Far Green Colliery

Overview

A Lord Granville-owned Hanley colliery, also known locally as the Deep Pit, remembered almost entirely for a single catastrophic moment in 1859 when a distracted engineman let a cage carrying sixteen men and boys overwind straight into the headgear pulley.

History

Far Green Colliery, in Hanley (recorded in an 1880 list of coal mines under the local spelling 'Fargree'), was owned by Lord Granville and locally known as the Deep Pit. Little else about its working life is well documented; the colliery is remembered almost entirely for the shaft accident of 5 November 1859, in which ten men and boys died after the ascending cage overwound past the headgear pulley (see Disasters, below).

This is an active mining operation. It is not open to public access, and this entry describes its history and general location only.

Disasters & major incidents

• Far Green Colliery shaft accident, 1859
  5 November 1859 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 10 fatalities
  An ascending cage carrying sixteen men and boys overwound fifty feet past its normal stopping point and struck the headgear pulley at Far Green Colliery on 5 November 1859, after the winding engineman was briefly distracted; ten died.

Recorded claims

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

• Far Green Colliery, recorded in an 1880 coal-mines list under the local spelling 'Fargree', was owned by Lord Granville and was locally known as the Deep Pit. ^1,2
• Ten men and boys died on 5 November 1859 when the ascending cage overwound past the headgear pulley after the engineman was briefly distracted. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Far Green Colliery Shaft Accident - Hanley - 1859 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026