Description:A coal miner standing in the Deep-Seam roadway. The endless-road haulage can be seen between and adjacent to the rails. Water and fire-fighting pipes are slung from the supports at the side and the power cable in the top right hand side.
Lea Hall was the first colliery planned and sunk by the National Coal Board. The two shafts were started in 1954 and sunk to a depth of 1300ft (396m). The first coal was produced in 1960, and the colliery's costs to this date were approximately £14,000,000. The shafts passed through 11 seams of Cannock Chase coal with a total thickness of 51ft (15.5m). It produced in excess of 1,000,000 tons per year on several occasions. It employed over 2000 men at its peak but was closed on economical grounds in 1990.