The Stanley Kilbourne Colliery was opened (around 1870?) with Alexander Ogden as manager. In 1885 it went bankrupt. Five years later, the Derby Kilburn Colliery Co. drove the Footrill (or drift) mine, S.W. of Manor Farm. In 1893 they acquired the Kilburn Colliery - to use it to pump and ventilate the workings, now worked from the Footrill. Coal from this mine was initially taken to Derby by road in horse carts, an inadequate means of distribution. Negotiations with the Great Northern Railway, for a siding, came to nothing, so in 1894 a continuous cable conveyor (the 'Tramway' on the map), which had been laid from the mine downhill to the railway, was extended from there 3 miles across country to a landsale wharf at Chaddesden, near the Nottingham Road cemetery. Coal was carried on trains clipped on to an anchor rope, running over rollers between the tram-rails. The Footrill closed in 1918; some of the buildings, including the workshop, still stood in 1991. Bricks were made at beehive kilns nearby; some were used for building 4 semis at "Klondyke".

1. On Map, rusting trams in situ, on rails were still in evidence in this location c1960 near. Everything in this area was obliterated by open cast working at the same time.

2. This field, certainly known until the 1970's was known as the 'Junction' field, although no physical junction with the GNR line existed. The railway line was in operation 1876 - 1968, the tracks were lifted c1970.

3. The line of the tram way was visible in crop marks in the fields here, certainly until the 1980's and probably still is in dry weather. Remains of the Tramway were rediscovered during the construction of the Oakwood Estate c1975-95. My grandfather (1879 - 1959) lived at the 'Klondyke' remembered it working prior to the 1st Worls War.

Roger Dilks