Clee Hills Coalfield

Clee Hills Coalfield (Nigel Chapman, "Mining in Shropshire")

To the west of the Wyre Forest Coalfield lie the Clee Hills and coal mining started here in medieval times. In 1260-3, Walter de Clifford granted a licence to Sir John de Halston to "dig coles within the forest of La Clie to sell or give away". This mining was by means of adits and bellpits, the latter being shallow shafts with short passages at the bottom. As soon as there were problems with stability or ventilation, the bellpit was abandoned and another sunk next to it, spoil from the new one being tipped down the old one.

On Titterstone Clee Hill, mining continued in this way until the 18th century, with the coal mostly being used for local lime burning. From the 16th century onwards, ironstone was mined as well and several furnaces were built in the surrounding area, although charcoal was used as a fuel instead of coal until the late 18th century. The area was a source of iron and coal in the 18th century for the Knight family, who were a major force in the British iron industry at that time. Iron workings were similar to the coal pits with primitive technology, relying on hand windlasses or horse gins for winding. Iron smelting continued on the hill until 1851 when the last blast furnace at Knowbury closed.

In the 19th century, most of the mineral rights were acquired by the ironmaster families of Lewis and Botfield and they began to develop the mines to supply coal to south west Shropshire. By 1839, the sale area had expanded to include north Herefordshire, Radnorshire and a great deal of Wales. Technology was introduced underground and proper collieries were developed, with steam power to allow deeper working. Drainage adits were driven to unwater the workings into the Cornbrook and elsewhere. By the 1840s, there were about 250 miners producing an average of 25,000 tons of coal per year. In an attempt to ease transport of coal off the hill, a railway was built to Ludlow in the mid 1860s. This reached the top of the hill by a rope worked incline. By this time, however, the coalfield had passed its peak and the mines of Lewis and Botfield passed to a series of small private companies.

A number of mines, including Cornbrook and Whatsill Collieries, were operated by Cornbrook and Knowbury Coal & Stone Company. They had abandoned these by the end of the 19th century, however, as the coal began to run out. Summers and Garbett operated the Catherton Colliery until 1889 and the Whatsill Colliery was re-worked until about 1917. The Clee Hill Mining & Development Co Ltd were operating Barn Pit (the re-named Cornbrook Colliery), using Trout Pit for ventilation, until it closed in 1927. There was a brief revival during the Second World War for local use but all working had ceased by 1945.

Brown Clee Hill was the highest coalfield in England but latterly operations were on a much smaller scale than its neighbouring hill. By the 19th century, the deposits were almost exhausted and workings consisted of primitive pits with two or three men. Thomas Childs and Edward Duce leased the mines in 1850 and John Blunt operated a combined coal and lime works at Abdon Burf. By the end of the century, however, the industry had ceased for good.

Cornbrook Adits (David Poyner, SCMC Newsletter, 2000.1)

As befits one of the highest coalfields in the country, much use was made of adits on the Clee Hill. The best known of these is probably the Cornbrook adit, located at SO60287557 in the narrow ravine created by the Cornbrook, the stream which drains the central plateau region of the Clee Hill. This was explored in about 1970 by the Birmingham Enterprise Club when it could be followed for over 300 yards; it was said to be gated at this time. Alf Jenkins in his book "Titterstone Clee Hills: Everyday Life, Industrial History and Dialect" (1982) describes its mouth as a brick arch, leading into the hillside. In more recent times all traces of an opening have vanished. Over the summer I examined a series of plans in the Mining Records Office of the Coal Authority which show the adit and its outflow in some detail and over several weekends this January I have attempted to correlate the surviving features on the Cornbrook with this plan and what is known about the area from other sources.

At the junction of the main A4117 and a minor road to Hints (SO609758), an unsurfaced road heads south-west down the side of the Hill. This crosses the Cornbrook as its ravine temporarily widens out and the stream follows a flat course for about 100 yards, keeping close to the eastern side of the valley. The adit mouth was located north of the road on the east bank of the brook. This part of the brook is drawn in detail on the plan in the Mines Record. The plan is not dated but is probably from about 1870; it was actually drawn up to show a new deep drainage adit which was never built. Not only does the plan show the mouth of the adit, it shows an upper and two lower pools downstream with the brook being diverted underground by a culvert called Mr Knight's Drain. Strangely the adit opens below the mouth of the drain; it gives no clue as to how the water from the adit found its way down this part of the valley. The map suggests the upper pool was dry but the lower pools were full. To add to the confusion, the Tithe Map of about 1840 shows yet another situation with the brook keeping close to the western side of its valley but no sign of any pools!

Examination of the existing features seems to confirm the accuracy of the undated large scale plan. The position of the adit entrance is marked by a strong ochre spring with suggestions of an old landslip on the hillside immediately above it. As the slippage is largely grassed over it must have happened some years ago. About 20 yards further north there is a suggestion of another possible adit site; a crevice in the rock obscured by a landslip, although this was producing no water outflow. There is no sign of the entrance to "Mr Knight's Drain" although there is a low, dam-like structure across the valley roughly at this point (this may be natural, perhaps a fault?). The current course of the stream beyond this is obviously artificial and in places its channel is reinforced with concrete; however this course was shown on the 1883 OS map and so is well over a century old. The site of the upper pool is still present, although apparently partially filled with modern material; there is then a steep bank made of coal measure clay and shale before a boggy plateau.

The stream at this point is carried in a leat cut out of the east bank of the valley, before plunging about 20 feet down a series of water falls. The site of the easternmost of the two lower pools is obscured by rocks and trees but the western pool is marked by a boggy hollow drained by a small rivulet. The ground then falls away steeply and is still made of coal measure clay and shale. As it finally levels out there is a boggy gully on the west which is obviously the outfall of "Mr Knight's Drain". Although the c 1870 survey does not continue much further north than the adit mouth, the opportunity was taken to climb up the ravine for another 100 or so yards. Here the brook is in a steep sided gorge but again it opens out again, albeit only on the eastern side. The 1883 OS map shows a track crossing the brook at this point, just north of a cottage and enclosure that dates from at least 1761 (when it is shown on a survey of Lord Craven's estates on the Clee Hill). The track and walls of the enclosure are obvious and retaining walls on the banks of the brook suggest that there was once a bridge here. Just north of the probable bridge is another likely adit; a rocky crevice with an old landslip above it and traces of water flowing from out of it. No further exploration of the brook has yet taken place.

In the Eighteenth Century the mines on this part of the hill were run by the Knight family, and detailed accounts from 1735 survive in the Worcester Record Office. These have been examined by several historians including R.A.Lewis in the 1940s and the late Dr Ken Goodman in the 1970s. At the start of this period there was one main adit in use, called the Footrail. In his PhD thesis, Goodman appears to suggest that the footrid corresponds to the furthermost adit, and this seems entirely reasonable on the field evidence I have seen so far. The problem with this adit is that being high up, it would drain comparatively little of the coalfield. Accordingly in 1748-50 the New Footrail was driven, apparently lower down the hill. Goodman seems to think this was the adit that was visible until comparatively recently. The driving of this adit would certainly produce much waste and it also seems to have been used for coal drawing. One possibility is that the brook was culverted to allow the spoil to be tipped freely down the valley. As noted above, the field evidence suggests two adits may in fact be present here, close together.

In 1780 the Knight family gave up their mining interests on the Clee Hill to be replaced by Beriah Botfield from East Shropshire. Botfield surveyed his mines and in 1783 was unhappy about the state of the main drainage level; probably the New Footrail. His preferred solution was to recut it on a slightly lower line. If this work was done it might explain why there seem to be two adits so close together; the upper one the New Footrail from the Knights' time and long disused; the southern one a recut by Botfield. This may also explain why its outflow is above the start of "Mr Knight's Drain", if the latter was actually built to take away water from the slightly higher New Footrail. In addition to the mines, Botfield constructed a blast furnace in 1783/4, on the west bank of the Cornbrook just where the ravine finally ends; about 200 yards from the lowest adit. This would have needed water. It is possible that the system of pools were constructed with this in mind, although they would not have been capable of holding much water. This might also explain the westerly course of the brook shown on the tithe map; it would have brought the water right in front of the furnace.

There is nothing very convincing on the ground today to support the westerly course of the stream, but evidence could have been destroyed in the course of cutting a new road that now exists. It would be unusual if the Tithe Map committed so gross an error as to show a stream in the wrong place. Although the blast furnace soon ceased to work, the associated water courses would have a much longer life. Why the stream was subsequently diverted to its eastern course is not known, but it probably happened when Knight's Drain finally collapsed, perhaps in the 1870s.