In 1855 Willenhall Furnaces began to operate on a site between the Bentley Canal, Sandbeds Road, and Forge Road. Willenhall. The company also owned several coal mines in the area including the nearby Clothiers Colliery, SO961993, which became exhausted by 1898.
Coal was supplied to the iron works via a 2 ft. 6 inch gauge tramway, with about a mile of track. Around twenty five tons of coal was hauled each day from the nearby mines, which included Sneyd Colliery, also owned by the firm The wagons were hauled by horses until 1862, when they were replaced by a steam locomotive.
It is unclear how a change of hands came about but in December 1873 a lease was signed in favour of the Essington Farm Colliery Company who also worked the Hilton Colliery until the firm went into liquidation in 1904 when it was taken over by Holly Bank to which it connected by a railway.
There were other operators in the area; information is somewhat patchy and often conflicting.
Today the colliery site is a wasteland used by off roaders with occasional fly tipping. An interesting small double story cottage exists on the site which must have been part of the original Hilton Colliery. Mounds to the north are probably not original to the mine as the area has been opencast