The Cheadle Coalfield, which is separate from that in the Potteries, has been mined for many hundreds of years in small mines, mainly of the "bell pit" variety. However, most of this mining was centered in the Cheadle and Dilhorne areas and all of it was small scale. The coalfield's most southern extremities however, stretch well into the parish of Draycott and later this area was exploited for its coal reserves. Evidence of many small scale pits is known in the Boundary locality, but beware if you wish to discover more about these operations, as most of these pits were never recorded or sealed properly, and so consequently deep shafts remain, covered only by a thin layer of earth and rotten timbers! Over the years cows are known to have disappeared down mine shafts and on one occasion a householder on Cheapside was digging in his backgarden when his spade fell through the earth and a gaping abyss appeared!
There is very little known about these early mines as they were often only open for a few years and the vast majority were never recorded. However, we may assume that the first mines in the Boundary and Draycott Cross localities were sunk in the 18th century as it was at this time that the whole of the Cheadle Coalfield became widely exploited. The first major mining operations we hear of however were started in the following century, when Britain was at the height of the Industrial Revolution and coal was in great demand.
In the 19th century there were two major colliery concerns in the Cheadle Coalfield, the Parkhall & Foxfield Collieries and New Haden Colliery. It is only the latter however, which concerns the parish of Draycott. In Robert Plant's "History of Cheadle" (1881), we come across the following quote regarding mining operations at Draycott Cross:-
"About 27 years ago some pits were carried down on Mr. Vavasour's property at Draycot Cross, and beneath 180 feet of Bunters, the 'Dilhorne Two-yard' coal was met with at 285 feet from the surface. The position of these sinkings is about half-a-mile south of the line of introduction of the Bunters, and near a fault running north-east and south-east which brings in the overlying Keuper sandstone and marls. In 1856 a boring was made near Cresswell Mill nearly two miles south of the southern edge of the exposed coal measures, and carried down 600 feet in red marls, Keuper sandstone, and conglomerate, but abandoned before the latter beds were penetrated."
The pits Mr. Plant refers to at Draycott Cross were in fact part of the New Haden complex which was actually called the Draycott collieries at one time. In all there were twelve shafts, two of those being in the Draycott parish and known at the time as 'Draycott Colliery'. These shafts were situated alongside the Cheadle Railway, just south-west of the southern portal of the tunnel.
Whilst certain shafts of the New Haden Colliery were destined to become a success, this was not to be with the shafts at Draycott Cross. Early trial sinkings which date back to 1853, (the shafts described by Plant), claimed to have reached 'Two-yard' or 'Dilhorne' coal at 285 feet. The two shafts were eventually sunk but local rumours have it that no coal was ever actually drawn from them, the sinkers being plagued by sandstone, and that Messers Offer and Dickinson, (the main promoters), lost £30,000 between them on the shafts at Draycott Cross. Whatever was the case, in 1944 the Staffordshire Potteries Water Board utilised the old shafts as bore holes for water storage. One of them is still used for that purpose today, whilst the other is capped with concrete.
It must be stated that even today, little is known about mining in the Draycott parish, though it must be remembered that it would never have been on a large scale. For those who wish to learn more on the Cheadle Coalfield as a whole, may I recommend reading "The Cheadle Coallieries and their Railways" by Allan C. Baker which is both an interesting and informative read.
Notes made by M. Pointon
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