Aldridge Colliery

Overview

A large South Staffordshire colliery of two pits north-east of Walsall, working coal and ironstone together and employing more than seventeen hundred people by 1923. It went into liquidation in 1930 rather than be amalgamated under the Coal Mines Act.

History

Aldridge was a village that the nineteenth century turned into an industrial town: the coal and clay under it brought collieries, brickworks and lime kilns. The Aldridge Colliery Company was registered on 13 February 1874.

Its two pits were returned separately and both were substantial. No. 1 employed 408 in 1894, 730 in 1900, 851 in 1910 and 1,022 in 1923 and 1933; No. 2 employed 397 in 1894, 697 in 1900, 736 in 1910 and, with Speedwell included, 779 in 1923. Household and manufacturing coal came out of both from the start, with gas coal added by 1905 and ironstone alongside the coal from 1900 onwards. The seams were the Brooch, Deep, Four Feet and Shallow at No. 1, and the Deep, Four Feet, Seven Feet, Shallow and Yard at No. 2.

Later returns give the owner as the Aldridge Brick, Tile and Coal Company Limited, which is the South Staffordshire pattern: the clay and the coal in one business.

Fifty-two deaths are recorded at the colliery. Most are single incidents — falls of roof at the face, runaway tubs, collapsing timber — but three killed two men each: two sinkers in 1875 when the bow of a sinking bowk snapped, two stallmen in 1895 in a firedamp explosion from old workings, and two roadmen in 1901 under newly set timber that gave way (see Disasters, below).

Geology

The South Staffordshire coalfield, where the coal and the ironstone lie together and the clay above them fed the brickworks. The named seams are the Brooch, Deep, Four Feet, Seven Feet, Shallow and Yard.

Workings

Two pits returned separately, each with its own seams, plus Speedwell included with No. 2 by 1923. The surface workforce was unusually large — 210 of 851 at No. 1 in 1910 — which is what a colliery with a brick and tile business attached looks like.

Closure

The Aldridge Colliery Company went into liquidation in 1930 to avoid the amalgamation proposed under the Coal Mines Act. The removal of the sidings at Aldridge Colliery was confirmed in October 1937.

What remains

Nothing is recorded of the colliery site as it now stands. The branch railway that served it is a walking route on Brownhills Common; one abutment of the Chester Road bridge is the only visible trace along that stretch.

None recorded of the colliery itself.

Disasters & major incidents

• Aldridge Colliery bowk accident
  9 November 1875 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 2 fatalities
  On 9 November 1875 two sinkers were killed at Aldridge Colliery, in the South Staffordshire coalfield, when the bow of an ascending sinking bowk snapped and the bowk and its contents fell down the shaft onto them.
• Aldridge Colliery firedamp explosion
  1 August 1895 · Explosion · 2 fatalities

  On 1 August 1895 an explosion of firedamp that had seeped from old workings killed two stallmen at Aldridge Colliery, in the South Staffordshire coalfield.

  Timothy Chance, aged 27, and Elijah Ferguson, aged 44, both stallmen, were killed by the explosion.

• Aldridge Colliery roof fall
  1 November 1901 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities

  On 1 November 1901 two roadmen were killed by a fall of roof at Aldridge Colliery, in South Staffordshire.

  Thomas Haynes, aged 23, and William Lloyd, aged 41, both roadmen, were killed when newly-set timber gave way under a heavy fall of rock from a cavity above it.

Recorded claims

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

• The official returns give No. 1 pit 408 employed in 1894, 595 in 1896, 730 in 1900, 682 in 1905, 851 in 1910, 861 in 1915 and 1,022 in both 1923 and 1933; No. 2 pit 397 in 1894, 373 in 1896, 697 in 1900, 695 in 1905, 736 in 1910, 698 in 1915 and, including Speedwell, 779 in 1923. ¹
• Both pits returned household and manufacturing coal from 1894, with gas coal added by 1905, and ironstone alongside the coal from 1900 onwards. The seams were the Brooch, Deep, Four Feet and Shallow at No. 1 and the Deep, Four Feet, Seven Feet, Shallow and Yard at No. 2. ¹
• The Aldridge Colliery Company was registered on 13 February 1874, of Aldridge Colliery near Walsall. ²
• Fifty-two deaths are recorded at the colliery. The inspectors' notes on them are unusually pointed: of Stephen Cooper, a loader of 26 crushed against a prop in 1907 while a stallman wedged down underholed coal two yards away, the report says the accident should never have happened and the stallman should not have allowed him to work near the coal. Of Alfred Griffiths, killed by a roof fall in 1903, it says there should have been a post under the stone which fell, to comply with the timbering regulations. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Aldridge Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Aldridge Colliery Co — Grace's Guide

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026