2-359-198 - Worldwide Photography/Heritage-Images

The Big A, Hem Heath Colliery, Trentham, Staffordshire, 1960. A view of the headgear of no 2 shaft, known as the Big A due to its distinctive shape. The pit was originaly sunk in 1924 and work began in 1950 on sinking a new shaft which was 24 feet in diameter and 1134 yards deep, which made it the third deepest in the country. In 1979 there were 1790 men employed, with an output of 1,001,368 tonnes of coal. It merged with neighbouring Florence colliery in 1990 to become the Trentham superpit but was closed in 1996 with the headgear being demolished the following year. The site was then used to build the Britannia Stadium, the new home for Stoke City FC, completed in 1997.