I thought that today, I’d dig some interesting mapping out of the archive. In the light of Gerald Reece’s talk on Brownhills and it’s colliery history, I thought this 1884 1:2,500 scale plan of Wyrley Common was due an outing. It shows – in some clarity – the extent of mining in the Engine Lane area at the height of the Victorian period.
These aren’t the initial shallow pits that must have made Brownhills akin to the Klondyke; these are the deep, precisely engineered collieries that came with the advent of some mechanisation, rail links and better pumping technology.
Fragment of the sheet covering the Cathedral Pit and the little-mentioned Wyrley Common Colliery. Click for a larger version.
Click on the image below to load the full version; it’s about eight megabytes in size and a large image. There are some interesting things to note, and I’d welcome comment and look forward to seeing what readers find. Note the wharf at The Slough, and the remnants of old workings around the Coppice Side area – this is what Gerald referred to as ‘Palmers Hay’. Big House Farm is a name that survives to this day – but not in that location, which I find interesting. The tramways around Conduit Colliery – to the canal – are also fascinating, as is the pit on what would be Brownhills Common today, immediately adjacent to the Chester Road.
As usual, please comment here or BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot Com. Cheers.
Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 sheet covering Wyrley Common, scanned from a paper facsimile. Click for the full-size version. May take a while to load.