- Source: South Staffordshire coalfield
The South Staffordshire coalfield is one of several coalfields in the English Midlands. It stretches for 25 miles / 40 km from the Lickey Hills in the south to Rugeley in the north. The coalfield is around 10 miles (16 km) wide; its eastern and western margins are fault-bounded.
Coal measures
Numerous coal seams are recognised within the coalfield - the following coal seams are recognised within the Cannock section of the coalfield - an area sometimes separately referred to as the Cannock coalfield or Cannock Chase coalfield:
Middle Coal Measures
Top Robins
Bottom Robins
Charles
Brooch
Benches
Eight Feet
Park
Upper/Top Heathen
Lower/Bottom Heathen
Lower Coal Measures
Yard
Bass
Cinder
Shallow
Deep
Mealy Greys
Within the southern part of the coalfield, fewer seams are recognised due to the 'Benches', 'Eight Feet' and 'Park' seams combining as the 'Thick' whilst the two 'Heathen' seams combine, the 'Yard' and 'Bass' seams combine as the 'New Mine' and the 'Cinder', 'Shallow' and 'Deep' combine as the 'Bottom';
Middle Coal Measures
Brooch
Thick
Heathen
Lower Coal Measures
New Mine
Bottom
?Mealy Greys
Iron ore
In addition to coal the South Staffordshire coalfield has been mined for its iron ore. In 1855, William Truran in The Iron Manufacture of Great Britain reported South Staffordshire to have sixty-five sites, a total of 169 furnaces and an annual production of around 950,000 tons of crude iron; the third largest producing area in Great Britain after South Wales and Scotland.
See also
Cannock Chase Coalfield
Black Country Geopark
Coal mining in the Black Country