Between 1759 and 1855 Ness Colliery worked using shafts largely clustered around the Harp Inn in today's Little Neston. It was opened by John Stanley Massey, a member of the leading Stanley family of Hooton, in partnership with four others. Because of the local geology most working was carried out under the Dee Estuary. The mine was remarkable in using canals deep underground for boats to haul coal. It was also remarkable for blatant acts of sabotage committed by the Stanleys against a rival, neighbouring mine established in about 1820 by the Cottingham family; their mine went out of business in the 1840s. Due to exhaustion of many of the coal seams, and difficulty in transporting coal, Ness Colliery was closed in 1855.