A late 18th century coal mine

Throughout the 19th century Kidsgrove was an  industrial town whose prosperity was based on coal mining and iron production.

Although there had been small drift mines, bell pits, ironworks and forges in the area since the Middle Ages, large scale commercial exploitation of Kidsgrove’s mineral wealth began when the Trent & Mersey Canal opened in 1777.

Canal construction brought John Gilbert, the Duke of Bridgewater’s mining engineer to The Potteries.

Born at Cotton Hall, near Farley, in 1724, John ran the family estate and its coal mines. During 1759, he became manager of the Duke of Bridgewater’s collieries at Worsley where civil engineer James Brindley was constructing a canal to carry coal to Manchester. Working closely with Brindley, he built a network of underground canals leading to wharfs near the coalface where coal was loaded into boats which took it to Manchester.

An astute businessman, John realised North Staffordshire’s economic potential and started mining coal and ironstone at Goldenhill. He became a member of the Trent & Mersey Canal Company’s management committee. When the company decided to extend the canal from Longport to Runcorn and build a tunnel through Harecastle Hill between Chatterley and Kidsgrove, he arranged for branch tunnels to be driven into his mines where underground loading bays were constructed.

John bought Clough Hall Estate and came to live in Kidsgrove where he built Whitehall, a two storey mansion overlooking the town. More collieries were opened and deeper shafts were sunk. He erected canalside coal wharfs, timber yards and saw mills. The miners lived in terraced cottages called rows near the pit heads. Top Row, Bottom Row and Green Row were in Liverpool Road where there were two inns, The Crown and The Plough.

When John died in 1795, his son, John junior, inherited the estate. Young John demolished Clough Hall, a timber framed black and white farmhouse, and built a new hall – a forty roomed mansion. He died in 1812. Clough Hall and his industrial empire were purchased for £64,000 by Newcastle banker Thomas Kinnersley.

Thomas died in 1819 and his son Thomas inherited the hall whose walled gardens and parkland were surrounded by collieries.

Tramways carried coal and ironstone to wharfs at Harecastle and Hardings Wood for shipment to The Potteries.

Neglected by the Trent & Mersey Canal Company which had failed to maintain it, the Harecastle Tunnel was unsafe. It had been in constant use for 40 years. In some places subsidence had lowered the roof to within six feet of the water level. Brickwork was crumbling and the mortar was so soft that bricks could be pulled out of the walls. Boats turning in and out of branch tunnels had damaged their entrance arches. Many branches were silted with colliery waste that seeped into the main tunnel blocking the canal. Weakened by mine workings some tunnels were in danger of collapsing and the company was forced to carry out major repairs.

Copyright Betty Cooper – The Phoenix Trust 2012