Former Stoke-on-Trent colliery site marked with plaque

The bronze plaque has been attached to a brick gatepost, one of the last remaining structures still standing from the colliery

A bronze plaque has been unveiled to mark the site of a former colliery.

Florence Colliery closed in Lightwood, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1994 - 120 years after the first mine shafts were sunk.

The plaque has been attached to a gatepost that used to be the entrance to the site and was the idea of local resident and historian James Brooks.

"This was all about trying to make a difference in the local area, to remember things that have been forgotten about," he said.

Mr Brooks told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "There's nothing in the area that says there was once a colliery. I thought 'can I make a difference, can I push for this'?"

He said he contacted his MP Jack Brereton who put him in touch with two Stoke-on-Trent councillors, Sadaqat Maqsoom and Lilian Dodd, who helped fund the 28-inch (70cm) metal plaque.

Florence Colliery was named after the third Duke of Sutherland's eldest daughter. The site was nationalised in 1947 and merged with Hem Heath Colliery in 1974 to become part of the Trentham "super pit" before closure.

The brickwork to which the plaque has been attached is one of the last remaining pieces of the colliery structure.

The funding came from the councillors' ward budgets. Mr Maqsoom said: "It is about 120 years of local history being restored, it is really important."

Mr Dodd added: "It has been a while in coming and it is important we commemorate the work that all the miners did in the Florence area."