Industry: part 2
Over the next 60 years, many of the smaller collieries were abandoned and, by around 1900, coal production was concentrated in three main sites (map 2).
Pooley Hall Colliery began production in 1897. In addition to a wharf on the canal, the Colliery also had a stretch of track laid to connect it to the main rail line. In 1951, Pooley Hall Colliery merged with nearby Amington and Tamworth Collieries to form North Warwick Colliery, under which name it traded until its closure in 1965.
Birchmoor Colliery (also called "Cockspur Colliery"), near the village of Birchmoor, was in operation from 1860 until 1927. A tramway was used to transport coal from the site to the canal, the line running overland to Tamworth Road where the wharf, "Polesworth Basin", was located. Established in the 19th Century, the wharf was used by a number of the industries in the village.
On the opposite side of the Watling Street from Dordon, stood the area's third colliery. Birch Coppice, or Hall End, Colliery began production in 1875. It was in operation for over a hundred years, finally closing in 1987. Although, like Birchmoor, it was connected to the wharf at Polesworth Basin by an overland tramway, the colliery also had a rail connection to the branch line at Kingbury, in addition to a second tramline running from a shaft at the nearby village of Wood End.
As mentioned earlier, numerous brickworks were sited in and around Polesworth. Perhaps the best remembered was The Midland Brick and Terra Cotta Co. Ltd., which was established a short distance away from Polesworth Basin in around 1813. The works were more familiarly known as the "pipeworks" or, simply the "brickworks". Still further along the canal stood a steam mill. Grain from local farmers was ground here, then shipped along the canal to Nuneaton and Coventry. In 1912, part of the mill was converted into a cinema, which in turn was replaced, after its closure in 1956, by a soft drinks factory.
Not surprisingly, the canal also spawned a boatyard. Situated near Grendon Road, the yard developed a reputation for the quality of its work and for its "castles and roses" paintwork. A thriving pottery industry also seems to have existed along the canal. Recent research has not only turned up a spoil tip near the location of the boatyard, but also brought to light evidence of strong links between the Polesworth potters and those in Staffordshire.
During the First World War, production at local mines grew and mining became the principal industry for the area. It remained so until the 1980s, when the demand for deep-mined coal declined and many of the collieries closed.
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