Description: The man in the middle kneeling down is Charles Hitchman.
Dale Abbey Pit (No 2 colliery) was situated half a mile to the north east of the centre of the village, west of Dale Moor and south of the Cat and Fiddle windmill. It was owned by the Stanton Iron Works Co, and was linked to Stanton works by a tramway. Lord Stanhope was listed as owning Dale Abbey pit in the 'THE ROYAL COMMISSION REPORTS on CHILDREN in THE MINES, 1842' and a Thomas Hallam gave evidence about Dale Abbey Colliery. The pit was locally called the 'Treacle Mine' by miners because of the tar like coal that came out. Its product was impossible to use on boilers because it trickled through the Fire Bars. The soft coal was part of the Kilburn seam. The colliery was a simple Drift Mine; the miners seen in the picture here were possibly standing at the entrance of the drift. In 1896 80 men worked underground and 30 above, The manager at that time was a Mr Walter Fowler and the under manager was a Mr Abraham Simpson. It was dismantled in 1921.