I have some information about this mine as it used to belong to an ancestor. John Nowell - who married a sister of my ggg grandfather - owned the mine from around 1860 until 1882, when it was sold to Sir Alfred Hickman. Nowell employed up to 1,000 men and boys at the mine. His son William also worked there, but died in 1874, aged only 46. By 1871 John Nowell was living at Haunchwood House in nearby Whittleford. I believe the house was demolished in the 1920s.
There had been mining since the 14th century at Haunchwood, although it only became a commercial operation in the 1740s which is when the earliest mining leases are recorded. In the latter half of the 19th century it was known as Nowells Colliery.
I cannot be sure, but I think John Nowell sold out to Hickman because, first, his eldest son had died and second, because it probably needed a substantial investment in terms of equipment. Nonetheless, a family connection continued: Nowell's grandson, also William Nowell, was working there in 1895 and described as a member of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers. He was general manager of the colliery until 1906 when he died. Then another relative, Frank Nowell Iliffe (cousin of William) took over as general manager and was still there until 1923.
Only two years after this, in 1925, the mine was closed for good.
I would be fascinated to hear anything more about this mine. All the above I have gathered from various sources over the years. My family was closely associated with the mine and my ggg grandfather, Benjamin Fiddler, was the book-keeper, dying there in 1867. Many other family members worked there, either as miners or mining engineers.
Nick Fielding

Some great info there matey, would you mind if i alter it slightly and add it to the Haunchwood mine discription page???

You are very welcome. I also came across a little bit of extra info yesterday in an article published in the Coventry Evening Telegraph on 16 Jan 1999 and written by Peter Lee:
"Haunchwood (Nowells) Colliery was one of the oldest pit workings in Warwickshire, and records indicate it was producing coal in 1729.
Throughout its early history there are notes of leases, and by 1801 the collection of individual pits making up the colliery were reckoned to be producing between 200 and 300 tons each week.
By this time the pit had developed a railroad of sorts, with waggons hauled by horses down to the wharf on the Coventry Canal.
My first record of ownership goes back to about 1820 when Peter Unger Williams, born in Devon but practising as a lawyer in the City of London, became coalmaster.
How a London lawyer came to be managing a Warwickshire coal mine I have no idea. Especially one who married Caroline Brown (nee St Barbe), a lady of some standing.
The St Barbe's were a noble family descended from European royalty!
Nevertheless it was a good marriage, and as owners of Haunchwood Colliery, brick and tile makers and farmers of 36 acres in Stockingford, they made their home at Haunchwood House.
After the death of Peter in 1837 the pit was variously managed by his wife Caroline, and his son John McTaggart Williams.
Caroline also managed Charity Colliery in Bedworth, which the family ran until 1858.
After the Williams family relinquished control of Haunchwood pit its ownership passed to John Nowell in the early 1850s.
The Nowells came from Wednesbury in Staffordshire and they continued to have a connection with the colliery for the next 70 years.
The early horse-drawn railroad was in service until the Nuneaton to Whitacre Junction branch of the Midland Railway came into use.
A new branch line was laid to the new main line, and it became known as The Haunchwood Brick and Tile Company's Siding.
The title came about because the colliery shared a track with the adjacent brickworks. The signal cabin at the junction was known as Nowell's Siding.
There are no records revealing how the new branch worked, but almost surely the colliery company purchased an old second-hand steam tank engine from one of the principle railway companies which generally speaking had plenty of surplus stock around at that time.
John Nowell passed the colliery onto his son William who died in November 1873 at the age of 47. In turn he left it to his son also known as William.
In the 1880s the company, now with the name John Nowell and Son, failed because of the prevailing climate in trade.
Another Staffordshire man, Sir Alfred Hickman the great coal owner and industrialist took over, and from that day forward Haunchwood Collieries Limited made great progress.
Another pit was sunk at Stockingford known as the Tunnel Pit which started to mine coal in 1891.
Certainly from those days the railway to the colliery was worked by steam engine, and a precious but fragile photo exists of an old long funnelled steamer outside the loco shed.
The trackage is roughly laid and dumb buffered wagons of a crude type lie around the yard complete, with sprags of wood which were lobbed under the wheels to stop them from rolling.
By the turn of the century the previous branch line, which had been laid through the brick stock yard, had become so congested with clayware traffic that a new line had to be built to the outside of the site.
A total of four engines appear to have worked Nowells Colliery. Details of numbers one and two are sketchy, but we do know about number three which was built by Hawthorne Leslie in 1901 and sold in 1925 to Measham Collieries on closure of the colliery.
And number four, named Haunchwood, built by Andrew Barclays of Kilmarnock in 1911, was transferred to Haunchwood Tunnel Pit in 1925.
On July 7, 1925 Nowells Colliery ceased coal winding and two submersible pumps were fitted down the shafts.
These were used to keep the Tunnel Pit's seams free of water. They were retained until the colliery closed on March 25, 1967.
Coal for these was delivered at first by a trip engine working down the branch. Then after 1941 heavy goods road vehicles were used.
Between 1925 and 1941 an agreement was reached whereby the adjacent brickworks engine was used to deliver the wagons of coal.
When the brickworks closed all the track was lifted including the truncated remains of the Nowells Colliery branch."

Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Nick Fielding

Some excellent stuff there Nick. I have seen an old book of pictures showing quite a bit of the old Haunchwood buildings and rail network.
Very little remains today, the scant remains of Stockingford station and a pool of water off Woodford close which may have some links with the brickworks or colliery. The area of the sidings is now covered by the begining of Kingswood road.
Are you local to the area?

Hi Barney,
'Fraid not. I live near Oxford. The article in the CETele. makes me think that there must be other papers about the history of the colliery as the author refers to leases. I wonder where they are? Do you think it is possible that the Warwickshire archives holds them? One other point, do any of your pics show the old Nowell mine? If so, would love to see one.
Best,
Nick

There is quite a bit of info and pics hidden away at the Museum in Riversley park, and bits and pieces at the archives in Warwick, where i have a friend of a friend sort of thing-a day there is certainly on the cards.
Strangely i posted on a local forum asking for contact from retired local miners and any other info, didnt hear i single thing which i find very odd when considering places such as Griff were employing over a thousand people!