Description:Robert Heath, born at Sneyd House, Burslem, in 1816 established blast furnaces and developed pits to supply them with coal at Biddulph and Ford Green. The Biddulph and Ford Green works became famous far and wide for the high quality of the iron they produced.
The iron industry has often been closely allied with coal mining. This close relationship is due to the rich seams of ironstone found within the coal measures. The great iron and steel boom of the 1870’s stimulated the coal output. Many collieries were sunk originally to mine ironstone, such as Holditch, Wolstanton and Silverdale.