Populations

The growth of coal mining in the County was confined mainly to the towns of Nottingham, Mansfield, Sutton in Ashfield, Kirkby in Ashfield, Hucknall, Eastwood, and the villages and hamlets surrounding these towns. These areas prior to 1800 were mainly dependant on agriculture and frame work knitting for the bulk of its employment but the advent of the industrial revolution drew more workers into the coal, railway, iron and steel industries, and the many ancillary works that followed. The chart below illustrates population changes from the 1801-1901 census returns. Note many of the villages were incorporated into the towns in this one hundred year period but are included as separate places, non- mining areas are excluded. If an individual place is not mentioned {i.e. Bestwood} it is included in the relevant parish.

Parish	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901
Nottingham	28861	34255	40415	50680	53091	58419	75763	87930	113590	109901	111264
Annesley	359	341	326	335	274	239	288	1021	1445	1374	1271
Arnold	2768	3042	3572	4054	4509	4704	4642	4634	5745	7769	8757
Basford	2124	2940	3599	6325	8688	10093	12185	13038	18137	22781	27119
Beeston	948	1342	1534	2530	2807	3016	3195	3134	4479	6948	8960
Bilborough	307	269	291	330	267	255	232	225	199	210	202
Bramcote	354	378	441	562	732	722	691	616	751	762	745
Bulwell	1585	1944	2105	2611	3157	3786	3660	4276	8575	11481	14767
Cossall	353	328	317	341	334	303	256	235	244	829	940
Eastwood	735	1120	1206	1395	1621	1720	1860	2540	3566	4363	4815
Fulwood Extra par	-	-		12	6	12	7	7	5	12	8
Greasley	2968	3673	4241	4583	5184	5284	6230	7282	9028	10918	11861
Hucknall Huthwaite	510	608	712	929	887	1150	1160	1547	2028	3032	4077
Hucknall Torkard	1497	1793	1940	2200	2680	2970	2836	4257	10023	13094	15250
Kirkby in Ashfield	1022	1123	1420	2032	2143	2363	2886	3075	4212	6533	10392
Lenton	893	1197	1240	3077	4467	5589	5828	6315	10194	18436	23872
Linby	515	434	439	352	271	310	257	257	320	310	319
Mansfield	5988	6816	7861	9426	9788	10667	10225	11824	13653	15925	21445
Mansfield Woodhouse	1112	1349	1598	1859	1871	1972	2263	2474	2618	2819	4877
Newstead Priory	143	142	174	159	193	155	108	200	967	1036	1100
Nuthall	378	326	465	509	669	685	842	960	1305	2090	2501
Paplewick	709	647	593	359	319	307	270	270	331	384	365
Radford	2269	3447	4806	9806	10817	12637	13495	15127	20619	31975	35354
Selston	833	1102	1321	1580	1982	2101	2628	3670	4373	5267	7071
Skegby	416	453	584	656	775	865	805	1382	2401	3120	3867
Sneinton	558	953	1212	3605	7079	8440	11048	12237	15473	17439	23093
Sutton in Ashfield	3311	3994	4655	5734	6557	7692	7643	9121	10551	13584	18943
Sutton in Ashfield	2801	3386	3943	4805	5670	6542	6483	7574	8523	10552	14866
Stapleford	748	954	1104	1533	1837	1968	1729	1967	3196	4255	5766
Strelley	250	298	350	426	284	279	253	232	252	204	205
Teversal	333	368	414	400	423	373	351	373	415	385	473
Trowel	235	482	464	402	380	392	343	270	421	414	434
Warsop/Sookholme	944	1110	1210	1349	1450	1446	1478	1720	1399	1553	2242
Warsop/Township	_	984	1072	1213	1318	1350	1374	1486	1329	1467	2132
Wilford	478	494	569	602	569	570	604	669	1106	2769	5079
Wollaton	838	769	571	537	574	581	555	658	712	654	541
Worksop	3263	3702	4567	5566	6197	7215	8361	10409	11652	12734	16112

This chart shows the main population of coal mining areas in the 1841 census, parish is excluded

Place	Houses	Empty	Buildings	Men	Women	Total	Under 20	Over 20	Where Born
							M - F	M - F	County - Elsewhere

Annesley	51	2	-	148	126	274	55 - 59	93 - 67	244 - 30
Awsworth	60	2	-	161	133	294	80 - 56	81 - 77	255 - 39
Bagthorpe	114	3	-	283	283	566	130 151	153 - 132	446 - 120
Basford	1509	77	20	3829	4006	7835	1958 - 2039	1871 - 1967	6770 - 1065
Beeston	533	44	1	1301	1404	2705	601 - 710	621 - 678	2252 - 555
Bilborough	51	8	-	133	134	267	72 - 64	61 - 70	242 - 25
Bramcote	158	8	-	354	378	732	172 - 167	182 - 11	644 - 88
Brinsley	230	6	-	572	567	1139	280 - 278	292 - 289	920 - 219
Bulwell	604	9	1	1580	1577	3157	805 - 816	755 - 761	2926 - 231
Cossall	63	3	-	181	153	334	102 - 74	79 - 79	289 - 45
Eastwood	312	12	-	825	796	1621	406 - 397	419 - 399	1227 - 394
Felley	6	2	-	19	22	41	9 13	10 - 9	40 - 1
Fulwood	1	-	-	4	2	6	2 - 1	2 - 1	5 - 1
Hucknall Huthwaite	175	25	-	445	442	887	217 - 233	228 - 209	750 - 137
Hucknall Torkard	537	17	1	1370	1310	2680	665 - 650	705 - 660	2508 - 172
Kimberley	330	11	3	898	880	1778	451 - 474	447 - 406	1608 - 170
Kirkby in Ashfield	406	8	3	1106	1037	2413	527 - 500	579 - 537	1840 - 303
Lenton	897	41	2	2148	2319	4467	1084 - 1144	1064 - 1175	3632 - 935
Linby	50	10	-	140	131	271	60 - 52	80 - 79	244 - 27
Mansfield	1971	218	11	4473	4915	9388	2005 - 2191	2468 - 2724	7719 - 1669
Pleasley Hill	76	4	-	202	198	400	107 - 90	95 - 108	328 - 72
Mansfield Woodhouse	399	20	3	937	934	1871	439 - 416	498 - 518	1596 - 275
Moorgreen	69	3	-	203	188	391	102 - 95	101 - 93	351 - 40
Newstead Priory	26	-	-	98	95	193	50 - 49	48 - 46	161 - 32
Newthorpe	218	9	-	607	519	1126	324 - 254	283 - 265	1084 - 42
Radford	2220	304	4	5200	5617	10817	2624 - 2758	2576 - 2859	8332 - 2485
Selston	207	6	-	510	494	1004	245 - 250	265 - 244	826 - 178
Shireoaks	23	-	-	53	47	100	24 - 17	29 - 30	78 - 22
Skegby	148	4	-	403	372	775	216 - 196	187 - 176	694 - 81
Sneinton	1479	107	14	3260	3819	7079	1510 - 1665	1750 - 2154	5616 - 1463
Stapleford	383	50	1	887	950	1837	472 - 494	415 - 456	1548 - 289
Strelley	47	2	-	130	154	284	69 - 76	61 - 78	238 - 46
Sutton in Ashfield	1114	86	13	2827	2843	5670	1387 - 1420	1440 - 1423	4995 - 675
Teversal	79	-	-	236	187	423	106 - 82	130 - 105	339 - 84
Trowell	70	-	-	205	175	380	103 - 76	102 - 99	316 - 64
Underwood	69	-	-	220	192	412	122 - 105	98 - 87	381 - 31
Watnall Cantelope	43	-	-	95	97	192	43 - 44	52 - 53	181 - 11
Watnall Charworth	37	-	-	105	95	200	46 - 40	59 - 55	175 - 25
Warsop	273	4	-	683	635	1318	309 - 278	374 - 357	1167 - 151
Wilford	117	-	-	284	285	569	142 - 109	142 - 176	522 - 47
Worksop	802	50	2	683	635	1318	309 - 278	374 - 357	1167 - 151
Wollaton	114	2	-	284	290	574	133 - 139	151 - 151	500 - 74

Nottingham is not included in the above figures the Town contained four parishes at this date.
The Sneinton return includes 182 people in the Lunatic Asylum and 15 in boats and barges
The Basford return includes 179 people in the workhouse and 9 in tents
The Mansfield return includes 123 people in the workhouse
The return for Radford includes 62 people in the workhouse 12 in prison and 3 in barges
The Return for Eastwood includes 30 people in barges
The parish of Lenton includes part of Hyson Green the remainder is in Radford parish
The decrease in the population in Strelley {142} is attributed to the closing of the collieries in the area

With the publication of the first National census held June 6th 1841, it is possible to note the numbers and dwelling places of men and boys listed as coal miners in the county of Nottinghamshire. The next chart lists the 891 persons found, it is not possible to list the collieries they worked at, indeed some may well have worked in Derbyshire mines, and vice versa many Derbyshire colliers worked in Nott’s pits. Ilkeston, Pinxton, Cotmanhay, Langley Mill, Codnor, and Heanor were major mining areas in that County.

Kimberley	112	Eastwood	92	Brinsley	92
Kirkby in Ashfield	77	Awsworth	58	Underwood	54
Radford	71	Wollaton	33	Beggarlee	32
Selston	32	Cossall	28	Newthorpe	27
Huthwaite	25	Trowell	21	Skegby	21
Bramcote	18	Watnall	15	Strelley	13
Bilborough	10	Stapleford	10	Moorgreen	9
Greasley	7	Sutton in Ashfield	7	Nuthall	5
Nottingham	4	Lenton	3	Felley	2
Worksop	2	Basford	2	Teversal	2
Rufford	2	Annesley	1	Sneinton	1

In the figures for Nottingham one miner was in the workhouse and one in the General Hospital.

Radford had one miner in the workhouse.

Two days after the census was taken Joseph Stapleton 12, of Eastwood was killed in the Watnall pit.

The majority of miners dwelt within a ten mile radius of Sutton in Ashfield and were working in the mines then operating, Cinderhill –Babbington colliery was in the process of being sunk.

The next sixty years saw the opening of larger and more efficient mines, both in and around the town of Nottingham and to the borders of Yorkshire with the Shireoaks pit.

By the year 1886 the number of miners in Nottinghamshire had risen to 16,147 persons underground and on the surface.

In the next eleven years 1897 the employed figure reached 23,024 and ten years later in 1907 35.415.

Sources and Acknowledgements.

It is unlikely that the exact figure of persons killed in coal mining accidents will ever be known either nationally or locally. The Mines Inspectorate was established in 1851-2 and started recording annual figures for fatal and serious accidents from July 1852, prior to this date local newspaper reports or in one case coroner’s reports are available in Nott’s. I have researched available newspaper reports for accidents from 1800 onwards also Parish records before that date.

Parish records

All Saints                                 Strelley
St Helens                                 Trowell
St John the Baptist                 Bilborough
St Leonards                            Wollaton
St Katherine                            Teversal
St Mary                                    Sutton in Ashfield

Newspapers

Nottinghamshire Review
Nottinghamshire Mercury
Nottingham Journal
Derby Mercury

Book

Viewing the Lifeless Body, Bernard V Heathcote Notes on the reports of C Swann County Coroner 1828-66. This covers all the inquests reported in this County during these years including Coal Mines.
I have found additional ones in the Derby Mercury.

I express my gratitude to Robert Bradley of Mansfield former N C B surveyor for his assistance on early mine locations.

Alan Beales April 2012