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Leycett was a small mining village in Staffordshire in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme which was built in the late eighteen sixties to accommodate the miners and their families. Population details as taken at the 2011 census can be found under Madeley with the name Leycett meaning 'the clearing in the woods'.[ citation needed ]
Mining in Leycett was first mentioned back in Roman times and continued into the nineteenth century which is when in 1801, a leasehold agreement was taken out for thirty three years to mine coal on land at Leycett, between John the First Lord Crewe, Walter Sneyd of Keele, Thomas Breek of Keele and James Breek of Newcastle. [1] [2] By 1834 local industrialist Thomas Firmstone had taken over the lease and in 1838 constructed a three and half mile tramline from the colliery to link up with the mainline at Madeley Station to help transport his coal all over the country. [3] Leycett Collieries became known as Madeley Colliery in 1947 under The National Coal Board, until its closure in 1957. Pits included Fair Lady and Bang Up. [1]
Later on Leycett was served by Leycett railway station which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on 28 June 1880 for passengers. [3] At its peak the village as well as having a colliery also had a miners institute, a church, a village shop with off-licence, a post office, a butcher's, the railway station as mentioned above, a doctors, a school and a recreation ground built by the miners which had a cricket and football pitch, and later tennis courts and a bowling green.
By the mid-sixties the main part of the village had been demolished after the colliery closed down in 1957 [7] despite there still being a considerable amount of coal untouched in the area. The only buildings left standing today are the old school and School House, the railway cottages, the Station House, part of the wooden station now used as a garage, the row of houses at Park Terrace and a few cottages and farms. Where the main bulk of the Leycett community once lived in the terraced houses (Top Street, Middle Street and Bottom Street) has now completely gone and today looks similar to an orchard, although the trees there are not fruit trees.
Where once stood the miners welfare institute, now stands a Portakabin office for the recycling yard. The railway cutting and bridge adjacent to the institute are now part of the topography of the recycling yard, the former being used for landfill and the latter demolished to accomplish this.
Leycett Cricket Club which was started by the miners of the village colliery, has been around since about 1870 and continues to this day playing in one of the top leagues in the country. [8] Former England fast bowler Dean Headley played as a professional for the club in the North Staffs League for a season in the early days of his career. [9] Unfortunately the football pitch, tennis court and bowling green have long since gone.
Just a short walk across the fields from the cricket ground takes you to Finney Green, where in 1970 a local farmer by the name of Ted Askey allowed his field be used to host the Hollywood Music Festival which attracted 45,000 people over the weekend with acts such as Black Sabbath, Mungo Jerry and the Grateful Dead. This was the first rock concert to be held in the northern part of Britain. [10]
Ynysybwl is a village in Cwm Clydach in Wales. It is situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, roughly 15 miles (24 km) north-north-west of Cardiff, 4 miles (6 km) north of Pontypridd and 16 miles (26 km) south of Merthyr Tydfil, and forms part of the community of Ynysybwl and Coed-y-Cwm.
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully.
Keele is a village and civil parish in northern Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles (5 km) west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale. Keele lies on the A53 road from Newcastle-under-Lyme to Market Drayton and Shrewsbury. The village is the location of Keele University and Keele Services, a motorway service area on the M6.
Highley is a large village in Shropshire, England, on the west bank of the River Severn and south east of Bridgnorth.
Madeley is a village and ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, North Staffordshire, England. It is split into three parts: Madeley, Middle Madeley, and Little Madeley. Madeley Heath is also considered by many to be part of Madeley. In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 4,386, decreasing to 4,222 at the 2011 Census.
Chesterton is a small, former mining village in Staffordshire, England. It is in the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Betley is a village and civil parish in the Newcastle district of Staffordshire, England, about halfway between Newcastle-under-Lyme and Nantwich. Betley forms a continual linear settlement with Wrinehill.
Silverdale is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, west of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In 1932 it became part of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and is now primarily part of the Silverdale and Parksite ward, with the exception of the north-eastern end which is part of Silverdale and Knutton.
Dinas is a village near Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Dinas is often referred to as Dinas Rhondda to avoid confusion with Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan. The word dinas in Modern Welsh means "city", but here it means "hill fort".
Micklefield is a village and civil parish east of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It neighbours Garforth, Aberford and Brotherton and is close to the A1 Motorway. It is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. The population as of the 2011 Census was 1,893, increased from 1,852 in 2001.
Halmer End is a small village in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, neighbouring the small hamlet of Alsagers Bank and the larger village of Audley.
Events from the year 1880 in the United Kingdom.
The Minnie Pit disaster was a coal mining accident that took place on 12 January 1918 in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys died. The disaster, which was caused by an explosion due to firedamp, is the worst ever recorded in the North Staffordshire Coalfield. An official investigation never established what caused the ignition of flammable gases in the pit.
The Stoke to Market Drayton Line was a railway line that ran through Staffordshire and Shropshire that was built by the North Staffordshire Railway.
Hamstead Colliery in Hamstead, England, produced coal between 1878 and 1965, by mining the South Staffordshire 'Thick' coal seam. It suffered a major fire in 1908 in which 26 men died.
Halmerend railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
Leycett railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire, England.
The Peckfield pit disaster was a mining accident at the Peckfield Colliery in Micklefield, West Yorkshire, England, which occurred on Thursday 30 April 1896, killing 63 men and boys out of 105 who were in the pit, plus 19 out of 23 pit ponies.
The Diglake Colliery Disaster, was a coal-mining disaster at what was Audley Colliery in Bignall End, North Staffordshire, on 14 January 1895. A flood of water rushed into the mine and caused the deaths of 77 miners. Only three bodies were recovered, with efforts to retrieve the dead hampered by floodwater. 73 bodies are still entombed underground.
