Kingsbury Colliery

Overview

A colliery sunk in 1897 by the owners of the nearby Hockley Hall and Whateley Colliery and Brickworks as their existing workings neared exhaustion, which transformed the agricultural village of Kingsbury into a mining community almost overnight.

History

Kingsbury Colliery was founded in the 1890s by the owners of the Hockley Hall and Whateley Colliery and Brickworks, as workings there were nearing exhaustion. Two shafts were sunk to the Seven Yard Seam, passing through the Two Yard Seam on the way down, and the colliery opened in 1897. Its arrival changed Kingsbury almost overnight from a predominantly agricultural community into a mining village, and the new settlement of Piccadilly was built alongside it in 1904 specifically to house colliery workers. Most of the coal it raised went to industry in nearby Birmingham, though the Lurgi gas plant at Coleshill was also a major customer in the colliery's later years. The colliery closed in 1968; the land was later redeveloped as the Kingsbury Oil Terminal.

Workings

Two shafts sunk to the Seven Yard Seam, passing through the Two Yard Seam.

Closure

Closed in 1968; the site was later redeveloped as the Kingsbury Oil Terminal.

What remains

A memorial wall was built in the neighbouring village of Piccadilly in 2009, naming the miners who worked at both Kingsbury and the neighbouring Dexter Colliery, centred on a miner's lamp kept permanently lit.

Recorded claims

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

• Kingsbury Colliery was founded by the owners of the Hockley Hall and Whateley Colliery and Brickworks as their existing workings neared exhaustion, sinking two shafts to the Seven Yard Seam and opening in 1897. ¹
• The colliery changed Kingsbury almost overnight from an agricultural community into a mining village; the settlement of Piccadilly was built alongside it in 1904 to house workers. ¹
• Coal from Kingsbury was used mainly by industry in nearby Birmingham, with the Lurgi gas plant at Coleshill also a major customer. ¹
• A memorial wall was built in Piccadilly in 2009 naming the miners who worked at both Kingsbury and the neighbouring Dexter Colliery, with a permanently lit miner's lamp as its centrepiece. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Kingsbury Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Kingsbury Colliery — Our Warwickshire — Warwickshire County Record Office

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 September 2026