Brownhills Colliery

Overview

William Harrison's collieries on Brownhills Common, leased in 1849 and centred on the Cathedral Pit, which pumped the district's water into Norton Pool; six men and boys died there in a fire in 1861.

History

The Brownhills Collieries lay on Brownhills Common, near Walsall. William Harrison took over the lease of them from William Hanbury in 1849, with the Sun Pit, the Hart Pit, the Meadow Pit and a larger mine, the Cathedral Pit, worked either separately or together; accounts differ on whether the Cathedral pump dates from about 1845 or from Harrison's time in the 1850s. The Cathedral Pit, in the part of the common called the Wyrley Common, became the main pumping pit for the pits north and south of the Rising Sun Trough: tunnels joined the shafts so that their water drained to it, and it was pumped out into Norton Pool, now Chasewater.

Before dawn on 9 January 1861, four men and two boys working an upper seam from the Red Pit were suffocated when smoke from a fire in the solid coal of an airway in the deep workings of an adjoining pit, worked by the same engine, was drawn into their workings; when the ventilation reversed, the smoke came back up the Red Pit, and their bodies had to be recovered by way of the Meadow Pit, the upcast, half a mile away. Six horses died in their stables. The Harrison collieries grew into W. Harrison, Limited, whose Brownhills returns of the 1890s, including the Norton, Grove and Wyrley pits, counted about a thousand men, and which went on to work Grove and Wyrley No. 3.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

The Cathedral, Sun, Hart, Meadow and Red pits and a Wyrley Common pit, joined by drainage tunnels to the Cathedral Pit's pumping engine.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Conduit Colliery — Neighbouring collieries at Brownhills and Norton Canes.
• Grove Colliery — Both William Harrison collieries; DMM returns them together from 1896.
• Wyrley No. 3 Colliery — Both W. Harrison collieries; DMM returns them together.

Disasters & major incidents

• Brownhills Colliery fire, 1861
  9 January 1861 · Fire · 6 fatalities
  Before dawn on 9 January 1861 a fire in the solid coal of an airway in the deep workings at William Harrison's Brownhills Colliery filled the upper workings of the Red Pit with smoke. Four men and two boys, the youngest eleven, died on their way to the shaft; six horses died in their stables.

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 Cathedral pump has also been dated to about 1845, before Harrison's lease. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• William Harrison took over the lease of the Brownhills Collieries from William Hanbury in 1849, with the Sun, Hart, Meadow and Cathedral pits. ¹
• The Cathedral Pit was the main pumping pit for the collieries on Brownhills Common; tunnels connected it to the others and the water was pumped into Norton Pool (Chasewater). ¹
• The Cathedral pump has also been dated to about 1845, before Harrison's lease. (disputed) ¹
• On 9 January 1861 four men and two boys were suffocated in William Harrison's Brownhills Colliery by smoke from a fire in an airway of an adjoining pit, drawn down the Red Pit. ^2,3
• Brownhills Colliery belonged to William Harrison, later W. Harrison Ltd, with the Cathedral Pit and a Wyrley Common Pit. ²
• Abandonment plans of Brownhills workings are dated 1901. ⁴

Sources

1. (secondary) A hole in the history — BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog
2. (primary) Brownhills Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Brownhills Colliery Fire - Brownhills - 1861 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21829769: Brownhills, abandoned 1901 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026