Kemball Colliery

Overview

A Stafford Coal and Iron Company pit at Great Fenton, worked from 1876 to November 1963, and known for something other than its coal. In November 1943 the Kemball pit — idle for two years but kept well ventilated — was opened as the first pit training school in Britain, four years before nationalisation, on the initiative of local pit owners, union officials and the local education authority. It went on training miners long after it stopped raising coal, and the surface school ran until 1989.

History

Kemball, sometimes known as Stafford No. 1, operated as a pit from 1876 until November 1963, belonging to the Stafford Coal and Iron Company. It also served as the second means of egress for Hem Heath, three-quarters of a mile away, by an underground roadway that lasted until the late 1950s. Its distinction came in November 1943. The Ministry of Fuel and Power had decided that underground training centres should be established across the coalfields, and local pit owners, trade union officials and the local education authority combined to launch the first of them at Fenton. The pit had not been worked for two years but had been kept well ventilated, and it now offered every newcomer to the industry the chance to be trained before going underground with experienced pitmen. The Board of Education gave its approval in January 1944, saying it was very impressed with the special merits of the school, and new entrants under the government scheme were soon being educated at Kemball and at Tunstall Technical School — Bevin Boys among them. The organisers were careful to say the scheme was not simply a wartime expedient. Mr Crofts, president of the North Staffordshire Colliery Owners’ Association, asserted at the opening that the training pit "was not of war-time growth and was not merely for wartime needs" and could take in comfortably all the additional youths and men then urgently required while still dealing with the normal young recruits for whom it was originally intended. Under the National Coal Board the training became formidably systematic. A school leaver would visit Kemball and an underground training district before leaving school; on enrolling he took a two-week induction at Kemball, three weeks of mining theory, three weeks in an underground training centre at Florence, Hem Heath or Wolstanton, then a month of basic engineering in Kemball’s workshops before going to his chosen colliery — followed by twenty days of close supervised surface training and a return to Kemball again for pre-coalface training. The site also ran induction and refresher courses for locomotive drivers, guards and shunters and training in crane driving and materials handling, and it had workshops, a locomotive garage and track, and a fully equipped mock coal face.

Geology

The North Staffordshire coalfield at Great Fenton, on the Stafford Coal and Iron Company’s take south-east of Stoke.

Workings

A shaft colliery, connected underground to Hem Heath Colliery as that pit’s second means of egress until the roadway was sealed in the late 1950s. After coal working ceased the surface carried the training establishment: workshops, a locomotive garage and track, and a fully equipped mock coal face.

Closure

The pit stopped working coal in November 1963, but the site was used for surface training until 1989 — twenty-six years after the colliery itself closed.

What remains

A Holiday Inn now occupies part of the old Kemball Colliery site.

No colliery structure has been identified as surviving.

Redevelopment

Part of the site is now occupied by a Holiday Inn.

Related mines

• Florence Colliery — Part of one training scheme: National Coal Board mining trainees took three weeks of their underground course at an training centre at Florence, Hem Heath or Wolstanton, between spells at Kemball.
• Hem Heath Colliery — Kemball was Hem Heath’s way out: before nationalisation and for many years after, Hem Heath’s second means of egress was an underground roadway to Kemball, about 1,100 yards away, which was sealed at both ends in the late 1950s once it was deemed surplus. Kemball later gave Hem Heath’s trainees three weeks of their underground course.

Nearby mines

• Fenton Park Colliery — 1.7 km N
• Hem Heath Colliery — 2.7 km S
• Florence Colliery — 2.8 km E
• Parkhall Colliery — 3.2 km E
• Racecourse Colliery, Hanley — 5.0 km NW

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

Recorded claims

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

• In November 1943 the Kemball Pit, belonging to the Stafford Coal and Iron Company at Great Fenton, was opened as the first pit training school in Britain — four years before nationalisation. The Ministry of Fuel and Power had decided that underground training centres would be established across the coalfields, but local pit owners, trade union officials and the local education authority combined to launch the first at Fenton. ¹
• Kemball Pit had not been worked for two years but had been kept well ventilated. It now offered the chance for all newcomers to the mining industry to receive training before going underground to work with experienced pitmen. ¹
• The Board of Education’s official approval of the training centre at Kemball pit was reported to the governors of the North Staffordshire Technical College in January 1944; the Board said it was very impressed with the special merits of the school. New entrants to the industry under the government scheme were receiving education at Kemball and at Tunstall Technical School. ²
• Mr Crofts, president of the North Staffordshire Colliery Owners’ Association, asserted that the training pit "was not of war-time growth and was not merely for wartime needs", and could take in comfortably all the additional youths and men then urgently required while still dealing with the normal young recruits for whom it was originally intended. ¹
• Under the National Coal Board a mining trainee took a two-week induction at Kemball, then three weeks of mining theory, then three weeks in an underground training centre at Florence, Hem Heath or Wolstanton, then a month of basic engineering in Kemball’s workshops before going to his colliery of choice — followed by twenty days of close supervised surface training and a further return to Kemball for pre-coalface training. ¹
• The colliery operated as a pit from 1876 until November 1963, and the site was used for surface training until 1989. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Kemball Colliery (for The Sentinel, 27 February 2016), by Mervyn Edwards — Mervyn Edwards, local historian
2. (primary) 1944 — extracts from the Evening Sentinel — North Staffordshire Miners’ Group, transcribing the Evening Sentinel

Record created: 8 September 2026 · Last researched: 8 September 2026