Rowhurst Colliery

Overview

The Rowhurst pits of Shelton Colliery at the end of Clough Street, Hanley, two shafts of the Shelton Iron, Steel and Coal Company that employed over 700 people in the 1890s and were joined by a siding to the Shelton iron and steel works.

History

The Rowhurst pits stood at the end of Clough Street, Hanley, as part of Shelton Colliery; a railway siding ran through Rowhurst Pit to the nearby Shelton iron and steel works, and there was a railway goods depot beside it. In 1896 the Shelton Iron, Steel and Coal Company, of Etruria Hall, worked Rowhurst Nos. 1 and 2 with 549 men underground and 163 at the surface, raising manufacturing coal from the Rowhurst seam, with J. J. Prest as manager and J. Redhead and P. Turner as under-managers.

The workforce grew from 596 in 1894 to 760 in 1900, by which time the Burnwood and Winghay seams were also being worked. In 1903 a pikeman was fatally injured at a longwall face in the Winghay seam at No. 1 Rowhurst, and in 1906 an eighteen-year-old waggoner at No. 2 was killed by a runaway tub on an incline off a level in the Rowhurst seam. The 1905 returns show the two pits separately, with about 210 and 510 people.

Plans of the Rowhurst Nos. 1 and 2 workings in the Rider, Rowhurst, Winghay, Burnwood and New Mine seams, including Burnwood ironstone, were closed in 1909.

Geology

Coal Measures of the North Staffordshire coalfield: the Rowhurst, Winghay, Burnwood, Rider and New Mine seams, with Burnwood ironstone.

Workings

Two pits, Rowhurst Nos. 1 and 2; longwall faces; inclines off the levels; a railway siding through the pit to the Shelton iron and steel works.

Closure

The abandonment plans of the Rowhurst Nos. 1 and 2 workings are dated 1909.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Racecourse Colliery, Hanley — Both Hanley collieries of the Shelton Iron, Steel and Coal Company, listed separately in the 1896 returns.

Recorded claims

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

• The Rowhurst pits of Shelton Colliery were at the end of Clough Street, Hanley; the railway siding ran through Rowhurst Pit to the Shelton iron and steel works. ¹
• In 1896 Rowhurst Nos. 1 and 2, owned by the Shelton Iron, Steel and Coal Company, employed 549 men underground and 163 at the surface in the Rowhurst seam. ^2,3
• The colliery employed 760 people in 1900. ²
• In 1903 a pikeman was fatally injured by a fall at a longwall face in the Winghay seam at No. 1 Rowhurst. ⁴
• In 1906 a waggoner at Rowhurst No. 2 was killed by a runaway tub; the owner was the Shelton Iron, Steel and Coal Company. ⁵
• The Rowhurst Nos. 1 and 2 workings in the Rider, Rowhurst, Winghay, Burnwood and New Mine seams were abandoned in 1909. ⁶

Sources

1. (secondary) Clough Street, Hanley — thepotteries.org (Steve Birks)
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Rowhurst Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Rowhurst Mine — thepotteries.org (Steve Birks)
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Joseph Richard Thompson, No. 1 Rowhurst, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Alfred Huyton, Rowhurst No. 2, 1906 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS mine plans: Rowhurst Nos 1 & 2, Rider, Rowhurst, Winghay, Burnwood and New Mine, abandoned 1909 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026