Bycars Colliery

Overview

A Burslem coal and ironstone colliery north-east of the town, worked by the potters Enoch Wood and James Caldwell by 1816 and by John Wedg Wood from 1834. An explosion in 1859 killed six; its last seams were abandoned in 1915.

History

Bycars Colliery lay to the north-east of Burslem, near the flint mill at Bycars that the potters Enoch Wood and James Caldwell ran from 1806; they were working the colliery by 1816. By 1834 it was held by John Wedg Wood, together with one of the two collieries at the Hamil. Bycars and Hamil were still working coal and ironstone in the early 1880s, though flooding from the abandoned Pinnox and Scotia collieries began to reach Bycars from 1869.

On Saturday 29 January 1859, while men were building a stopping to improve the ventilation, gas that had gathered in old workings fired at defective lamps, with loose rings and gauze below standard; the furnace had not been kept in. The shaft was only 33 yards deep. Four died at once and two more of their injuries. The jury censured the butty, Francis Amos, for not seeing that the lamps were locked. The Victoria County History has Bycars closed by 1888, but abandonment plans record its Marl, Little Row and Peacock seams given up on 30 June 1915.

Geology

North Staffordshire Coal Measures: the Marl, Little Row, Top Peacock and Middle Peacock seams, with ironstone.

Workings

A shallow shaft of 33 yards in 1859, furnace-ventilated; coal and ironstone workings.

Closure

Abandonment plans record the Marl, Little Row, Top Peacock and Middle Peacock seams abandoned on 30 June 1915; the Victoria County History has the colliery closed by 1888.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• Bycars and Hamil had both closed by 1888. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Enoch Wood and James Caldwell were working Bycars Colliery by 1816; by 1834 John Wedg Wood held it. ¹
• On 29 January 1859 gas in old workings fired at defective lamps; six died. ^2,3
• The shaft was 33 yards deep. ²
• Bycars and Hamil had both closed by 1888. (disputed) ¹
• Bycars' Marl, Little Row, Top Peacock and Middle Peacock seams were abandoned on 30 June 1915. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Burslem: Local government, economic history and social life (A History of the County of Stafford, vol. 8, 1963) — Victoria County History, via British History Online
2. (secondary) Bycars Colliery Explosion - Burslem - 1859 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Bycars, 29 January 1859 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bycars, Marl, Little Row, Top Peacock, Middle Peacock, abandoned 30 June 1915 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026