 On the back of the Industrial Revolution , Oldham developed an extensive coal mining sector , correlated to supporting the local cotton industry and the town 's inhabitants , though there is evidence of small scale coal mining in the area as early as the 16th century . The Oldham <unk> stretched from Royton in the north to <unk> in the south and in addition to Oldham , included the towns of Middleton and Chadderton to the west . The Oldham <unk> was the site of over 150 collieries during its recorded history . Although some contemporary sources suggest there was coal mining in Oldham at a commercial scale by 1738 , older sources attribute the commercial expansion of coal mining with the arrival in the town of two Welsh labourers , John Evans and William Jones , around 1770 . <unk> the growth in demand for coal as a source of motive and steam power , they acquired <unk> rights for Oldham , which by 1771 had 14 <unk> . The mines were largely to the southwest of the town around Hollinwood and Werneth and provided enough coal to accelerate Oldham 's rapid development at the centre of the cotton boom . At its height in the mid @-@ 19th century , when it was dominated by the Lees and Jones families , Oldham coal was mainly sourced from many small collieries whose lives varied from a few years to many decades , although two of the four largest collieries survived to <unk> . In 1851 , collieries employed more than 2 @,@ 000 men in Oldham , although the amount of coal in the town was somewhat <unk> however , and production began to decline even before that of the local spinning industry . Today , the only visible remnants of the mines are disused shafts and <unk> . 
