Lea Hall Colliery,Days Of Our Lives.

Subscribe to my you tube channel for 300+ more coal mine tributes and counting. In Rugeley the £14 million Lea Hall Colliery opened in 1960 by the National Coal Board the shafts passed through 11 seams of Cannock Chase coal with a total thickness of 51ft [5.1m].It produced in excess of 1 millions tons per year on several occasions.With the Rugeley A power station constructed next door so coal could be transported directly on conveyor belt to generate electricity.Lea Hall Colliery was the first all-new colliery that had been planned at build by the National Coal Board with a planned life of 100 years and at one point was described as being the highest producing single colliery in Western Europe.The Rugeley power stations were a series of two coal-fired power stations located on the River Trent at Rugeley in Staffordshire. Construction of the first power station at the site, Rugeley ‘A’ station started in 1956 and station’s generating sets were commissioned between 1961 and 1962. The ‘A’ station took coal directly from the neighbouring Lea Hall Colliery by conveyor belt. The colliery was put into production some 6 months before the first generating unit was commissioned in the power station. This was the first joint venture between the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the National Coal Board (NCB). Lea Hall colliery was sadly closed on 24 January 1991 after just 30 years., meaning all coal burned in the stations needed to be delivered by rail. Reasons For Closure. Financial Unprofitability: Significant investments in the 1970s and 80s—including an £8.5 million development scheme in 1976—failed to return the colliery to profitability. Geological Issues and Fire: During the 1984–85 miners' strike, spontaneous combustion occurred in the Barnsley Bed Seam. This fire caused extensive damage that made it nearly impossible for the colliery to be economically viable again. Market Shifts: The demand for "large coal" plummeted as British Rail switched to diesel locomotives and factories moved toward electric motors. While the colliery adapted to produce "small coal" for modern power stations, the shift was not enough to save it. Wider Industry Decline: Its closure was part of the broader contraction of the British coal industry following the 1984 strike, where many deep mines were shuttered due to high operating costs compared to international market prices. At its peak, the colliery employed over 2,000 men and frequently produced more than 1 million tons of coal per year. Today, the site is home to a large Amazon distribution centre.