 32 mines were abandoned in Wolverhampton, 41 in Wednesfield and Heath Town, and no fewer than 132 in Bilston.

Local collieries with names like Chillington, Harolds, Old Heath, Cockshutts, Bowmans Harbour and Natty Stack all closed.

One of the last coal mines left in the area was Baggeridge Colliery. Though not strictly in Wolverhampton (the coal mine was at Baggeridge Wood just over the city boundary) some of its workings reached under part of Wolverhampton.

The first bore holes at Baggeridge were drilled in November 1896 on land owned by the Earl of Dudley. (The project did not start well: the boring rods broke and left £200 worth of diamonds in the ground!). Further borings revealed a coal seam at a depth of 600 feet. The first shaft was built in February 1899 and in July 1902 a seam of coal 24 feet thick was discovered.

Baggeridge Colliery c. 1900 (BAG/H5/2)

The coal mine suffered its first fatal accident in 1911 when 17 year old William Cooper was crushed to death.

The mine used pit-ponies right up to its closure in 1968. Two of the ponies, Dickie and Winston, were retired when the pit closed. When one of the ponies died a few years later the funeral was shown on the local TV news!

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Extract from Wolverhampton Adnews, 10th August 2000

The legacy left by the coal industry is still with the city today. Buildings erected in the areas of coal mining activity have suffered from subsidence. Houses have been known to collapse into old mine workings and holes have appeared in gardens, sportsfields and roads as the result of mineral extraction. In 2000 the Craft Gallery at Bilston Library was closed for almost 12 months due to mine shafts being found under the building.