Description:A view of the short-lived Shaffalong Mine at Cheddleton.
In 1904 James Meakin of Westwood Manor granted permission for boreholes to be dug to look for coal and iron on his land at Shaffalong, Westwood and Wetley Rocks. It was known that there was coal present and shallow coal pits had been dug at Shaffalong in the 1840s. Good quality coal seams were discovered in 1905 and a lease was granted to the Westwood Manor Coal and Iron Co. Ltd under the chairmanship of Mr E. Marshall Fox in 1906. The first sod was cut on 11 October 1906 at Shaffalong and two shafts, upcast and downcast, were sunk.
However, mining operations were beset by problems, particularly flooding, and the mine was never economically successful. It closed in December 1910.