The colliery has been described as being Birmingham's only colliery and in terms of postal districts is part of Birmingham.

In terms of its governance it seems that it was never actually in Birmingham.

The orgin of the Hamstead Colliery was in 1875 from part of the Perry Barr estate of G.C. Calthorpe of nearby Perry Hall. At this time Perry Barr  was a chapelry within the parish of Handsworth in Staffordshire.

Perry Barr Urban District Council was created in 1894, as a result of the Local Government Act 1894 as a subdivision of the administrative county of Staffordshire -  therefore the colliery was under Perry Barr. At this time Handsworth became an Urban District in Staffordshire and was not transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire, becoming part of Birmingham until 1911.

Perry Barr was partly transferred to Birmingham with other 1928 boundary changes. The Hamstead area containing the colliery being transferred to West Bromwich.

The dividing line between West Bromwich and Birmingham was the Old Walsall Road so the Brickworks became part of Birmingham at this time.

West Bromwich aleady had a history of coal mining in the adjacent Sandwell Valley area with the Jubilee (Sandwell Park) colliery closing in 1960, having been a mine since before 1894.

When the colliery closed it was still part of West Bromwich County Borough.