History of Chatterley Whitfield

Part Two: 1863 to 1876

In 1963 the Ragman shaft was deepened to the Ten Feet seam at a depth of 150 yards. At this time one winding engine served the Ragman, Engine and Bellringer shafts. Coal was wound up the shafts in 8cwt. tubs hooked onto the winding rope by chains. The men were also raised and lowered in these tubs; a dangerous but common practice used before the introduction of cages.

As the coal workings became deeper, ventilation was a major problem, especially in seams giving off large quantities of the highly explosive gas methane. In 1868 the Whitfield colliers were still using candles, an obviously dangerous practice.

Hugh Henshall Williamson died in December 1867. In November of that year, just before his death, the colliery changed hands and a group known as the 'Gentlemen of Tunstall' took it over, forming the first limited liability company to operate the mine. The Whitfield Colliery Company Limited bought both the colliery and a 214 acre estate for £40,000 and a prospectus issued in 1868 indicates that the capital for the proposed company was to be £25,000.

The new owners of Whitfield immediately set about the task of improving the shafts by deepening the Engine Pit to the same level as the Ragman Pit (148 yards) and widening both shafts to accommodate two cages. each shaft was provided with its own steam winding engine and the use of the Bellringer shaft was discontinued.

The life of the Whitfield Coliery Company Limited was of limited duration, coming to an end in 1872. At about this time the Chatterley Iron Company Limited, who owned blast furnaces, an oil distilling plant and a colliery working ironstone, in the Chatterley Valley, west of Tunstall, were looking for an adequate supply of coal for its furnaces. In early 1873 Mr C J Homer, its Managing Director, purchased the Whitfield Colliery on behalf of his company. On taking over, the new owners lost no time in starting a project to develop workings in the rich Cockshead seam of coal, and in 1874 they began to widen and deepen the old Bellringer shaft to a depth of 440 yards.

Shortly after the sinking work began, the North Staffirdshire Institute of Mining Engineers made a visit to the cololiery, and to commemorate the occasion the Bellringer shaft was re-named the Institute. In 1874 the colliery company also started to widen and deepen an old shaft, originally sunk by Hugh Henshall WIlliamson in the 1850s and sited to the north-east of the Institute. This shaft was to act as the upcast for the Institute Pit and was named the Laura, after Mr C J Homer's daughter. Both shafts were completed in 1876.

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