Monument record 4395/1 - Middlecale Coal Pit

<1> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 252/2 c.1850 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

This map of c.1850 depicts five to six buildings within plot 180. The plot is described as an engine house, coal pit, hill and road. Located adjacent to the canal, the canal’s widening at this point and its association with a probable tramway suggests a possible wharf. Middlescale Cottage forms part of the plot. To the east of plot 180 and connected by a probable tramway which is incorporated as part of the plot, is plot 179. This is described as an engine house, coal pit, hill and tram road. Both are owned and occupied by the same Thomas Legh and Thomas Brocklehurst.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ9584, 1874-1885 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts Middlecale Pit. A single coal shaft is labelled with the main complex of buildings located between it and the canal. To its immediate east is a small building from which a tramway runs north-east to the edge of Middlecale Wood. A further tramway runs north along the canal wharf. To the south are two further buildings, one labelled a smithy. The earlier tramway depicted on the tithe map (see 1) is disused. Two old coal shafts are depicted with or adjacent to what the tithe award records as plot 179. There is also a chimney. A further tramway runs from the canal wharf to a colliery north of Hilltop Farm (see CHER 4395/2).

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ9584, 1897-1898 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

This map depicts Middlecale Pit as disused. The tramways are no longer extant, though earthworks depicted on the map indicated that the tramway which ran north-east to Middlecale Wood may have facilitated the dumping of mining spoil into the stream valley. Some of the buildings associated with the mine complex adjacent to the canal have been demolished.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ9584, 1909 (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

<5> Shercliff W H, Kitching D A & Ryan J M, 1983, Poynton, A Coalmining Village, p.19, 36 (Monograph). SCH2683.

Records the shaft adjacent to the canal (plot 180 on the tithe map) as Middlecale Canal and a shaft to the east (plot 179) as No. 7. Records a canal wharf at Middlecale.

<5> The Coal Authority, Various, Coal Authority Web Mapping Service, 06/08/2019 (Digital Archive). SCH8741.

Data published by the Coal Authority records one shaft at Middlecale Cottages and approximate five at the site to the east. Middlecale Pit mined two seams of coal at 40m to 90m depth which were last worked in 1908. The shaft was filled in 1963 and capped in 1985.

<6> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 06/08/2019 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Of the buildings associated with the pit, only smithy and an adjacent building survive. The later north-east to south-west aligned tramway survives as a farm track. The earlier tramway only survives as a slight earthwork and as a cropmark. The canal wharf is still extant.

<7> Garry Miller: Architectural Historian, 2019, Proposed New Dwelling at Middlecale Farm, Lyme Handley, Cheshire East: Heritage/Archaeological Assessment, R4391 (Client Report). SCH8818.

A heritage assessment and photographic record was produced in 2019 in support of a proposed development at Middlecale Farm, Lyme Hanley. The site lies within the linear conservation area that is focussed on the Macclesfield Canal which opened in 1831 and was one of the last narrow inland waterways to be constructed. The Middlecale Pit, which closed in the late nineteenth century, adjoined to the north-west of the site.

The proposed development site lies to the rear of Middlecale Cottages and is occupied by two undesignated, early-mid nineteenth century, single-storey buildings which were originally used as stables for pit ponies, also one incorporated a smithy (the buildings identified by source 6). The development proposal includes the demolition of these buildings and their replacement with a new dwelling. The buildings are of historical interest due to their association with Middlecale Pit.