The expansion of Kidsgrove as a town began when the Trent and Mersey canal was built between 1766 and 1777. James Brindley designed the 1¾ mile long Harecastle Tunnel that cut through coal seems underlying the village. John Gilbert, the land agent for the Duke of Bridgewater, realised the potential and set about acquiring land and mineral rights in the area. After founding the Birchenwood mines, coal was soon being transported down the canal on barges to markets elsewhere. When the canal got too busy for the one tunnel, a second was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1827.
The old Stuart farmhouse straddling the tunnels was bought by John Gilbert in the 1780's. After his death, John Gilberts son, also named John Gilbert rebuilt the farmhouse with the profits from the mines and other businesses and renamed it Clough Hall in 1800.

With the growth of the industry and its workforce, rows of cottages were built for the miners and their families with names like Stable Row, Odd Row, Forge Row and Twelve Row, which still exists just above the Town Hall.
Thomas Kinnersley (1783-1855) acquired the Clough Hall Estate in 1812 after John Gilberts death. He developed the mines further still, and in 1838 created blast furnaces to produce wrough iron from the ironstone found embedded between the coal seems.
Thomas Kinnersley employed Robert Heath snr (1779-1849) and Robert Heath jnr (1816-1893) as managers of his Birchenwood coal and ironworks. Kidsgrove prospered as the demand for iron grew in the 1840's. The railway arrived in 1848 and a third tunnel was carved out beneath Bathpool.
In 1854 after the death of his father, Robert Heath jnr left the Birchenwood works to become the ironmaster at nearby Biddulph. When Thomas Kinnersley died in 1855 his second wife took over the works until her own death in 1877. Robert Heath bought the Birchenwood works in 1877 where he started his career. He dismantled the blast furnaces, and processed the coal into coke to supply his own ironworks.

Nearly all the coal from this group of pits was used for coke and other by-products. There was an explosion at the No. 18 pit on 18 December 1925 which killed seven men and seriously injured 14 others. Although the pits were closed around 1932, the company still continued to produce coke and other by-products with coal from the Biddulph collieries. The last coke was made in May 1973.

On January 12th 1918, Hugh Doorbar the captain of the Birchenwood Rescue Team was killed while attending the Minnie Pit Disaster in Halmerend due to a faulty valve on his breathing apparatus. In all a total of 156 men and boys including Mr Doorbar were killed during this disaster.