Adderley Green Colliery

Overview

Stirrup and Pye's colliery at Adderley Green, Longton, where five men and boys died in July 1860 when a rail lodged in the shaft upset the tub carrying them, and whose Nos. 8 and 9 pits worked into the 1940s.

History

Adderley Green Colliery lay about three miles east-south-east of Stoke-on-Trent, at Longton, and belonged to Stirrup and Pye, later Stirrup and Pye Ltd. About 1860 its Meadow Pit was some 214 yards deep, with the inset of the Hard Mine seam at 130 yards and the Banbury coal at the bottom. When coal was drawn from the Hard Mine a scaffold was placed over the lower part of the shaft.

Around midnight on 16 July 1860 one of the rails laid on that scaffold fell through a gap beside the brickwork and lodged at an angle near the foot of the shaft. Early next morning, when the scaffold had been taken out, a cage of men going down struck it; the tub was upset and James or Jesse Hurst (45), William Hulme (40), Daniel Salmon (35), Enoch Woolley (18) and William Taylor (14) fell to their deaths. The inquest found no fault with the management.

By the 1890s there were two pits. In 1896 No. 8, managed by J. R. Haines, worked the Bowling Alley, Holly Lane and Hard Mine seams with 64 people, and No. 9 the Banbury and Cockshead with 157. Both grew: in 1915 No. 8 employed 293 and No. 9 371, and in 1933 they still employed 281 and 242. The Longton, Adderley Green and Bucknall Railway, opened in 1875, carried their coal. Plans of Adderley Green workings in the Birches seam were abandoned in 1866 and in the Cockshead in 1918.

Geology

North Staffordshire Coal Measures: the Bowling Alley, Holly Lane, Hard Mine and New Moss seams at No. 8 pit, and the Banbury, Cockshead, Bullhurst and Little Mine at No. 9; plans also record the Birches.

Workings

The Meadow Pit about 1860, about 214 yards deep with the Hard Mine inset at 130 yards; later Nos. 8 and 9 pits. Served by the Longton, Adderley Green and Bucknall Railway from 1875.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

The trackbed of the colliery railway is a path.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The 1860 deaths at Adderley Green were caused by an explosion. (disputed) ³

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• About 1860 the Meadow Pit was some 214 yards deep, with the Hard Mine inset at 130 yards. ¹
• On 17 July 1860 five men and boys were killed when a rail lodged in the shaft upset the tub they were riding in. ^1,2
• The 1860 deaths at Adderley Green were caused by an explosion. (disputed) ³
• In 1896 No. 8 pit employed 64 people and No. 9 pit 157, both owned by Stirrup and Pye. ^3,1
• In 1933 No. 8 employed 281 and No. 9 242. ³
• Plans of the Adderley Green workings were abandoned in the Birches seam in 1866 and the Cockshead in 1918. ^4,5

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Adderley Green Mine (thepotteries.org, Stoke-on-Trent mines) — thepotteries.org
2. (secondary) Adderley Green Colliery shaft accident, Longton, 1860 (NMRS accidents and disasters) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Adderley Green Colliery (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: ADDERLEY GREEN, Birches seam, abandoned 1866 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: ADDERLEY GREEN, Cockshead seam, abandoned 1918 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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