Wyrley No. 3 Colliery

Also known as	Harrison's No. 3 Colliery, The Sinking, Harrisons Wyrley No. 3
Location	Great Wyrley and Landywood, south of Cannock, Staffordshire — 52.6562, -2.0208 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	1896–June 1963 (merged with Mid Cannock)
Operators	W. Harrison Ltd (1896–1947), National Coal Board (1947–1963)

Overview

W. Harrison's big Cannock Chase pit at Great Wyrley, opened in 1896 and known locally as the Sinking, which employed 621 in 1923 and outlived the rest of the Harrison group. After the 1930 explosion stopped coal-getting at the Grove, No. 3's coal went by cable-hauled tramway to the Grove's washery; the Grove was merged into it in 1952 and it was merged into Mid Cannock in 1963.

The platforms of Landywood railway station on the Walsall to Rugeley line, in the colliery district of Great Wyrley — Landywood railway station, Great Wyrley Nigel Thompson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

History

Coal and ironstone were being got at Great Wyrley by 1642, and by the 1860s the parish had the Wyrley New, Hatherton, Wyrley Cannock and Great Wyrley colliery companies at work. In 1896 Messrs W. Harrison, whose Wyrley Grove pit east of Little Wyrley dated from the 1850s, opened a large new pit at Great Wyrley known as Wyrley No. 3, and about 1900 built Harrison's Club for the village. The Durham Mining Museum's Great Wyrley page returns No. 3 with 621 employed in 1923, 470 of them below ground. Colonel William Harrison, chairman of the company, gave his name to the locomotive The Colonel supplied to the Grove in 1914. The Grove explosion of 1 October 1930 killed fourteen men and coal-getting there ceased; thereafter No. 3's coal was carried in mine cars along a narrow-gauge cable-hauled tramway to the Grove's washing and screening plant and sent out by canal boat and rail. W. Harrison Ltd held the pit to nationalisation in 1947. The Grove was merged into Wyrley No. 3 in January 1952, and the county history found No. 3 still in use in 1956 with opencast working on both sides of Landywood Lane; in June 1963 it was merged with Mid Cannock. Harrisons F.C., the village football club founded about 1950 on Hazel Lane, carried the company's name until 1990.

Geology

Cannock Chase coalfield, Middle Coal Measures; the Great Wyrley pits worked the Bass, Deep and Shallow seams, but No. 3's own seams are not named in the sources read.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

A large pit of 1896; 621 employed in 1923 (470 below, 151 surface). From the 1930s coal was hauled in mine cars by a narrow-gauge cable tramway to the Grove's washery. Shaft depths are not given in the sources read.

Closure

Merged with Mid Cannock Colliery in June 1963 after absorbing the Grove in January 1952; the date coal-winding ceased at the No. 3 shafts is not given in the sources read.

What remains

The site at Landywood is not described in the sources read; the district's pit deposits were noted as overgrown coarse grassland in 1959 and opencast working followed.

Not recorded in the sources read.

Related mines

Great Wyrley Colliery — Neighbouring Great Wyrley pits of different companies; the museum lists No. 3 on its Great Wyrley page.
Grove Colliery — Harrison's sister pits; the Grove washed and despatched No. 3's coal from 1930 and was merged into it in 1952.

Nearby mines

Great Wyrley Colliery — 0.3 km N
Cannock and Leacroft Colliery — 3.8 km N
Holly Bank Colliery — 3.8 km SW
Pelsall Hall Colliery — 4.5 km SE, West Midlands
Grove Colliery — 5.6 km E

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.

Opened by W. Harrison in 1896; the Grove was merged into it in January 1952 and it was merged with Mid Cannock in June 1963. ^1,2
621 employed at No. 3 in 1923. ³
After coal-getting ceased at the Grove in 1930, No. 3's coal went by narrow-gauge cable-hauled tramway to the Grove's washing and screening plant. ⁴
W. Harrison Ltd, then the National Coal Board from 1947. ^1,3

Photographs & further reading

Great Wyrley in the Victoria County History (reference)

The 1959 parish history with the succession of Wyrley colliery companies and Harrison's No. 3 of 1896.

View source

Cannock Chase Mining Historical Society time line (reference)

The coalfield chronology with the 1896 opening and the 1952 and 1963 mergers.

View source

Grove colliery at the Chasewater Railway Museum blog (reference)

The locomotive The Colonel and the cable tramway that carried No. 3's coal to the Grove washery.

View source

Sources

(primary) Rough Time Line — Cannock Chase Mining History Society
(secondary) Great Wyrley — A History of the County of Stafford, vol. 5 (British History Online) — Victoria County History
(secondary) Great Wyrley — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Grove colliery — Chasewater Railway Museum blog — Chasewater Railway Museum
(secondary) Great Wyrley — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
(secondary) Grove Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
(secondary) Harrisons F.C. — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026