A pit village , colliery village or mining village is a settlement built by colliery owners to house their workers. The villages were built on the coalfields of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution where new coal mines were developed in isolated or unpopulated areas. Such settlements were developed by companies for the incoming workers.
19-508: Loomer Road Stadium was a sports stadium situated in Chesterton, Staffordshire from c.1970 to 2019. The building had considerable parking facilities, covered terracing and a bar with a view of the track. The stadium opened in 1973 and hosted greyhound racing until 2003, and speedway and stock cars until its closure at the end of the 2019 season. Since 1912 the land south of Chesterton and north of Newcastle-under-Lyme has been dominated by
38-408: A 10,000 capacity venue on 12.5 acre farmland plot. Construction began and progressed during 1972 and a speedway licence was eventually granted following initial problems. The first meeting held at the stadium was a BRISCA stock car race meeting on 8 April 1973. The first speedway match at the track took place on 11 April 1973 in front of 6,500 supporters. A greyhound track soon followed in 1975, giving
57-561: A governing body) on 30 November 1982. Stephen Pardoe the Racing Manager stated that "the reasons were purely economic". The costs of registrations and transfers were turning owners away and with the re-opening of the rival Cobridge track they were left with no choice but to leave the permit scheme. During the late 1980s and the 1990s the racing schedule continued on Wednesday and Friday nights at 7.30pm with trials on Thursday and Sunday. Race distances of 272, 425, 469, 673 and 815 metres formed
76-745: A return of league speedway in Wales. It held the Stoke Potters ' last race on 14 September 2019, as the stadium was sold off to a industrial estate developer. It also hosted occasional BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars and BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars meetings and various events such as firework displays and occasional shows. The stadium was demolished to make way for a Boughey Distribution Ltd warehouse during June 2020. Official club website: http://www.stokepotters.co 53°1′50″N 2°15′26″W / 53.03056°N 2.25722°W / 53.03056; -2.25722 Chesterton, Staffordshire Chesterton
95-575: Is a former mining village on the edge of Newcastle-under-Lyme , in the Newcastle-under-Lyme district, in Staffordshire , England. Chesterton is the second largest individual ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In the 2011 census, Chesterton's population stood at 7,421. Chesterton was the site of a Roman fort , built on an area now occupied by Chesterton Community Sports College. There
114-463: Is little indication of how long the fort was in use but it is believed to have been constructed in the late 1st Century AD. A vicus was built at nearby Holditch , where it is believed that some inhabitants may have mined for coal . There have been various excavations at the site. Excavations in 1895 revealed the fort's vallum , fosse ( moat ) and parts of the east and west defensive structures. Later excavations in 1969 uncovered further sections of
133-512: The 1935 novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin , is set in the fictional pit village of Sleescale. The film was shot partly on location at St Helens Siddick Colliery in Workington . The novel How Green Was My Valley and the subsequent film adaptation of the same name were based in a fictional pit village in the South Wales Valleys . A fictional village in this region was the site of
152-590: The Stoke Potters. In the latter period of the stadium's operation, it hosted mainly motorcycle speedway , and it was the home stadium of two speedway teams: the Stoke Potters and the Stoke Spitfires , who raced on Saturdays and Wednesdays respectively. During the 2017 season, the stadium also hosted the home race nights for the Carmarthen Dragons while they continued working towards their own venue and
171-409: The area the first speedway and greyhound racing since the closures of Hanley Greyhound Stadium and Cobridge Stadium . The colliery was experiencing heavy investment at the same time which also incentivised the construction. Russell Bragg entered into an agreement with John Bryant to start greyhound racing and the first meeting took place on 11 April 1975. There were forty racing kennels on site and
190-498: The basis of meetings around a 360-metre circumference course. Events included the Tardelli Handicap and Potters Classic which was overseen by Newcastle-under-Lyme Stadium Ltd. One of the prominent track trainers was Jimmy Gibson. Track manager Dave Tattum ended the greyhound racing in 2003. In 1973, Chesterton Potters speedway was founded by stadium owner Russell Bragg, and they rode the first season before changing their name to
209-663: The eastern ramparts. Chesterton was formerly a township in Wolstanton parish and chapelry in Wolstanton and Audley parishes, on 31 December Chesterton became a parish in its own right, it was in the Wolstanton Rural District from 1894 to 1904. Following that, it became part of the Wolstanton United Urban District until 1932, when it was added to the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. On 1 April 1932
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#1732856049485228-546: The film The Proud Valley , starring Paul Robeson . Billy Elliot , set in a fictitious pit village during the miners' strike of 1984–85, was shot on location in Easington Colliery . Brassed Off was set in "Grimley", a thin veil for Grimethorpe . The depopulation of Fitzwilliam , West Yorkshire was the theme of a song by Chumbawamba and David Peace 's novel Nineteen Seventy Four . Citations Bibliography This article about geography terminology
247-538: The imposing Holditch colliery . The colliery was responsible for mining coal and ironstone creating a tangled web of railway lines, pits and an unused 18th century canal. In late 1971, Midlands' businessman Russell Bragg applied for and received planning permission from the Newcastle Borough Council for the construction of a new stadium in Chesterton at a cost of £200,000. Architects Foreshaw Greaves designed
266-467: The miners transferred to nearby Silverdale Colliery , which itself closed down on Christmas Eve 1998. The current site of Holditch Colliery is now a large business park. The Holditch Colliery disaster was a coal mining accident occurring on 2 July 1937 at the Holditch Colliery, which at one point was the main employer in the village. In total, 30 men died and eight were injured. An investigation
285-403: The parish was abolished and merged with Newcastle-under-Lyme . In 1931 the parish had a population of 6861. The main employer in Chesterton was Holditch Colliery . The colliery employed 1,500 men and mined ironstone in addition to coal . Despite heavy investment in the 1960s and 1970s the colliery closed down in 1988, just three years after the end of the year-long miners' strike . Many of
304-526: The tight bends. The switch included a new 'Outside Sumner' hare system. The new distances were initially measured at 259, 455 and 658 metres with the total cost of the alterations being £15,000. Directors Bill Corbett and Jack Eisenberg successfully applied to join the National Greyhound Racing Club permit scheme in the summer of 1981 but just one year later the experiment had failed and Chesterton reverted to independent status (unaffiliated to
323-452: The track was known as Chesterton Greyhound Stadium . The track had a small circumference and consisted of 400 and 525 yards before it was switched in February 1979 to the more traditional practice of being located on the outside of the speedway circuit. Unusually for a greyhound track it had been on the inside of the speedway which clearly limited the type of greyhound that could manoeuvre around
342-488: The village: Churchfields Primary, Chesterton Primary, Crackley Bank Primary and St. Chad's Primary; and one Secondary school: Chesterton Community Sports College. Chesterton is home to five churches: Holy Trinity C of E Church, Elim Pentecostal Church , St Johns the Evangelist Church, Chesterton United Reform Church, and St Chad's Church. Pit village The 1939 film The Stars Look Down , based on
361-458: Was conducted into the incident. The original fire was concluded to have originated in the coal cutting machine and was due to frictional heat produced by the picks in the cut with subsequent explosions being caused by firedamp . The investigation concluded that the rescue plans were insufficient and adopted to save costs at the expense of lives. Today a memorial stands to the victims at Apedale Heritage Centre . There are four primary schools in
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