Staffordshire has been described as one vast coalfield. All but the north-eastern corner has coal beneath the surface. There were three main coalfields; North Staffordshire, Cannock Chase and the Black Country.
In 1958 there were 25 working collieries in North Staffordshire. Cannock Chase, which in 1925 had 28, was left with 16 pits and the Black Country had 4. In the Cannock Chase area the coal was very deep and difficult to reach while in the Black Country coalfield, it was the exact opposite. All the coal was near the surface - never more than 40 feet below the ground.
The stories of life in the pits are told with the help of first-hand accounts and fall into chapter headings such as Missing Fingers, Fatalities and some Lucky Escapes and Pit Humour.
A5 (softcover) 128 pages
