Knutton Manor Colliery

Overview

An ironstone and coal mine of the Knutton Manor Mining Company at Silverdale, west of Stoke-on-Trent, working the Black Band, Red Mine and Red Shag measures from at least 1891 until 1925.

History

Knutton Manor Colliery lay at Silverdale, three and a half miles west of Stoke-on-Trent, in the North Staffordshire coalfield. It was worked by the Knutton Manor Mining Company, later Knutton Manor Mining Co. Ltd, and was first of all an ironstone mine: the official returns list ironstone alone in 1894 and 1896, and coal with ironstone from 1900. Its measures were the Black Band ironstone with the Red Shag and Red Mine, and by 1915 the Bassey Mine.

It employed 132 people in 1894, rising to 259 by 1910, before falling to 89 in 1915 and recovering to 196 in 1923. Its accident record describes ironstone holed under in broken, jointed ground. In 1896 two men fell from the cage while riding up the shaft (see Disasters, below), and in 1909 a sixteen-year-old pony driver was crushed by a tub on an incline of 1 in 10.

Plans of the Black Band, Red Shag and Red Mine workings under Knutton Farm and Knutton Manor were abandoned in 1924, and the Durham Mining Museum gives the colliery's closure as February 1925.

Geology

North Staffordshire coal measures with blackband ironstone: the Black Band, Red Shag and Red Mine measures, and the Bassey Mine by 1915; the roof in the Black Band is recorded as full of open joints and breaks.

Workings

Shaft mine with cage winding and inclined haulage roads, working ironstone by holing under the measures; worked with the Knutton Farm workings on the abandonment plans.

Closure

Closed in February 1925; the plans of its Black Band, Red Shag and Red Mine workings were deposited as abandoned in 1924.

What remains

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Knutton Manor Colliery cage accident, 1896
  20 August 1896 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 2 fatalities
  On 20 August 1896 two men, a collier and a fireman, fell out of the cage while riding up the shaft at Knutton Manor Colliery, Silverdale, and were killed.

Recorded claims

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

• Knutton Manor was worked by the Knutton Manor Mining Company, later Knutton Manor Mining Co. Ltd. ^1,2,3
• The returns list ironstone alone in 1894 and 1896 and coal with ironstone from 1900. ¹
• The mine worked the Black Band ironstone with the Red Shag and Red Mine measures. ^1,2,4,5
• Employment rose from 132 in 1894 to 259 in 1910. ¹
• The colliery closed in February 1925. ¹
• Plans of the Black Band, Red Shag and Red Mine workings at Knutton Farm and Knutton Manor were abandoned in 1924. ⁵

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Knutton Manor Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) NMRS deaths and accidents database: Henry Stevenson, Knutton Manor, 12 Jun 1901 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS deaths and accidents database: Edward V. Pepper, Knutton Manor, 28 May 1909 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS deaths and accidents database: William Green, Knutton Manor, 12 Nov 1906 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: KNUTTON FARM KNUTTON MANOR, Black Band, Red Shag and Red Mine, abandoned 1924 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 24 October 2026 · Last researched: 24 October 2026