Cannock Chase No. 4 Pit

Overview

One of the Cannock Chase Colliery Company's numbered pits around Chasetown, known locally as Fours Mount, west of today's Union Street. In May 1868 its flat wire rope broke as eight men and boys were lowered, and six died.

History

No. 4 Pit was one of the numbered pits of the Cannock Chase Colliery around Chasetown; the Durham Mining Museum places it at SK034091 among the company's pits Nos. 1 to 10. Known locally as Fours Mount, it lay west of the modern Union Street in Chasetown.

On the morning of 15 May 1868 eight men and boys, the number the colliery's special rules allowed, were being lowered when the flat wire rope snapped about seven yards down and they fell to the bottom. Five were killed outright and a youth of sixteen died later; two survived badly hurt. The inspector, Mr Baker, found that a wrapping of hemp had been bound round the rope for three or four months as a 'token' to show the engineman when the skip reached an inset, because the engine had no indicator. Hardened into a bolster, it had broken the wires as the rope bent over the five-foot pulley and drum, and hidden the damage: only 25 or 26 wires were whole. The jury censured the engineman, the manager, M'Ghie, and the engineer, Hargreaves Walters, and M'Ghie was fined ten shillings for not providing an indicator, though the inspector thought the colliery among the best appointed in the district. The inspector's account names the owner as the Lichfield Coal Company.

Geology

The Cannock Chase coalfield, part of the South Staffordshire Coal Measures.

Workings

A winding shaft with a flat wire rope over a five-foot pulley and drum, insets at the seams, and no depth indicator on the engine in 1868.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cannock Chase No. 8 Colliery — Both numbered pits of the Cannock Chase Colliery Company around Chasetown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Cannock Chase Colliery shaft accident, 1868
  15 May 1868 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 6 fatalities
  On the morning of 15 May 1868 the flat wire winding rope at No. 4 Pit of the Cannock Chase Colliery snapped as eight men and boys were being lowered, dropping them to the bottom of the shaft. Six died. The inspector traced the break to a hemp 'token' wrapped round the rope that had hidden its decay.

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 colliery was owned by the Lichfield Coal Company in 1868. (disputed) ³

Recorded claims

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

• No. 4 Pit was one of the Cannock Chase Colliery pits, at SK034091. ¹
• Cannock Chase No. 4 Colliery was known locally as Fours Mount and lay west of modern Union Street, Chasetown. ²
• On 15 May 1868 the flat wire rope broke as eight were lowered; six died. ^3,4,2
• A hard wrapping of hemp used as a marker on the rope broke its wires and hid the damage; the engine had no indicator. ³
• The colliery was owned by the Lichfield Coal Company in 1868. (disputed) ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Cannock Chase Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Brothers in Harm's Way — Andrew's Kindred
3. (secondary) Cannock Chase Colliery Shaft Accident - Cannock - 1868 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Disasters - Names: Cannock Chase, 15th May 1868 — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026