Beard and Bugsworth Colliery - Lady Pit

Lady Pit, owned by the Beard and Bugsworth Colliery Company stood at the corner of Ladypit Road and Dolly Lane. It closed in 1909.  I had never seen any photographs of the mine and assumed that none had survived. It's surprising what can be found when studying and enlarging an old photograph. One picture from our archives features Bangs Bridge, the footbridge over the canal near the water treatment works. Look in the background and there, behind a very long goods train is Lady Pit.  At that distance it is a little bit misty but all of the buildings can be clearly seen.

The chimney survived long after closure only to be demolished in the late 1940's by a lightning strike which scattered the bricks a distance of 100 metres..