Stafford Colliery, Priorslee

Overview

A Lilleshall Company colliery at Priorslee, east Telford, behind the Lion on Shifnal Road, linked underground with Dark Lane and Lawn. It employed up to 396 around 1910, working the Clod, Double, Flint and New Mine coals and ironstone.

History

Stafford Colliery stood at Priorslee, behind the Lion public house on Shifnal Road, and belonged to the Lilleshall Company, whose mineral railway served it. It was linked underground with the Dark Lane and Lawn collieries so that their water could be pumped into the pools now merged as Priorslee Flash, and the Day Level sough, extended south from the Albion Pit about 1850, connected with it. In 1884, when candles fired gas in the ironstone workings of neighbouring Dark Lane and killed two men, the survivors escaped up a 180-foot chain ladder into the workings of Stafford Colliery and warned its miners.

The colliery returns list it as Nos. 1 and 2 and Nos. 3 and 4 pits. It employed 279 in 1896, 354 in 1900 and 396 in 1910, falling to 139 in 1915, and worked the Clod, Clunch, Double, Flint and New Mine coals for coking, household, manufacturing and steam use, with ironstone by 1915.

Geology

Shropshire Coal Measures: the Clod, Clunch, Double, Flint and New Mine coals, with ironstone.

Workings

Two pairs of shafts, Nos. 1 and 2 and Nos. 3 and 4; linked underground with Dark Lane and Lawn for pumping and connected with the Day Level sough; served by the Lilleshall Company's mineral railway.

Closure

Unknown. The colliery returns list it until 1915.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Dark Lane Colliery — Linked underground; Dark Lane's survivors escaped into Stafford in 1884.
• Lawn Colliery — Linked underground with Lawn for pumping; both Lilleshall Company pits at Priorslee.

Recorded claims

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

• Stafford Colliery was at Priors Lee, SJ715091, owned by the Lilleshall Co. Ltd. ¹
• It employed 279 in 1896, 354 in 1900, 396 in 1910 and 139 in 1915. ¹
• It worked the Clod, Clunch, Double, Flint and New Mine seams. ¹
• In 1884 survivors of an explosion at Dark Lane escaped up a 180-foot chain ladder into the Stafford Colliery workings. ²
• The Day Level, extended south from the Albion Pit about 1850, connected with the Dark Lane and Stafford pits. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Stafford Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Dark Lane Colliery — The Miner's Walk
3. (secondary) Albion Pit and Day Level Sough — The Miner's Walk

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026