Former Holditch Colliery Gates - Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, UK.
N 53° 01.948 W 002° 15.953
30U E 549229 N 5876134
The gates that were formerly located at Holditch Colliery are now situated outside the Heritage Centre at Apedale Community Country Park on Loomer Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Waymark Code: WM12B5Z
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/18/2020
Views: 2
The gates that were formerly located at Holditch Colliery are now situated outside the Heritage Centre adjacent to the memorial to commemorate miners who lost their lives in the Holditch Colliery Explosion of 1937.
The black metal gates have a design of circles with the name Holditch Colliery and the letters NCB (National Coal Board) in white. A plaque mounted on the gates is inscribed as follows;
' THESE GATES FRONTED THE
HOLDITCH COLLIERY
FROM THE EARLY SIXTIES
UNTIL ITS CLOSURE IN 1989
THEY WERE DESIGNED BY MIKE JESSOP,
AND MADE BY NORMAN POINTON
"BLACKSMITH", BOTH OF AUDLEY.'
"Holditch Colliery, also known as Brymbo Colliery, opened in 1912, and was one of a number of coal mines in Staffordshire. It was located around two miles north west of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The colliery employed 1,500 men and mined ironstone in addition to coal. The colliery consisted of two 2,000 feet deep shafts, sunk in 1912 and 1916, working Great Row and the Four Feet seams and was believed to have been the most gassy colliery in Britain.
Despite heavy investment in the 1960s and 1970s the colliery closed down in 1990, just three years after the end of the year long miners' strike. The current site of Holditch Colliery is now a large business park.
Prior to nationalisation there was a coal mining accident at the colliery that occurred on 2nd July 1937, in which 30 men died and eight were injured. It was caused by a fire and subsequent explosions, and was exacerbated by a decision from management to risk the lives of mine workers to try to save the coal seam.
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The Apedale Community Country Park has 184 hectares of open space to explore with a varied landscape of woodland, meadows and pools crossed by many paths and tracks. The land at this location was previously an opencast mine until as recently as 1998.
The Heritage Centre was founded in 2001 on the site of the Apedale Colliery, which had closed a few years earlier in 1998. It is run entirely by volunteers with their main funding coming from the café, mine tours and donations. (
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