Mining Heritage, Rotherham

Mining Heritage

See also Newspaper Extracts re Mining disasters, Strikes etc. »

Coal was mined during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was in demand, not only as domestic fuel, but in the metalworkers smithies and manufacture of pottery and glass. There is evidence of shallow pits before 1700 at:

Brampton
Greasbrough
Hooton Roberts
Kimberworth
Kiveton
Swinton
Thundercliffe Grange
Waleswood
Wentworth
Whiston

The development of steam in the 18th century for drainage and winding enabled deep mining to take place. By 1800, about half of the 2,000 steam engines in use in Britain were employed in collieries.Coal from the Yorkshire coalfields was one of the major sources of power behind the global industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the early decades of the 20th centuries. Collieries were as much part of the landscape as churches.

Coal mining from was first carried out at the outskirts of Old Denaby in the 15th Century and was a precursor of an industry that dominated the whole of South Yorkshire. It is recorded that ' ... Godfrey Sommersall of Aldwarke, yeoman was paid £50 a year by Leonard Reresby of Denaby for working all mines of coal commonly called seacole, mynecole or earthcole in demesne lands of Manor of Deneby; for 21 yrs . '

South Yorkshire Collieries

Miners' Unions

In the 1850s a number of regional miners' associations were founded, one of which was the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, founded in1858. Its purpose-built headquarters, designed by Barnsley architects Wade and Turner, were opened in Barnsley in 1874, in a style which combined gothic and French Empire.A monument to the front of the building commemorates leading figures in the history of the union

In 1889 regional miners' unions were amalgamated into the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and in 1945 one union, the National Union of Miners, replaced this federation. In 1988 the headquarters of the NUM was relocated to Sheffield from London.

Miners' Welfare Committee

The Miners' Welfare Commission was established to provide a range of centres and activities. It helped sponsor welfare clubs, which acted as a focus for miners and their families, and may be one of the reasons that a strong sense of community existed in mining towns.

The Miners' Welfare Fund, set up in the 1920's under the provisions of the Mining Industry Act ,was to be used for purposes approved by the Board of Trade and administered by a Miners' Welfare Committee. Funds were was raised from a levy, initially ld. per ton of coal produced, and after 1926 a levy of five per cent of coal royalties. Between 1920 and 1951 more than £30 million was spent. It was used for various purposes: pithead baths, clubs, institutes and recreation grounds; colliery canteens; non-mining education, including university scholarships; health, including rehabilitation centres for injured miners; and research, mainly into safety in mines.

Pit-head baths

By the end of the 19th century, pit-head baths were common in Belgium, France and Germany. In England most miners bathed at home. As pit-head baths became more common over the 20th century, so miners' housing changed, with an increasing amount of bathrooms situated upstairs. Who can remember the bath in the kitchen of many a terraced house !

Pit-head baths were only slowly introduced in Britain. Legislation in 1911 stopped short of requiring them to be provided, and by the time the coal industry was nationalised only around a third of pits had bathing facilities.

Aldwarke Main

Aldwarke Main was sunk in 3 main stages:-

To the Barnsley seam. 1867
To the Parkgate seam. c.1877
To the Silkstone seam. 1884

John Brown used the following contractors for the sinking of pit shafts in July 1877:
W. & V. Joyner, Thos. Jones and Josh. Hopkins.

Deepening of shafts to Swallow Wood and Parkgate seams took place from 1944-46.

The mine was owned by John Brown and Co. Ltd. of Rotherham and passed into National Coal Board ownership in 1947.

Barley Hall (Thorncliffe) Colliery

Barley Hall (Thorncliffe) Colliery. Date of sinking 1886-87. Barley Hall Pithead Baths built 1937-1939

Bates Colliery

A single shaft was sunk circa 1910. Used as access and ventilation for the nearby Beighton Colliery. Demolished during 1986-87 following the closure of Beighton.

Corton Wood Colliery

Corton Wood Colliery, Brampton Bierlow: Date of sinking 1873. A company was formed in 1872 at first called the Brampton Colliery Co. Application was made to the Industrial Housing Association Ltd., by Cortonwood Collieries Ltd. concerning a scheme for 93 houses.The area was behind the Brampton Bull's Head Inn. The Miners’ Strike of 1984-5, was begun as a result of an announcement that Cortonwood was to close.

In January, 1887, William Beardon, 23, was killed while removing props when a fall of earth buried him alive.

J. E. Chambers was Colliery Manager in 1912.

In 1936 Cortonwood Colliery Co, began building new coke ovens to replace the 25 year old existing ones.

In 1961 1600 men were employed and the weekly output was 15,000 tons.

4 men died in 1961 after being trapped by a pocket of gas:John Kellett, Robert Arnott, Albert Bailey and John Holmes. Granville Mason received the George Medal for his rescue attempts.

Cortonwood finally closed in 1985.

Dalton Main

Dalton Main Colliery, Rotherham

Shaft sinking for Dalton Main Colliery - later to be known as Silverwood, began in 1900. Coal production commenced in 1905. From about 1920 Frank H Frost was secretary of Dalton Main Collieries. Visit John's website for full details about Dalton Main Collieries

Denaby and Cadeby

In 1700, Aaron Walker of Rotherham mined poor quality coal near the surface of the future Denaby Colliery. Sinking of two shafts for Denaby Main Colliery began in 1863. Several coal measures were passed before the Barnsley seam was reached in 1867. Most of the houses and properties, built around 1868, were owned by the colliery, even the Denaby Main Hotel. The Denaby Main Colliery Company started the sinking of Cadeby Main Colliery in 1869. The company became the The Denaby and Cadeby Main Colliery Company. A disaster at Cadeby Colliery in 1912 left 63 widows and 132 fatherless children. There were two underground explosions, the first blast killing 35 men, the second killed a further 53 men all who were attempting to reach those hurt in the first explosion.

A relief fund was established and its administration placed in the hands of a committee. From the invested donations, five shillings (25p) was paid weekly to each widow and a shilling (5p) to children up to the age of 14.

By 1933 the remaining beneficiaries consisted of seventeen widows but the fall in the value of the investments made it necessary to launch an appeal for £3,000 to keep the fund solvent. Ref:Doncaster Archives DD/MF/1

Denaby closed in 1968 and Cadeby 19 years later in 1987.

The Miners' Memorial Chapel in All Saints' Church, Denaby, was opened in 1987, following the closure of the last local mine, as a memorial to those who had worked in the collieries of the area. It contains a pit wheel, salvaged from Cadeby Colliery, and the altar incorporates a 1 ton block of coal from Manvers Main Colliery.

Dinnington

Sinking of Dinnington Colliery began in 1902. In 1908 Dinnington Colliery Company built Dinnington Colliery Institute with many recreational facilities. The first houses to be built for the miner's were known as The Barracks. The second image shows Dinnington Miners Welfare Football Club, 1926. In 1932 the pithead baths were built to accommodate 3,024 men

Read about the Phantom Miner

Firbeck Main Colliery

Firbeck Main Colliery Company was registered in 1913 with a capital of half a million sterling for the purpose of establishing a colliery near Firbeck. At this time Wallingwells Boring Company Limited was undertaking boring operations on the estate of Mr. Archibald Woolaston White at Wallingwells. The boring proved the Barnsley seam to be 814 yards from the surface and to vary in thickness from four to six feet. It was stated that the Sheepbridge Colliery Company were interested and that a new village would be developed, and the colliery would employ several thousand men.

Firbeck Main Colliery was sunk by Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries in 1925.In 1933 Robert Whitehead, J.P. was Chairman of the Firbeck Collieries Ltd. In 1938 the owners were Firbeck Main Collieries Ltd., Sheepbridge Works, Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The manager was J. W Woodbridge and Arthur Vernon the undermanager. There were 1457 employed underground and 357 surface workers.

In 1945 the owners were Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd.,The manager was L. A Clarke and the under manager was S. Kirkham. There were 1450 employed underground and 405 surface workers.
Source Sheffield Archives, Reference: SY/416/B/1/1-2 . Read more about Firbeck.

Grange Colliery

Grange Colliery at Droppingwell lay on Wortley Road and had its own branch from the Great Central Railway in the Blackburn Valley. Grange Collierywas sunk in1891 and at its peak employed 800 men. Production ceased in 1963.

Herringthorpe Colliery

In 1702 Edward Fretwell of Wickersley, was recorded as getting coals on a piece of waste ground in the Manor of Whiston called Herringthorpe; for seven years at 7d. for every wainload of coals got.

Thomas Pearson, a colliery manager and secretary of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, was also the proprietor of Herringthorpe Colliery and managed collieries in the Holmes area for G. W. Chambers. Pearson seems to have originated from Whiston.

There is mention of a colliery in Whiston in 1749 owned by John Whitehead of Whiston

Engine Pit in Low Pasture, Herringthorpe, was opened 1812; the archives also mention, Black Hill Main, Gallow Tree Hill, and Sir G. Sitwell's colliery at Whiston.

Fatal accident in 1836 at Herringthorpe Colliery

Hickleton Main

Hickleton Main Colliery was worked from 1892 until 1988. In 1993 a pit wheel monument was erected as a memorial to the miners and their families.

Kilnhurst

The Kilnhurst Collieries were exploited successively by three different companies. J. & J. Charlesworth Ltd. of Milnes House, Wakefield, were succeeded by Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd., of 41 Oswald Street, Glasgow, in 1923. In 1936, the latter were succeeded by the Tinsley Park Colliery Co. Ltd., of 14 Wharf Street, Sheffield - the purchase price for Kilnhurst Collieries including the brickworks and a house was £310,000. The Kilnhurst collieries were formerly called the Thrybergh Hall Collieries, where on 30th November, 1863, 6 miners were killed by falling down the shaft. Dates of sinking:

Barnsley seam - 1858
Swallow Wood seam - 1917
Parkgate seam - 1923
Silkstone seam - 1929
No.4 Shaft - 1937-9

Stewart & Lloyds Ltd. sold Kilnhurst Collieries to Tinsley Park Colliery Co. Ltd. on 28.4.1936 . (John Brown was a sub-lessee of Stewart & Lloyds and then of Tinsley Park). John Henry Wales Laverick was Managing Director in 1936.

Kiveton Park

Kiveton Park Colliery was opened in 1866, and the offices between 1872 and 1875. Read about the Ghost

Maltby

Maltby Colliery was sunk in 1908 by Maltby Main Colliery Company, a subsidiary of the Sheepbridge Iron and Coal Company. The colliery company employed Herbert Mollekin to build an estate of 1000 houses for its workpeople. This was called the Model Village, consisting of two concentric circles of roads, the miner's houses were on Scarborough Crescent to the rear, and the larger houses of Deacon Crescent were for the overmen and deputies. In an underground explosion in 1923, 27 men were killed while trying to contain an underground fire. Rescue teams spent 19 days underground, only one body was recovered. Maltby was renowned for it's high production. The power house was built in 1911 and was modified in the 1940s. In 1981 the number 3 shaft was sunk in order to mine the Parkgate and Swallow Wood seams. The tower uses a Koepe winding system. It is the only pit in the area still being worked today.

Read about The Maltby Main Pit Disaster of July, 1923

Manvers Main Colliery

Manvers Main Colliery

Date of sinking: to Barnsley seam No.1 shaft 1868; No.3 shaft 1875-77; to Parkgate seam 1899-1901

Rockingham Colliery

Rockingham Colliery - Date of sinking 1875

Rotherham & District Collieries Association

This organisation for the better marketing of coal, started operating on 1st November, 1926 after a speech by Mr. A. O. Peech of The United Steel Companies, in which he suggested that South Yorkshire Collieries were at a disadvantage in regard to export trade. Members of the association were: John Brown & Co., Cortonwood Collieries Company, Dalton Main Collieries, Stewarts & Lloyds (Kilnhurst), Tinsley Park Colliery Company, United Steels Companies, (including the Rother Vale branch and Samuel Fox and Co.) and the Kiveton Park Colliery Company. An extract from The Times Newspaper details the ideas. Mr. Harold Arden Wright of Ulley Grange, Rotherham was the director.

Rotherham Main

Situated at the foot of Canklow wood, Rotherham Main Colliery stood by an ancient ford on the River Rother at Canklow. Rotherham Main was sunk in 1890 to 1893.

Colliery consisted of High Hazel seam, Barnsley seam, Haigh Moor seam ,Parkgate seam and Silkstone seam.

The owners John Brown and Co (Atlas Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield) established a school to take 145 children of their workpeople, along with a settlement of pit houses. The colliery was served by Rotherham Corporation trams.It proved to be a bad investment, it was sited in a bad location, in fact a map of 1854 shows the area liable to flood. Up to the first world war, 2000 miners were employed there, through the 1930’s and 40’s it was virtually closed down, needing only 300 employees to maintain it. It closed in 1954.

Shireoaks

The original shaft was sunk at Shireoaks in 1860/61 by the Duke of Newcastle who owned the mineral rights. an agreement was reached, in October, 1861, between the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, and the Duke of Newcastle, to make a connecting canal link between the Shireoaks Colliery and the Chesterfield and Gainsboro' Canal.

Among his other business interests, Henry Dickenson Marshall (1840–1906), was a director of Shireoaks colliery. (He was also a major shareholder in the Gainsborough Toll Bridge Company, and a vice-president of the Gainsborough Trustee Savings Bank. Together with his brother he founded the Gainsborough Building Society).

In 1881 an agreement was made between the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Co. and the Shireoaks Colliery Co. regarding the use of a telephone at Shireoaks railway station.

On 12th April, 1865 a bond was drawn up by Messrs Benjamin and Robert Eddison to the Shireoaks Colliery Co.Ltd. Robert Eddison to act as cashier for the company. Benjamin Eddison gives a surety of £1,000 for Robert Eddison's conduct. Source Sheffield Archives.

Soon after the sinking of the pit, building started to house the workers. In 1867 the Shireoaks Colliery Company was formed. Anston, Shireoaks, Steetley, Southgate, and Whitwell Collieries where owned by Shireoaks Colliery Co Ltd.

In 1889 an agreement was reached between Shireoaks Colliery Co.Ltd. and the Corporation of Norwich for supply of coal to the pumping station of Norwich Sewerage Works.

1917 saw a lease by which George Godolphin, 10th Duke of Leeds, and his mortgagees, let the Shireoaks Colliery Co.Ltd mine top hard coal under lands in the townships of North and South Anston, and Thorpe Salvin.

In 1940 the London and North Eastern Railway Co., and the Trustees of the Shireoaks Colliery Pithead Baths, agreed to the laying down of piping and cable from the Pithead Baths.

Anston, Shireoaks, Steetley, were owned by Shireoaks Colliery Co Ltd. In 1945, the Company was sold to United Steel Companies Ltd

Shireoaks pit closed in 1991

Silverwood

John's site has a wealth of information about Silverwood Colliery

In the early 1980's, a young miner working at Silverwood Colliery had an inexplicable encounter with the paranormal. His story consequently became very well known, and aroused the interest of several researchers into the paranormal, as well as being reported in a number of daily papers, including the "Morning Telegraph" and the "Sun". Source Pit Ghosts

The miner was working underground with two colleagues, who were 300 yards ahead of him. Without warning, a light appeared in the tunnel between himself and the others. As it seemed to be the head-lamp of another miner, the collier waited for his approach. He noticed that the figure wore an old-style square pit helmet and a grubby waistcoat and shirt. As the stranger got closer, his head bowed and the head-lamp lit up the young miner's face. He stared in terror at what he saw. The figure of the man was normal in every respect, except for his face. The lamplight revealed a clearly defined neck and the shape of a face, but where the features should have been, such as eyes, nose and mouth, there was nothing ... Only a blank space. The terrified miner dropped his equipment and ran screaming towards his colleagues. He was taken above ground suffering from shock. He swore that if he was not given a job on the pit surface, then he would gladly resign as he could never go underground again, such was the terror struck into him. Consequently, the young man took a considerable drop in wages to remain safely on the pit surface.

Thurcroft

Thurcroft Web

Tinsley Park

Almost all the coal under the Parish of Tinsley was obtained between 1841 - 49.

Earl Fitzwilliam had developed a colliery at Tinsley in 1819 ; Benjamin Huntsman & Co .acquired the lease to work coal.

Samuel Staniforth owned Tinsley Park in 1830. White's Directory of 1833 lists Booth and Co. as colliery proprietors; Booth used it as a source of coke for his Park Iron Works at Attercliffe. Huntsman, the son of Benjamin Huntsman the Clockmaker and inventer of Crucible Steel, bought out Mr. Booth.

The first shaft was sunk in 1852 which produced about 4000 tons a week. Further shafts were sunk in June 1902 and 1909 producing 9000 tons a week.

On 8th May, 1870 the colliery re-opened after a dispute which had lasted over a year. The strike was due to grievances which the miners considered had not been resolved. The colliery was partially worked by non unionists during the dispute

Seams: Wath Wood, High Hazels, Parkgate seam, Haigh Moor, Barnsley

In 1900 the Duke of Portland opened the Sheffield district Railway, a small but important line of about five and a half miles for both passengers and goods, with branches to many of the big works, including the Tinsley Colliery Company, and with intermediate stations at West Tinsley and Catcliffe.

In 1913 The Koppers Coke Oven and By-Product Company, Sheffield, supplied the colliery with 40 regenerative ovens with recovery plant for tar and ammonia. Colliery proprietors realised that capital expenditure in by-product coke was a sound investment. They already had a battery of Simon-Carves recovery ovens at work. The Coking Plant comprised a service bunker of 600 tons capacity furnished with an elevator and distributing conveyor, an electrically operated combined coal compressing and coke discharging machine, cooling and quenching water pumps, a water cooling frame and two Lancashire boilers which were fitted with all that is necessary for gas firing.

In 1918 Tinsley were supplying coke oven gas to the Sheffield Gas Company with 1,500,500 cubic feet a day, as did Orgreave Colliery from 1922.

There was an unofficial strike in July 1933. A three day week was imposed and they could not receive unemployment benefit.

In 1938 the directors of Tinsley Colliery Company authorised a loan to Renishaw Iron Company under arrangements whereby control of the operations of Renishaw Iron Company and the right to supply their requirements of coke were secured to the Tinsley Company. Trading profits for the year ended September 30th anounted to £70,240 , net profits, £36,733

In 1939 Tinsley Park Colliery Company made an offer to acquire J and G. Wells Eckington Collieries - Holbrook, Norwood and Westthorpe pits, which employed 847 underground and 185 surface workers.

1940 saw lower profits, and in 1942 a loss of £70,680. Production costs had risen yet outputs were less because many of the men were in H.M. Forces.

The colliery was closed at the beginning of 1943 by order of the Regional Controller

In 1896 the Manager of Tinsley Park was J.E. Chambers, the Under Manager of Barnsley Seam was Isaac White - 425 were employed underground and 182 on the surface. The Under manager of the High Hazels seam was W. Chambers where there were 201 employed underground and 76 surface workers

By 1905 they had offices at 14 Wharf Street and Effingham Road.

In 1918 the Manager was John Ensor.

Chairmen included: Francis Huntsman, who died on 27th January, 1910, aged 58; Harry Fitzmaurice Huntsman, JP, who died on March, 1929, aged 74. Managing Director Mr. John Henry W. Laverick(1924). J. W. Hazel was Secretary in 1911

The pit head baths were probably built in the 1920's.

Treeton

Please refer to the Treeton website.

Waleswood Colliery.

The colliery dates from late 19th century. Although closed in May 1948 , some buildings continued in use after this date.

The winding engine house dates from late 19th century, with alterations in 1948, and served Number 1 shaft of former Waleswood Colliery. The building is of one storey plus a basement and is built of brick. The gabled Welsh slate roof has ornate crested ridge tiles. The original winding engine was built by Worsley Mesnes Ironworks, Wigan.

The workshop or stores range was built in the late 19th century, with alterations in 1948. A brick, single-storey building with a gabled Welsh slate roof and crested ridge tiles - this building now forms part of an industrial estate.

The Power house built circa 1900, with alterations in 1948. Brick, single-storey plus basement building with a gabled Welsh slate roof and ornate crested ridge tiles. Now used as part of a light industrial unit.

Wath Main

Sinking of Wath Colliery began in 1873, the Barnsley seam being reached in 1876.

The shafts were deepened in 1912 to the Parkgate seam and in 1923 to the Silkstone seam.The opening of Wath Main Colliery's Canteen, took place on 5 September 1942. In 1954, Mr Shaw was Chairman of Wath Main Colliery Company

The Wath Joint Rescue Station was built in 1908 and it was one of only 7 in the country. By August 1910 there were 140 men in the area fully drilled in rescue techniques. The team was administered by a Committee of Trustees representing member companies, and by a Management Committee of colliery managers of collieries covered by the station. The station was closed in 1952. The main subscribers were: Denaby & Cadeby, Manvers, Mitchell & Darfield, Hickleton, Houghton, and Wath Main Collieries.

Read about the Phantom Miner

Wentworth

There is a group of charters referring to coal mines at Cortworth and Haugh in Yorkshire as early as the mid 14th-century. Reference : 157 DD/FJ Foljambe of Osberton: Deeds and Estate Papers

June, 1942 saw the start of opencast mining around the fields of Wentworth. By July, 1944, 750,000 tons of coal had been mined. Mining continued until the early 1950's.

Yorkshire Main

Earl Fitzwilliam's Collieries Ltd

There are a number of records relating to Earl Fitzwilliam's collieries in the Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments held at Sheffield Archives. Some relate to colliery cottages and relief repayments but not to coal production, except in relation to rate assessments. They relate mainly to Elsecar (one of the oldest Fitzwilliam collieries) and New Stubbin (sunk 1913-15).

The 1912 pit strike

The 1912 pit strike was about minimum rates of pay, particularly for working in narrow seams where difficult conditions meant less coal was produced.Shortage of coal during the 1912 pit strike led to illegal coal picking. Coal was used for heating cooking and washing. With explosions and roof falls an ever present danger, the Mines Rescue Teams were an important part of the workforce.From the 1920's, The Miners Welfare Fund, financed by a levy on coal, provided pit-head baths, canteens and clinics. In 1950 the North Notts/South Yorks coalfields alone employed 40,000 miners. In 1980 three deep coal mines in this area alone, employed around 3,000 people. By 1993 the local pits had all been shut, and 3,000 jobs and 400 years of coal mining had come to an end.

James Edward MacFarlane

From the age of fourteen, he was employed, like his father and grandfather at Denaby Main Colliery.Read more

J. T. E. Collins (1894 - 1973)

He worked at Cadeby and Denaby Main collieries. He was compensation agent for the NUM (Yorkshire Area) from 1953 to his retirement in 1959. He was a union official, member of Conisbrough UDC from 1926 to 1955 and of the West Riding County Council in the 1930s. Further information on his life, political and union activities can be found at Doncaster Archives Catalogue Ref.DD/MF/9/36