Chatterley Whitfield is a disused colliery near Stoke on Trent which was later used a mining museum. The museum closed in 1993.
Visited December 2017 - August 2018 Chell, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire
History of Chatterley Whitfield Colliery
Chatterley Whitfield is a disused coal mine on the outskirts of Chell, near Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire. It is one of the most complete former collieries in Europe. As such it has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a host of buildings on the site have Listed Building status. In its heyday, Chatterley Whitfield was one of the most productive sites in the country, and in 1937 was the first colliery to produce over one million tons of coal in a year.
Chatterley Whitfield, is situated on the North Staffordshire Coalfield, where evidence suggests coal was first extracted in the fourteenth century, and the first records of mining activity date from the 1750s. By the 1800s a colliery had started to develop with a number of shafts being sank. A great deal of expansion took place during the 1850s and 1860s.
Chatterley Whitfield Colliery – Aerial view of the site including three headstocks
The colliery suffered badly during the recession of the late 1920s and early 1930s, but as the economy recovered in the years leading up to the Second World War, over £300,000 was invested in new plant, workshops and railway equipment, leading to record-breaking years in 1937-9. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the coal industry was nationalised, and the colliery saw significant modernisation.
In 1974 it was decided that Whitfield coal could be more easily worked from Wolstanton Colliery and an underground roadway was driven to join the two pits. Chatterley Whitfield ceased production on 25th March 1977.
Chatterley Whitfield Colliery – Hesketh, Platt and Institute headstocks
The Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum
In 1979 the site re-opened as the Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum, with access to the underground workings via the Winstanley Shaft. Many of the surface buildings were renovated and machinery was restored in its original working condition to show in great realism the life and working conditions of local miners. At it’s peak, it attracted 70,000 visitors a year.
In May 1986, the nearby Wolstanton colliery was closed, from where water was pumped out of the workings. This lead to fears that the underground mining experience at Chatterley Whitfield would flood and there would be a build up of gas. A new experience was constructed using shallow workings and a railway cutting. This enabled underground tours to continue until the museum was put into liquidation in 1993 and subsequently closed on 9th August that year.
Chatterley Whitfield Colliery – Platt and Institute headstocks, along with the main boiler house chimneyChatterley Whitfield Colliery – Hesketh headgear, winding house and power houseChatterley Whitfield Colliery – Winstanley heapstead
Hesketh Power House
Operational from 1914, the Hesketh power house contained compressor pumps and electrical generating equipment. Air was pushed into compressed air receivers to maintain pressure before being pumped down the pit where it would be used to power the machinery such as coal cutters, boring engines, jigger picks and conveyors.
Hesketh Power House – Walker Horizontal Reciprocating Steam Compressor Engine (relocated from Sutton Manor Colliery)Hesketh Power House – Rear of the Walker compressorHesketh Power House – Reciprocating steam engines such as these were the primary source of electricity during the Victorian timesHesketh Power House – A pair of British Thomson-Houston synchronous induction motors with an Alley air compressor in the centreHesketh Power House – British Thomson-Houston synchronous induction motorHesketh Power House – Belliss & Morcom Vertical Cylinder Compressor, driven by the induction motorsHesketh Power House – One of the British Thomson-Houston synchronous induction motorsHesketh Power House – Makers plate on the compressorHesketh Power House – Air compressor built by Alley & MacLellan of Glasgow
Hesketh Winding House
Adjoined to the power house, the Hesketh winding house contains a 500 horsepower steam winding engine, made by Worsley Mesnes lromnakers, Wigan in 1914.
Chatterley Whitfield – From left to right: The Hesketh headstock, winding house and power houseHesketh Winding House – The Worsley Mesnes steam powered winding engineHesketh Winding House – The huge flywheel in the steam winderHesketh Winding House – The steam winding engineHesketh Winding House – One of the engine’s two pistonsHesketh Winding House – Steam winder with the banksman’s position to the rightHesketh Winding House – Banksman’s chairHesketh Winding House – Shaft signal indicatorHesketh Winding House – Worsley Mesnes lromnakers, Wigan 1914.
Down in the basement we find a few other interesting bits…
Hesketh Winding House – The stables for the pit horses were located on the ground floor of the winding houseHesketh Winding House – A stash of old control panelsHesketh Winding House – Control panelHesketh Winding House – Pipework hidden away down belowHesketh Winding House – This old rail-mounted transformer was tucked away in the darknessHesketh Winding House – Underside of the winder
Locomotive Shed and Workshops
Locomotive Shed and workshops – ExteriorLocomotive Shed and workshops – Railway tracks insideLocomotive Shed and workshops – Some old wagons piled upLocomotive Shed and workshops – Some old wagons piled upLocomotive Shed and workshops – The workshops were still fully equippedLocomotive Shed and workshops – Dominion table sawLocomotive Shed and workshops – Saw with old signage
Locomotive Shed and workshops – Dominion drill press
Locomotive Shed and workshops – NCB Signage
Locomotive Shed and workshops – Electrical switchgear
Pit Head Baths
Pithead baths also housed the medical centre and was built 1936-37 in a Modernist style by the Miners’ Welfare Committee
Pit Head Baths – Stairs and drinking fountains in the entrancePit Head Baths – Glass walled roomsPit Head Baths – Some of the rooms still have a few bits remainingPit Head Baths – Pastel staircasePit Head Baths – Upstairs we find the shower areaPit Head Baths – Tiled shower cubiclesPit Head Baths – Some of the lockersPit Head Baths – Miners stored their clothes in the lockersPit Head Baths – Rows of lockers
Canteen
The canteen was extended with a ‘feeding centre’ circa 1950
Canteen – There’s a giant hard-hat in the canteen!Canteen – Hard hat in the 1950s canteenCanteen – Murals above the serving counter
Main Boiler House
A bank of 10 Lancashire boilers were erected in 1937 to supply steam for the winding engines, pithead baths, canteen, compressors and to heat the offices. In 1992/93 when the liquidators moved in the boilers were sold off for scrap. The roof was removed, but before the boilers were scrapped they were saved, however the roof was not replaced which has had a big effect of the derelict state they are now in.
Boiler House – Three of the ten Lancashire boilersBoiler House – Trees growing through the boilersBoiler House – This whole building has become an absolute deathtrap!Boiler House – Some of the Lancashire boilers
Walker Fan House and Drift
Situated between the Institute and Platt shafts the fan extracted some 43,000 cubic metres of air per minute, which entered the mine via the Hesketh and Winstanley shafts and exited through the Evasee up the Platt and Institute shafts.
Walker Fan House – AEI Fan MotorWalker Fan House – The fan drew air through the mine workingsWalker Fan House – Top of the fan drift
Institute Winding House
The Institute Winding House was installed in 1966 and was fitted with a single 270 horsepower electric drum winder. The system had one cage functioning as an upcast.
Institute Winding House – Inside the control cabinInstitute Winding House – General view of the winding houseInstitute Winding House – The winding drumInstitute Winding House – “Code of Shaft Signals” signage dated 1967
Lamp House
The lamp house was added in 1922, after the older lamp house was deemed too small owing to an increase in manpower and the introduction of electric lamps.
Lamp House – General viewLamp House – The few remaining lamp charging stationsLamp House – Lamps and battery packsLamp House – Old sign and decaying rooms in the lamp houseLamp House – Part of the lamp house had been converted into the ticket office when the colliery was a museumLamp House – Inside the museum shopLamp House – Poster on the shop counterLamp House – Map of the mine workingsLamp House – This mural was at the start of the museum tour as part of an exhibition explaining “how coal was formed”
And a couple more to finish off with…….
Chatterley Whitfield Wagons with the colliery behindClockwise from top left: Hesketh power house, Hesketh Headgear, Platt winding house and Headgear, Institute Headgear and winding house, chimney, boiler house, Lamp House, Locomotive shed, and the Walker fan drift in the centre.
Really enjoyed seeing all these photos and the Hesketh winder and compressors which are still in situ , it would be fantastic too see it all cleaned up and running once more
Absolutely first class. Been there a few times now but not inside the main buildings. The photos really capture the scale of what is there. Folk are fighting hard to save the site but it’s an uphill struggle I’m afraid
This brought back many memories of when we visited the museum in the early 80s – especially the lamp house where we had to hand in ‘contraband’ while lamping up. I still have a piece of coal I ‘mined’ from the 700′ foot level. So sad to see it in this state
What an amazing place! I hope you get the funding to start restoring it. Could you start with a site tidy up so people can see the outside of the buildings and open the cafe for some income?
Hi Janice. I visited to photograph and document Chatterley Whitfield, but I’m not actually associated with the site. They have their own website here: https://chatterleywhitfieldfriends.org
Chell, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire 
My grand father , Samuel Roberts, worked there in the 1920’a nd 30’s
Really enjoyed seeing all these photos and the Hesketh winder and compressors which are still in situ , it would be fantastic too see it all cleaned up and running once more
Absolutely first class. Been there a few times now but not inside the main buildings. The photos really capture the scale of what is there. Folk are fighting hard to save the site but it’s an uphill struggle I’m afraid
This brought back many memories of when we visited the museum in the early 80s – especially the lamp house where we had to hand in ‘contraband’ while lamping up. I still have a piece of coal I ‘mined’ from the 700′ foot level. So sad to see it in this state
What an amazing place! I hope you get the funding to start restoring it. Could you start with a site tidy up so people can see the outside of the buildings and open the cafe for some income?
Hi Janice. I visited to photograph and document Chatterley Whitfield, but I’m not actually associated with the site. They have their own website here: https://chatterleywhitfieldfriends.org
Hi Hi hi, would you reccommend getting a tour of the site or trying to find another way in at a different time?
I believe official visits can be arranged through the Friends of Chatterley Whitfield
wow!!!!! hi from sydney Australia