Former colliery offices. 1934, with minor late
C20 alterations. Red brick with flat concrete roof.
PLAN: L-shaped plan, with principle elevation to
west, and curved corner linking main range to wing at south end.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, 8 bay west front with near
central doorway set in taller flat roofed entrance tower.
Doorway with painted moulded surround, double doors and plaque
above door head which reads “CHATTERLEY WHITFIELD COLLIERIES LTD
REGISTERED OFFICE” Tall transomed window above. To left, 4 bay
part with multi-pane metal window frames set on concrete cills,
the openings set below painted lintel bands. This detailing is
repeated to the right of the doorway, where the end 3 bays are
advanced, with curved ends, the curve to the right extencing
onto the 5 bay south elevation, which, like the west front, has
alternate rectangular and square window openings. Late C20
lean-to added to west end. 3-bay north elevation with central
doorway and tall stair window above.
INTERIOR: Primary and secondary stairs retain
original detailing. Interior plan retains cellular office form.
Contemporary hearths to some first floor rooms.
HISTORY: The Chatterley Whitfield Colliery site
is acknowledged to be the most comprehensive survival of a deep
mine site in England, with a range of surviving structures and
buildings unequalled in any other former or surviving coalfield
site in Britain. Coal extraction here was first recorded in
1750, and the site remained in production until 1 March 1977.
The colliery was in the forefront of mine electrification in the
early C20, and was the first colliery to produce in excess of a
million tons of coal per annum. In 1978, the site became the
Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum, operated by the National
Coal Board. In 1993, the museum went into liquidation, and the
site was handed back to the freehold owner, Stoke-on-Trent City
Council in 1994.
Forms a group with the Pithead Baths and Canteen
building.
The former
colliery offices building is a prominent and little altered
example of a type of service building which was operated in
support of the mainstream coal extraction and transportation
functions on colliery sites throughout England. Its physical and
functional relationship with other buildings related to the
management and care of the colliery workforce, and the general
administration of a complex, multi-functional industrial site
was a direct one, and, in the context of the most complete
survival of a deep mine site in England, it can be regarded as
an essential component of the colliery ensemble
