Hanwood Colliery football club

The football club of the Shropshire mining village of Hanwood, which played as Hanwood Colliery or Hanwood Miners Welfare from the 1930s until 1948; its 1937 team fielded five players named Hughes, four of them brothers.

The mining history in this record

Hanwood, south-west of Shrewsbury, depended from the nineteenth century into the 1940s on Hanwood Colliery, whose shaft lay just over the parish boundary near Cruckmeole; the pit closed in 1942. The village's football club began in 1890, played as Hanwood Rangers from 1906, and from the 1930s to 1948 took the name Hanwood Colliery or Miners Welfare. In 1938 a pavilion was built for the social use of the miners, and it became the village hall.

A photograph of the Hanwood Colliery FC side of 1937 names E. Jones, J. Worrall, H. Morris, S. Childs, E. Evans, A. Richards, L. Richards, J. Steadman and five Hughes. Four of the Hughes were brothers: Lawrence 'Lol', who died not long afterwards aged twenty; Arthur 'Frudge', who played two seasons for Shrewsbury Town after the war and lived until December 2017, weeks short of his hundredth birthday; Albert 'Pudding', a prisoner of the Japanese after Singapore; and Bill 'Nobby', later Hanwood's postman and a pigeon racer. Their father William stands at the end of the line, and a man in front of him, known as 'Orchard', is remembered as a foreman at the pit; two other players, the brothers 'Froggy' and 'Mutton' Richards, came from Hook-a-Gate.

People

Arthur 'Frudge' Hughes, who went from the 1937 colliery team to two post-war seasons with Shrewsbury Town; his brothers Lawrence, Albert and Bill Hughes.

Legacy today

The club became Hanwood Athletic in 1948, lapsed in 1958, and re-formed in 1965 as Hanwood United, which still plays on the recreation ground of the village hall, the former miners' pavilion.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• From the 1930s to 1948 Hanwood's football club played under the name Hanwood Colliery or Miners Welfare. (documented fact) ¹
• A photograph of the Hanwood Colliery FC team of 1937 shows five players named Hughes, four of them brothers. (later recollection) ²
• Arthur 'Frudge' Hughes went on to play two seasons for Shrewsbury Town after the war. (later recollection) ²
• The village hall was built in 1938 as a pavilion for the social use of the miners working at Hanwood Colliery. (documented fact) ¹
• The club became Hanwood Athletic in 1948 and re-formed in 1965 as Hanwood United. (documented fact) ¹

Mines

• Hanwood Colliery — Shropshire
  The village club took the colliery's name from the 1930s to 1948, and a man in its 1937 photograph is remembered as a foreman at the pit.

Real-world mining concepts used here

Colliery, Shaft

Sources

1. (secondary) Hanwood (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Different Hughes in Hanwood team of yesteryear (Shropshire Star, 18 May 2019) — Shropshire Star

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026