Description:A view north along the Bank Haye Brook valley towards the waste tip of Chatterley Whitfield colliery. Mow Cop appears faintly on the horizon to the left of the photograph beyond the electricity pylons. The building in the middle-right of the image is Ball Green Middle School. The footpath was used by children walking to and from Norton to the school.
The colliery had a number of shafts, Hesketh, Winstanley, Institute, Middle, Engine and Platt Pit. Two of the sets of winding gear can be seen to the right. The main chimney dates from the 1890s.
The colliery was the largest in the North Staffs Coalfield and the first in the UK to produce 1 million tons of coal in a year. Mining finished in 1976 and an attempt was made to develop the site as a mining museum. The museum closed in 1993.
The conical spoil tip was halved in height and landscaped between 1976 and 1982. Several buildings including the pithead baths, lamphouse and fitters' shop on the site are grade II listed. The shed alongside the lane is a pigeon loft, the home for racing pigeons.