Craven Colliery

Overview

One of the three Wyken pits on the Warwickshire coalfield east of Coventry, worked by the Harris family for half a century and by the Wyken Colliery Company after them, and the reason the village of Wyken grew; it worked out in 1927 and its men went to Coventry Colliery.

History

Wyken was a small settlement until the eighteenth century, when the colliery that took the name of the Earl of Craven, lord of the manor, began to draw people to it. The original shaft is said to have been sunk in the eighteenth century and a new one in the twentieth. The 1880 List of Mines returns Craven, Coventry, under W. S. and J. Harris, and the family held it from the 1850s to 1900; the Wyken Colliery Company had it from about 1905. Craven was one of three Wyken workings on the Warwickshire coalfield, with Wyken Colliery itself and Alexandra, all served by the same London and North Western Railway branch. By 1911 the parish held 321 people and miners came in from Walsgrave and Potter's Green as well. The colliery was sold to the Warwickshire Coal Company in 1918 and worked on until 1927, when its coal was exhausted and the general strike of the year before had made matters worse; the men were transferred to the company's new Coventry Colliery at Keresley. Wyken Slough, the largest body of water in Coventry, was formed by subsidence over the workings about 1860, and the parish itself was taken into Coventry in 1932.

Geology

The Warwickshire coalfield, worked here from the eighteenth century.

Workings

An original shaft said to have been sunk in the eighteenth century and a second sunk in the twentieth; the colliery was served by the same London and North Western Railway branch as the other two Wyken pits.

Closure

Craven worked out in 1927, after the general strike of 1926, and its miners were transferred to Coventry Colliery at Keresley.

What remains

Nothing of the colliery survives; Wyken Slough, formed by subsidence over the workings about 1860, is now a nature reserve and the largest body of water in Coventry.

Related mines

• Coventry Colliery — The Warwickshire Coal Company's new pit at Keresley, where Craven's men went when it closed in 1927.
• Wyken Colliery — One of the three Wyken pits, worked by the same company.

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 original shaft is said to have been sunk in the eighteenth century and a new shaft in the twentieth. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• The creation of Craven Colliery was one of the reasons for the expansion of Wyken; by 1911 the parish held 321 people and miners came from Walsgrave and Potter's Green. ¹
• The original shaft is said to have been sunk in the eighteenth century and a new shaft in the twentieth. (uncertain) ¹
• The 1880 List of Mines returns Craven, Coventry, under W. S. and J. Harris, and GENUKI's account of the parish describes an extensive colliery worked by Messrs Harris. ^2,3
• Craven was one of three collieries worked from Wyken, with Wyken Colliery and Alexandra, all served by the same London and North Western Railway branch. ⁴
• Craven Colliery was worked out and closed in 1927, and its miners were transferred to Coventry Colliery. ^4,1
• Wyken Slough, the largest body of water in Coventry, was formed by subsidence over the workings about 1860. ¹
• The land at Wyken was chiefly the property of the Earl of Craven, lord of the manor. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Wyken (Coventry Society) — Coventry Society
2. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre
3. (secondary) Wyken, Warwickshire (GENUKI) — GENUKI
4. (secondary) Coventry Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026