Arley Colliery Arley's mining industry ended in 1968. The village once had an eponymous
colliery running beneath part of its central area which employed 1,734 men when it was finally closed on 30 March 1968, by the
National Coal Board. It had then been in operation for sixty-six years and had once been owned and operated by the Arley Colliery Company Ltd. Production began at the pit on 1 January 1901 and the first coal was extracted from the mine in 1902. The mine was considered no longer economically viable by the NCB led by
Lord Robens, officially of the
Labour Party, in 1968, due to its relatively high costs and despite the cited fact that one hundred years of coal remained beneath. As production increased the colliery expanded and with this the population within the
parish increased. This led to a need for new housing in the area. Between 1920 and 1955 six hundred houses were built on land which had been the Fir Tree Farm, this became New Arley.
Daw Mill, Kingsbury and Dexter Collieries The two shafts that served Daw Mill were first sunk between 1956 and 1959, and 1969 and 1971 respectively. Daw Mill was a natural extension of the former collieries,
Kingsbury Colliery and Dexter
Colliery. On 7 March 2013 the owner,
UK Coal, announced the
Daw Mill mine towards the edge of the
parish would be closed following a major fire - it was the last remaining colliery in the
West Midlands. ==Demography==