East Cannock Colliery

Overview

A Hednesford colliery that reached full production in 1876, survived an 1877 methane explosion that killed four boys, went through liquidation and a change of ownership by 1880, and finally closed under the National Coal Board in 1957.

History

East Cannock Colliery, near the Globe Inn at Hednesford on the Cannock Chase coalfield, reached full production in 1876, two years after its two shafts were completed. In 1877 an explosion of methane at the colliery killed four boys and four pit horses and seriously injured two men; compensation of £10 10s was paid to each injured workman, and £15 15s to the owner of one of the horses (see Disasters, below). By 1880 the original operating business had failed and gone into liquidation, and the colliery was sold for just £20,000 to the Welsh businessman Henry Davis Pochin. The colliery was subsequently operated as the East Cannock Colliery Co. from 1875 to 1896 and, after reconstitution, again as East Cannock Colliery Co. Ltd from 1900 to 1946, before passing to the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947. It closed in May 1957 after the Company's earlier iteration and the NCB's own decade of ownership found reserves exhausted, with neighbouring collieries taking the remaining coal and absorbing some of the workforce. The Cannock Chase Mining History Society's timeline puts the pit among the ventures of the boom that followed the Franco-Prussian War: won at a cost of £150,000, sold for £20,000 when the boom broke at the end of the decade, but never idle. It closed in May 1957 and the East Cannock Colliery Company went into voluntary liquidation.

Geology

Coal of the Cannock Chase field; the seams worked are not recorded.

Workings

Two shafts, completed by 1874, reaching full production in 1876.

Closure

Closed in May 1957 once economically recoverable reserves were exhausted, with surrounding collieries taking the remaining coal and redeploying some of the workforce.

What remains

The site's present condition is not known.

Related mines

• Wimblebury Colliery — Neighbouring Cannock Chase pits east of Hednesford.

Disasters & major incidents

• East Cannock Colliery Explosion (1877)
  31 August 1877 · Explosion · 4 fatalities
  A methane explosion at East Cannock Colliery in 1877 killed four boys and four pit horses, and seriously injured two men.
• East Cannock Colliery suffocation, 1892
  6 April 1892 · Gas / Asphyxiation · 2 fatalities
  Two airway men at East Cannock Colliery, Hednesford, were found suffocated in the return airway on 6 April 1892, overcome by gases from a fire burning in the gob.

Recorded claims

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

• East Cannock Colliery reached full production in 1876; by 1880 the original operating business had failed and was sold for £20,000 to Henry Davis Pochin. ¹
• The colliery was operated as East Cannock Colliery Co. from 1875-1896 and, after reconstitution, again from 1900-1946, before passing to the National Coal Board in 1947 and closing in May 1957. ²
• East Cannock was won at a cost of £150,000 in the trade boom that followed the Franco-Prussian War and sold for £20,000 in the depression at the end of the 1870s, yet never ceased raising coal. ²
• The colliery closed in May 1957 and the East Cannock Colliery Company went into voluntary liquidation. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) East Cannock Colliery, Hednesford, Cannock Chase — Mindat
2. (primary) Rough Time Line — Cannock Chase Mining History Society

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026