Foxyards Colliery

Overview

A South Staffordshire colliery on the Thick Coal at Foxyards, between Dudley and Tipton, working coal and fireclay. It sits at the point where the great seam, standing nearly vertical against the Wren’s Nest a mile to the south, flattens rapidly to almost horizontal — shallow enough that it was at one time worked in an open quarry here. It was among the Earl of Dudley’s collieries at work in 1880 and among his fireclay mines in 1875.

History

Foxyards lies on the outcrop of the Thick Coal, the ten-yard seam that made the Black Country. The Geological Survey traced that outcrop through this ground in the 1850s: from Dixon’s Green past Burnt Tree, round the Silurian of Castle Hill, and along the north-east flank of the Wren’s Nest, where the coal stands nearly vertical and was worked in an open quarry in 1849 and 1850. "The coal strikes regularly from this spot to the Foxyards," Jukes wrote, "where it flattens very rapidly to a nearly horizontal position." It had been worked in an open quarry here too. By 1875 Foxyards was among the Earl of Dudley’s fireclay mines in the South Staffordshire and Worcestershire district, and in the official return of collieries at work in 1880 it appears twice among his collieries, alongside Coneygre, Round’s Hill, Himley, Old Park, Saltwells, Ramrod Hall and the Wallows. The 1880 List of Mines entry that brought this colliery into the archive gives the owner as W. Punter — a second Foxyards entry in the same return, the pit being counted twice.

Geology

The South Staffordshire Coalfield, and specifically the Thick Coal — the ten-yard seam, the thickest workable coal in Britain, formed where a dozen separate seams merge into one mass. What makes Foxyards worth describing is its structure. The Dudley and Sedgley anticline throws the measures up steeply: along the north-east flank of the Wren’s Nest the Thick Coal is nearly vertical. Northward towards Foxyards it flattens very rapidly to nearly horizontal, so that within a short distance the same seam goes from standing on end to lying flat. Fireclay was worked with the coal. Jukes recorded a disagreement here that says something about how the seam was understood by the men who worked it: a ground bailiff at Foxyards told him the Thick Coal there was not the same seam as the one traced from the Wren’s Nest, his only reason being that a parting of shale was a foot thicker in one place than the other, and that there must therefore be a fault between them.

Geological setting: Anticlines and Synclines (well documented example)

Workings

The Thick Coal at Foxyards was formerly worked in an open quarry, as it had been in 1849 and 1850 where the seam stands vertical against the Wren’s Nest. Underground working followed the flat-lying seam. Fireclay was raised as well as coal, and the pit was one of a group of the Earl of Dudley’s collieries and fireclay mines worked across South Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The BGS catalogue of abandoned mine plans holds eight records for Foxyards, including plans headed Foxyards Coseley Moor.

Closure

The closure date is not known. The colliery was at work in 1880 and appears twice in the return for that year; nothing records when it stopped. The Black Country Thick Coal was largely worked out by the end of the nineteenth century, and the deep mine that replaced these shallow pits — Baggeridge, sunk by the Earl of Dudley — began winding in 1912.

What remains

No specific present-day description of the colliery site is recorded. Foxyards is now a residential area of Tipton, and the ground has been built over.

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 official 1880 List of Mines entry for this pit reads "Foxyards, Tipton, W. Punter", while the same return is the basis for Grace’s Guide listing Foxyards twice among the Earl of Dudley’s collieries. The two have not been reconciled. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The Geological Survey traced the outcrop of the Thick coal from the Wren’s Nest, where it is nearly vertical, to the Foxyards, "where it flattens very rapidly to a nearly horizontal position". ¹
• The Thick coal was formerly worked in an open quarry at the Foxyards, as it had been along the north-east flank of the Wren’s Nest in the years 1849 and 1850. ¹
• A ground bailiff at the Foxyards told Jukes that the Thick coal there was not the same as the seam traced from the Wren’s Nest, his only reason being that a parting of shale was a foot thicker in one place than in the other, and that there must therefore be a fault between them. ¹
• Foxyards, Tipton appears — with two entries — among the collieries in South Staffordshire and Worcestershire owned by the Earl of Dudley and at work in 1880, alongside Coneygre, Himley, Old Park, Ramrod Hall, Round’s Hill, Saltwells and the Wallows. ²
• Foxyards, Tipton is listed among the fireclay mines in the South Staffordshire and Worcestershire district owned by the Earl of Dudley in 1875, with Coneygre, Himley and Thorns. ²
• The official 1880 List of Mines entry for this pit reads "Foxyards, Tipton, W. Punter", while the same return is the basis for Grace’s Guide listing Foxyards twice among the Earl of Dudley’s collieries. The two have not been reconciled. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) The South Staffordshire Coalfield, Chapter 11 — Joseph Beete Jukes, Geological Survey of Great Britain
2. (secondary) Earl of Dudley's Collieries — Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History
3. (primary) BGS mine plans catalogue: Foxyards and Foxyards Coseley Moor — British Geological Survey

Record created: 6 September 2026 · Last researched: 7 September 2026