Jamage Colliery

Also known as	Jammage Pits, Bignall Hill Colliery (Jamage Pit)
Location	Audley, near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire — 53.0611, -2.2656 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	Working by 1894; earlier date not established–Still returning 140 people in 1937; closure date not established
Operators	Bignall Hill Colliery Co., Ltd.

Overview

Jamage at Audley was one of the three pits of the Bignall Hill group, working the Bullhurst, Seven Feet and Eight Feet seams under the Wedgwood family and then the Bignall Hill Colliery Company. The Bullhurst here ran twenty feet thick at one in five and was known through north Staffordshire as peculiarly liable to gob fires. Sealing one off killed six men in 1911.

History

The colliery is returned to the Mines Inspectors from 1894 under the representatives of the late John Wedgwood of Bignall Hill, Audley, and later under the Bignall Hill Colliery Co. Ltd. It was one of a group of three pits — the Jamage Main, the Jamage and the Rookery — working the Seven Feet, Eight Feet and Bullhurst seams for coking, gas, household and steam coal, with a Bottom Two Row seam appearing in the 1905 return. It is unusual among the pits in this archive for how much of its workforce stood on the surface: 301 people in 1894, of whom 117 were above ground, and 710 in 1910 with 280 above. Employment peaked there and fell away afterwards — 526 in 1915, 438 in 1923 with a further 309 at the Main, 229 in 1933 and 140 by 1937. Two explosions clear this archive's bar. Five men were killed on 5 January 1876 by an explosion of firedamp caused by gunpowder, recorded in Thomas Wynne's report for the North Staffordshire district. Six more died on 25 November 1911 (see Disasters, below) when a gob fire the management was in the middle of sealing off exploded behind the stoppings.

Geology

Jamage worked the north Staffordshire coalfield at Audley. The seams returned are the Seven Feet, the Eight Feet, the Bullhurst and a Bottom Two Row. The Bullhurst is of a very undulating nature, varying widely in both thickness and inclination; at the point where the 1911 explosion happened it was about twenty feet thick and lay at about one in five. It yields gas freely and was well known in the district as peculiarly liable to gob fires — a thick, dry, dusty and gassy seam prone to spontaneous combustion.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

One of a group of three pits, the Jamage Main, the Jamage and the Rookery, held by the Bignall Hill Colliery Company. The 1923 returns list the Main separately from the rest. Shaft depths have not been found in the sources read for this record.

Closure

No closure date has been established. The colliery was still returning 140 people in 1937.

What remains

No account of the colliery site as it stands today has been found in the sources read for this record, and nothing is claimed here about what survives.

Nearby mines

Diglake Colliery — 1.2 km SW
Bunker's Hill Colliery — 2.3 km N
Hollinswood Colliery — 2.3 km NE
Birchenwood Colliery — 3.6 km NE
Holditch Colliery — 3.6 km S

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Disasters & major incidents

Jamage Pit explosion
25 November 1911 · Explosion · 6 fatalities
Coal in a pillar being worked out at Jamage was found slightly warm two days before. The management decided to build the district off and withdrew everyone except the men putting up the stoppings. The stoppings were practically finished when, at about half past nine on the morning of Saturday 25 November 1911, the enclosed area exploded and partially blew them out. Thirty-one people were in the pit. Six died of afterdamp and fourteen were injured.

Recorded claims

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

The Bullhurst is very undulating and varies widely in thickness and inclination. At the scene of the 1911 accident it was about twenty feet thick and lay at about one in five. It yields gas freely and was well known in the district as peculiarly liable to gob fires. ¹
Five men were killed on 5 January 1876 by an explosion of firedamp caused by gunpowder, recorded in the 1876 Mines Inspectors Report for the North Staffordshire district by Thomas Wynne, H.M. Inspector of Mines. ²

Photographs & further reading

Jamage Colliery at the Durham Mining Museum (reference)

Owners, output and employment from 1894 to 1937, the seams worked, both the 1876 and 1911 explosions with the names of the dead, and a partial list of other fatalities.

View source

The Jamage pit explosion of 1911 (reference)

John Lumsdon's account of the 1911 explosion, drawing on Chief Inspector Redmayne's report and the resumed inquest at the Wesleyan school in Audley, with the character of the Bullhurst seam and the evidence of the manager and the overman.

View source

Sources

(secondary) Jamage Pit Explosion, 25 November 1911 — Healey Hero
(secondary) Jammage Pits, 5 January 1876 — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Jamage Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026