This is a series of 8 caches, of just over 1 mile, should take
around 1 hour to comlete,it is placed as a tribute to my late
father and grandfather who moved here from Llangollen in North
Wales, and all of the other miners who relocated here and finished
their days here.
Thanks to the Soggy-campers for allowing me to use ‘Black
Gold of Old’ prefix.
The Hilton Main colliery was started in 1919 and came into
production in 1924. It was the first all electric pit in the
Midlands.
Hilton Main expanded during the 1930s, with a new 1,900ft shaft
begun in 1933, and 500 houses built to house mine workers and their
families. In 1939 Hilton Main became the first colliery on Cannock
Chase to have washing facilities installed.
In the 1960s Hilton Main was designated a ’long life
pit’ but a series of geological problems forced it to close
in 1969. Most workers were moved to work at West Cannock No 5 or
Littleton Colliery.
When the M54 was constructed, it completely changed the
landscape, new roads were built and the pit buildings were
demolished and turned into a truckstop. The series will take you
along the old A460, and around where the Hilton Main Sports and
Social club was, this was paid for by the miners and then following
a fire the area was turned into an industrial area. There are only
a few bits of the original buildings and driveway of the entrance
to the mine left to show that it ever existed.
The pathways can be very muddy at times; it is bicycle friendly
for the experienced, you will need to walk along a lane and the
busy A460 for a short while so please keep geokids close bye and
geohounds on leads.no need to climb any fences just walk around
paths, this cache would have been on the edge of the Hilton Main
sports field.
Please rehide as found, do not post hints or spoilers in the
logs or photos. Contact me if you need one
FTF on whole series:
**andycpuk**
FTF: *andycpuk*
STF: *g6lpb*
TTF: *hazumu*