North Staffordshire Coalfield Through Time

The North Staffordshire Coalfield is concentrated around the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-Under-Lyme areas, with a small outlying area around Leek and Cheadle. During the Industrial Revolution coal from the area fired the Potteries ceramics and iron industries. At its peak, 50 pits were working in the area but as the coal industry declined nationally, pits gradually merged or closed in the postwar years. Closures accelerated following the Miners’ Strike in the 1980s and the last deep mine, ...