Engine House, Front View, Gypsum Works, Stowe-by-Chartley,

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Date:1950 - 1952 (c.)

Description:Gypsum is a source of plaster of Paris and was mined at the Normanwood Gypsum Mine at Hixon. The shaft was near Stowe. Gypsum was sent from Normanwood to London to make castings, particularly for dentists. In 1953 gypsum was also sent to Nottingham to make artificial guards for Elizabeth II's Coronation.

The shaft was 165 feet deep and approximately 40 feet across - the shaft was very wet and had to be pumped out for 18 hours per day.

Miners came from Cheadle to work the shafts, and mined gypsum was pushed along in trucks by hand underground.

The mine closed in the early 1950s.

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Image courtesy of: Hixon Local History Society

Donor ref:Hixon Local History Society No, PT00166, img: 2186 (18/2586)

Source: Staffordshire Museum Service

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