Halesfield Pit

Overview

A coal and ironstone pit in the East Shropshire coalfield, owned by the Madeley Wood Company through the early 20th century, whose shafts were repurposed to ventilate the neighbouring Kemberton colliery once its own working life ended.

History

Halesfield Pit worked coal and ironstone in the Madeley and Dawley coalfield alongside numerous other small, similarly named pits in the district, many served by mineral railways connecting to the main line network. It was owned by the Madeley Wood Co from 1900 to 1915, and by its successor company, Madeley Wood Co Ltd, from 1918 to 1938. Some 1,200 yards to the northeast, the Madeley Wood Company's Kemberton pit, sunk in 1864, remained by 1934 one of only three significant collieries still working in Shropshire; when Kemberton was re-equipped and reconstructed in the late 1930s, Halesfield's own shafts -- their independent working life essentially over -- were put to a second use, ventilating the reconstructed Kemberton workings.

Workings

Worked coal and ironstone; its shafts were later repurposed to ventilate the neighbouring Kemberton colliery once its own independent production had wound down.

Closure

No independent closure date has yet been located; its shafts continued in use for ventilating Kemberton after its own coal-raising life ended.

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.

• Halesfield Pit was owned by the Madeley Wood Co from 1900 to 1915, and by its successor Madeley Wood Co Ltd from 1918 to 1938. ¹
• When the neighbouring Kemberton pit, some 1,200 yards to the northeast, was re-equipped and reconstructed in the late 1930s, Halesfield's own shafts began to be used for its ventilation. ¹
• The BGS/Mining Remediation Authority mine-plans catalogue holds a 1:2500 synthesis plan of the Halesfield area, catalogued as KP5982, covering boreholes and industrial sites at Telford New Town on the former colliery ground. ²
• Halesfield's shafts became the upcast and pumping shafts for the neighbouring Kemberton pit, nearly a mile away, in the late 1930s; the two were amalgamated as the Madeley Wood Colliery, reconstructed by the National Coal Board in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and finally closed in July 1968. ³

Sources

1. (primary) Madeley: Economic history — Victoria County History (British History Online)
2. (primary) Halesfield Industrial Sites with Boreholes, Telford New Town (BGS mine plan KP5982) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine-plans catalogue
3. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Kemberton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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