Chatterley Whitfield

Chatterley Whitfield Colliery is a disused coal mine on the outskirts of Chell, Staffordshire in Stoke on Trent. It was the largest mine working The North Staffordshire Coalfield and was the first colliery in The UK to produce 1,000,000 tons of saleable coal in a year.

The date at which coal was first mined systematically in the Whitfield area is not known, but there are references to mining in the manor of Tunstall from the late 13th century onwards. 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. These early workings were known as ‘footrails’ and were driven down from the surface.

Shaw's History of The Potteries tells us that in 1750, Ralph Leigh of Burslem collected coal from Whitfield twice a day. His six horses each carried between two and three hundredweights of coal along lanes which were impassable to wagons. These draughts of coal were each worth about seven pence (3p) and Leigh received one shilling (5p) a day for his services.

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. At this time there was an engine house, coal wharf, carpenters shop and brickworks on the site. The buildings, machinery and coal stocks were collectively valued at £154 7s. 6d. (£154.37.5p).

Hugh Henshall Williamson, a local man who lived nearby at Greenway Bank Hall, was mining in the Whitfield area by 1853. His mining activities at this period are somewhat uncertain, but it is most probable that Williamson first made use of existing mining sites and shallow shafts. In 1853 it is fairly certain that he was working the Cockshead and Seven Feet Banbury seams at the Ridgeway footrails. It is also probable that he was using the Bellringer shaft, which was 79 yards deep, to work the Bellringer seam and the Ragman and Engine shafts. Each of these shafts was 50 yards (46 metres) deep and these were used to work the Ragman seam.

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