Cannock Old Coppice Colliery

Overview

A Heath Hayes and Wimblebury colliery on Cannock Chase, also known as Fair Lady Colliery, worked by a succession of owners from the 1860s until 1940.

History

Coppice Colliery, at Heath Hayes and Wimblebury on Cannock Chase, was also known locally as Fair Lady Colliery. Sources disagree on when the colliery itself opened: one account has B. Johnson operating from 1865 to 1870, followed by J. Owen & Co. from 1875 and the Coppice Colliery Co. from 1880; another has the Coppice Colliery Co. itself opening the pit new in 1894. Both accounts are recorded here rather than reconciled. The Coppice Colliery Co. ran the pit until 1940, with a final operator, recorded simply as 'Coppice Collier', continuing for a short period into 1945-46.

Workings

Cannock Chase District Council, the site's current owner, records that sinking the shafts took two years and reached 12 coal seams at a depth of around 292 metres -- a third, more specific account than the two ownership chronologies already recorded here, and one giving 1893 as the opening year.

Closure

Operated by the Coppice Colliery Co. until 1940; a final operator continued into 1945-46.

What remains

The former colliery site is now Fair Lady Coppice, a Cannock Chase District Council nature reserve noted for its heathland-like slopes, a wetland area with pools on the old pit mound, and deciduous woodland -- valued for butterflies (including declining species), the rare plant pennyroyal, and ground-nesting skylarks, actively managed by scrub removal and traditional coppice management.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Ownership is recorded two different ways: B. Johnson (1865-70), J. Owen & Co. (1875) and the Coppice Colliery Co. (from 1880); or the Coppice Colliery Co. itself opening the pit new in 1894. Not reconciled here. (disputed) ¹
• The Coppice Colliery Co. operated the pit until 1940, after which a final operator recorded as 'Coppice Collier' continued into 1945-46. ¹
• The colliery was also known locally as Fair Lady Colliery. ²
• Cannock Chase District Council, the site's current owner, gives 1893 as the opening year and 1964 as the closure year -- a third account differing from both ownership chronologies already recorded. (disputed) ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Coppice d Colliery, Heath Hayes and Wimblebury — mindat.org
2. (secondary) Coppice Colliery — Chasewater Railway Museum
3. (primary) Fair Lady Coppice — Cannock Chase District Council

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 1 September 2026