New Hawne Colliery, on a 48 acre site to the North and East of --------, west of Hawne and stretching South to the main ------ Road, was so called to distinguish itself from Old Hawne Colliery which was very close by. It was situated originally close to Hawne House, the home of the early 19th century reformer Thomas Attwood. It belonged to the newly formed New British Iron Company (1843) and began producing coal in 1864. Minerals were also mined there. The coal and minerals were carried away in trucks on the local railway that spanned the River Stour past Timbertree Colliery into Congreaves Railway sidings where they were tipped into trucks to be carried away. The minerals there were granted a thirty year term with the promise that at least one pair of shafts were to be sunk in the five years since 1864. This seems to have happened as the date on the engine house that is still standing says '1865'. On 23rd June, 1873, permission was given to extend the mining area for minerals another 38 acres southwards to include Hawne Bank Farm as it was believed that huge deposits lay under it. Some time before 1909 the control of New Hawne Colliery passed from New British Iron Company to the family of Shelah Garratt, the Dudley coal-master who owned said farm. On his death in 1893, his son Job carried on with the business where it flourished until his death in 1909. The colliery came through the Miners' Strike of 1921although rioting did occur by the striking miners. However, the 1926 General Strike finished the mine off altogether due to the fact that there was no-one to control the flooding of the mines, and it was considered to be uneconomical to drain them after the Strike. Once the shafts had been cleared and the mine buildings cleared away the land was left more or less at it was, now overgrown with only the huge pit mound showing formed by mine detritus ans ironworks waste. Hawne Bank Farm has gone but the engine house is still standing in Shelagh Road (possibly named after Shelah Garratt), Halesowen. It is one of the very few remaining colliery buildings in the area and is also a fine example of circular joinery in the triple arch at the front.
