Details

The monument is situated 240m north west of Watling Street Grange. It includes
the standing and buried remains of colliery winding headgear associated with
the former Grange colliery.
Grange colliery was one of four mines known as the Deepside Mines (the others
being Granville, Woodhouse and Stafford) which exploited deep coal reserves in
the 19th and 20th centuries. The first shaft at Grange was sunk in 1864, and
the mine was fully operative until 1951. At that date its underground workings
connected with those of the nearby Granville colliery, and it was thereafter
used as a pumping station for Granville until 1979. The tandem headgear
(twin-wheeled, with one wheel behind the other), survives in situ, dominating
the site of the former colliery. Twin towers of braced girder construction
support a two-storied structure of around 20m height, with a single winding
wheel at each end. Floor plates and ladders are intact. The headgear is
believed to date to around 1870, when the colliery's first winding engine was
replaced by a larger one.
New colliery buildings were constructed in the 1950s and are still present,
but have not been included in the scheduling because of their subsequent
alteration and disturbance.
The two concrete caravan stands to the south of the headgear are excluded from
the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Coal has been mined in England since Roman times, and between 8,000 and 10,000
coal industry sites of all dates up to the collieries of post-war
nationalisation are estimated to survive in England. Three hundred and four
coal industry sites, representing approximately 3% of the estimated national
archaeological resource for the industry have been identified as being of
national importance. This selection, compiled and assessed through a
comprehensive survey of the coal industry, is designed to represent the
industry's chronological depth, technological breadth and regional diversity.
The term `nucleated' is used to describe coal mines that developed as a result
of increased capital investment in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are a
prominent type of field monument produced by coal mining and typically
consist of a range of features grouped around the shafts of a mine. The
simplest examples contain merely a shaft or adit with associated spoil heap.
Later examples are characterised by developed pit head arrangements that may
include remains of engine houses for pumping and/or winding from shafts,
boiler houses, fan houses for ventilating mine workings, offices, workshops,
pithead baths, and transport systems such as railways and canals. A number of
later nucleated mines also retain the remains of screens where the coal was
sized and graded. Coke ovens are frequently found on or near colliery sites.
Coal occurs in significant deposits throughout large parts of England and this
has given rise to a variety of coalfields extending from the north of England
to the Kent coast. Each region has its own history of exploitation, and
characteristic sites range from the small, compact collieries of north
Somerset to the large, intensive units of the north east. A sample of the
better preserved sites, illustrating the regional, chronological and
technological range of nucleated coal mines, together with rare individual
component features are considered to merit protection.

The tandem headgear of Grange colliery, which is understood to be one of only
two remaining in situ in the country, survives well. The headgear is therefore
a rare example of a feature once relatively common in the coal mining
industry.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Fearenside, L E, Pit's Progress, (1997)
Horton, , Biddle, , The Deepside Mines, (1987), 65
Pearce, A, Mining in Shropshire, (1995), 27-41
Other
07278 (incs Grange Colliery), (1995)

Source: Historic England