Dave and Kath Hadley have only recently started volunteering with FORH. Dave remembers when the Grade II listed Portway Farm was a working farm, with cattle, horses, ducks, and chickens, and a board outside the farmhouse advertising eggs and farmyard manure for sale.

Dave also recalls there being a large pond just a little way in from the road at the summit of Portway Hill which held fish and was a popular spot for local anglers. The pond occupied land where the buildings and shafts of Lye Cross Colliery once stood. This ‘famous’ pit finally closed in 1923 and more on this later. Where Lye Cross Road now stands Dave can remember the army camp where German and Italian prisoners of war were held, and nearby the large gun to target enemy aircrafts on bombing raids over Birmingham and the Black Country.

Back in the 1980s Dave was leader of the 1^st Lion Farm Scout Troop, and Kath the Cubs Troop leader. Both troops were based on Lion Farm Estate. In 1986 Dave’s Scout troop entered the Kodak Conservation Awards, a World Wildlife funded ‘Youth in Action’ project for groups from around the country. The task taken on by the 1^st Lion Farm Scout Troop was to rebuild a collapsed field boundary drystone wall on Portway Hill. The spoil that resulted from mining was spread out widely from the pithead and extended as far as the drystone wall field boundary. Banking soil and debris against the wall resulted in extensive damage with sections of the wall collapsing, and this is where the 1^st Lion Farm Scout Troop comes in.

A second project undertaken by the scouts was to plant tree saplings in gaps along the nearby ‘Church Walk’ an old walkway which originally led  to Rowley Church, a half mile or so away.

Dave’s photographs tell the story, from the initial filling in of the entry form, to the completed tasks.

After several months of endeavour rebuilding of the wall was finally completed and the tree saplings along Church Walk planted. For their achievement the troop received £100 from the Kodak Conservation Awards, a substantial amount of money in 1986. The following year, to celebrate their achievement Dave hired a Wimpey Crew Bus and all those who took part in the Award Scheme were treated to an Easter break in Wales.

Comparison Photographs from then and today

From some of Dave’s photograph collection taken 40 years or so ago, it has been possible to take a recent image from virtually the same spot to show how different things look now!

Fascinating facts about Lye Cross Colliery

Researching Grace’s Guide to Britain’s Industrial History, we can go back to the time when Lye Cross Colliery was a thriving concern. The pit closed in 1923 just over 100 years ago and no trace remains today. Were any photographs of the colliery ever taken? So far none have come to light.

Grace’s Guide provides the following information from the 1876 Institution of Mechanical Engineers magazine describing the sinking of the Lye Cross shafts and about the underlying geology. 1876 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Visits to Works – Graces Guide

The Lye Cross Colliery is situated nearly in the centre of the basaltic mound constituting the Rowley Hills, to the south-east of Dudley, and forming a continuation of the chain of Silurian hills, consisting of Sedgley, Wren’s Nest, and Dudley Castle.

The starting of this colliery was the first attempt to sink through the basalt, to win the coal known to be lying beneath (although at two neighbouring collieries workings had been previously carried under the basalt), and was an undertaking of considerable magnitude, as it was not known what thickness of basalt covered the coal measures. The sinking has proved thoroughly successful, the thickness of basalt being considerably less than was supposed, only 68 yards of basalt having to be sunk through before the rock forming the upper portion of the coal measures was reached; and 92 yards further down (or 168 yards from the surface) the Two-foot and Brooch coal seams were struck, and 50 yards lower the Thick or Ten-Yard scam, and below that the other seams in regular succession, as in other parts of this coalfield. The basalt was followed by 10 inches of natural soil of a dark colour, and under this was the ordinary red brick-clay usually found in the district as the surface clay.

The Rowley hills owe their origin to an outburst of basaltic lava (whose funnel, or point of emergence from below, has however not yet been discovered) having spread over that portion of the coalfield, and protected it from the denudation which elsewhere removed some of the upper portion of the carboniferous strata. Dykes and sheets of intruded igneous rock occur between the coal seams in some places, similar to the basalt, except that there has been more or less mutual reaction between the molten basalt and the coal measures, whereby the former has become “green rock” and “white rock,” according to the nature and extent of the change it underwent whilst cooling, and the coal has become charred for several inches distance from the basalt.

The coal measures of the Staffordshire coalfield were deposited on a floor of Silurian rocks, peaks of which are seen protruding through the coal measures at Sedgley, Wren’s Nest, and Dudley Castle, and are quarried for the Silurian limestone of which they consist. The actual extent of the Staffordshire coalfield is not definitely proved; and, as sinkings to the east of the formerly supposed boundary of the coalfield have proved that it extends further and further eastwards, under the Permian rocks, there seem some grounds for supposing that it will ultimately prove to be continuous with the Warwickshire coalfield.

The sinking of the Lye Cross shafts was commenced in August 1872 and completed in July 1874. The downcast shaft is 12 ft. 6 in. diam. in the clear, and the upcast 8 ft.; they are sunk through the coal to a depth of 13 yds. below the coal before forming the “insets,” which are at the right level to meet the coal (which forms a saddle, dipping in both directions from the shaft) at sufficient distance to support the shaft firmly, namely 100 yds. from bottom of shaft. The insets are 13 ft. high and 25 ft. width, with four lines of rails, for some distance from the shaft.

Gate roads have been driven in different directions to the extent of 3 miles. The upcast shaft is sunk to the same level as the downcast, but the air drift follows the rise of the coal; • the shaft has a brick continuation about 40 ft. high above ground. Wire-rope guides are used, with screw adjustments at top and bottom.

The thickness of the various strata passed through in sinking the shaft was as follows: –

• Made ground and surface soil – 8.5yds.
• Rowley Rag or Basalt – 68yds.
• Rock and Binds – 91.5yds.
• Two-foot and Brooch Coal – 2yds.
• Rock and Binds – 48yds.
• Thick or Ten-Yard Coal – 10yds.
• Gubbin Ironstone – 3yds.
• Heathen Coal – 2yds.
• Whitestone Rock and Measures – 7.5yds.
• Pennystone Measures – 3yds.
• New Mine Coal – 1yd.
• Fire Clays and Binds- 13yds.
• Bottom Coal – 1yd.
• Total – 258.5yds.

The first 3 yds. of the Rowley Rag was partially decomposed, and the rest was in the form of very large boulders, the outside crust of which was in many cases much decomposed. When this bed was nearly passed through, a large quantity of water was met with, which suspended sinking operations for about three weeks. As the coffering for keeping back the water seas required to extend to a depth of 75 yds., and there was no sufficient foundation for it, 4 ft. headings were then driven into the sides of the shaft, and six large oak timbers inserted to form a seating for the curb to rest upon, and the coffering made with hydraulic lime effectually kept back the water; this lime was a mixture of black and white lime, coke-dust, and clinkers (without ash), ground in a mortar mill, mixed with water, and applied hot. The brickwork of the shaft is 2 ft. to 3 ft, thick in some portions. The water from behind the coffering is carried down into the pit by a pipe under sufficient pressure for feeding the underground boiler; it also supplies two drinking fountains for the men. The water is remarkably pure and fresh for drinking; when first drawn it contains a large quantity of minute air bubbles, giving a milky appearance to the water, which gradually escape.

The roads in the pit are very wide and high, and heavily timbered with oak 16 x 14 in. Underground is a manager’s office where the men are paid, a dining room for the colliers, and stables for the pit horses.

The winding engine is horizontal, with a pair of cylinders, 26 in. diam. and 6 ft. stroke, working to about 240 H.P. The winding drum is 14 ft. diam. parallel, and is fitted with a powerful differential steam break, which is worked by the ordinary foot treadle, and dispenses entirely with the ordinary break. Round wire rope is used 1 in. diameter. The pit frames are 45 ft. high, with pulleys 14 ft. diam. The boilers are three in number, plain cylindrical, with hemispherical ends, 5 ft. 6 in. diam. x 39 ft. long, and working at a pressure of 40 to 50 lb. per sq. in. An underground engine is used for hauling coal up an incline of 17 in. per yd. or nearly 1 in 2 from the lower workings to the bottom of the shaft; horizontal engine, with 15 in. cylinder, 3 ft. stroke, winding on a 6 ft. drum with a round wire rope. Steam is supplied by an underground boiler, plain cylindrical with hemispherical ends, 4 ft. 6 in. diam. x 32 ft. long, working at 50 lb. per sq. in. The flue of this boiler passes into the upcast shaft, thus forming the furnace for the ventilation of the mine; but an auxiliary furnace is provided, which can be used to assist the ventilation if required.

Au electric signal is used from the pit bottom to the engine room at the surface, and from the underground winding engine to the bottom of the incline, worked by a Leclanche battery. In any case of a tub getting off the rails on the incline, the two electric wires are arranged to make contact and give a signal for stopping the hauling engine, so as to prevent damage to the road.

The colliery is worked on the pillar and stall system, with pillars 10 yds. square, and stalls 8 to 9 yds. wide. A stall about 80 yds. long by 8 yds. high was shown specially illuminated, presenting a striking scene.

The following account describes an excursion made by members of the Midland Union of Natural History Societies in 1878 and includes their visit to Lye Cross Coal Pit and illustrates the scale of the pit.

‘Members of the Union and their friends, to the number of nearly 400, made an excursion to Dudley and the neighbourhood, under the auspices of the Dudley and Midland Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club, representatives of which received the party at the Tipton Station of the Great Western Railway, and conducted them in the first instance to the Open Coal Work at Foxyards, where the Ten-yard Coal Seam exposes its point of outcrop on the east side of the obstruding ridges of the Dudley Castle Hill and the Wren’s Nest. Mr, Thomas Latham, the Earl of Dudley’s Mine Agent, gave interesting information as to the mode of getting the coal, and under his direction a fall of coal was displayed.’
‘After Luncheon came the crowning event of the day – the descent by more than 400 persons, including many ladies, of the famous Lye Cross Coal Pit at Rowley, which was superintended by Mr. Latham. This pit is remarkable as the first sunk through the Basalt, or Rowley Rag. Where the pit was commenced the thickness of the basalt was unknown; it proved to be no more than 68 yards, when the rock binds of the coal measures were reached. At 168 yards the Two-foot and Brooch coals were met with, and at 228 yards the Thick coal was cut into. The pit is 258½ yards deep.’ (Anon.,1878).