Public Monuments and Sculpture in Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle-under-Lyme
Public Monuments and Sculpture in Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle-under-Lyme
 

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Colliery pithead Wheels
at Berryhill Fields
 

Location:  Berryhill fields - top of pathway at entrance to park nearest to Hall Hill Drive
Installed: 2000                        
 

Inscription: (concrete circle - surrounded by cobblestones)

"THERE'S BLACK ASH BENEATH
THE GREEN
GOB FIRES BURNING UNDER GAS HILL
AND BENEATH IT ALL
BONES OF MINERS BURIED
STILL"


 


 

Description:

Four pithead winding wheels, half set into the ground. Pointing in four different direction. The wheels are painted black and have nameplates which depict the local seams mined and some of the collieries in the area.

The wheels are set on the levelled off spoil heap of Mossfield Colliery.


The inscription commemorates a fatal accident at Mossfield colliery in 1889.
The Cockshead seam (which was mined at Mossfield) was subject to gob fires (an area that has been left void after the coal has been extracted and fires are caused by spontaneous combustion).
A series of explosions began on the 12th September , probably due to the access of air to the gob fire and the crushing of the extremely thin pillars of coal separating the two workings. On October 16th 1889 there was a massive explosion, resulting in the death of 64 miners at Mossfield Colliery.

 

 

Background to the wheels:

Part of the restoration of the Berryhill fields after they had been saved from opencast mining.

There was a strong emphasis on community involvement throughout the project, and the Berryhill Friends Group played a key role in its management.

 

 

  

Materials:

Part of work

Material

Dimensions

Wheels

Steel, painted black  

 

 

 

Photos: January 2006

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questions/comments/contributions? email: Steve Birks

19 January 2006