1856 - Page 2

Collieries Sunk or Opened in 1856

• Alton (Messrs Fletcher and Co), Clay Cross
• Awsworth (J Brooke and Co)
• Babbington Soft Coal pit (was sunk by Thomas North and Co)
• Beard and Bugworth (Messrs Stott and Hall), 1856 then worked by Levi and Elijah Hall from 1868, Yard mine
• Berrister Lane (Charles Seely and Co) South Normanton
• Birley (Sheffield Coal Co) 135 yards (123m) to Silkstone
• Bonsall (J Srigley), Buxton
• Brands Hard, Brands Soft (Butterley)
• Britannia (Johnson and Lucas) Chesterfield
• Butterley Park (Butterley Co)
• Coates Park sinking (Charles Seely and Co)
• Codnor Park (Butterley Co)
• Combermere (Jonathan Battey)
• Denby New (WD Lowe)
• Dore (J Smith)
• Forty Horse (Butterley Co)
• Hady Hill (Henson and Co)
• Hallam (Francis Newdegate)
• Hartshay (Butterley Co)
• Highfield (William Worswick)
• Hucknall New No1 (J Clegg), Huthwaite
• Ingmanwell (Goodwin and Swallow)
• Inkerman, (Goodwin and Swallow) Chesterfield
• Kimberley (Thos North)
• Laneside (Pingot?) (Messrs Hadfield)
• Langley (Butterley  Co)
• Lings No4 shaft (Hardwick Colliery Co ?)
• Loscoe (Butterley Co)
• Newcastle (Thomas North) (app 43/444055, 345200)
• Newlands (Butterley Co)
• New Main (Butterley Co)
• Oakerthorpe (William Worswick)
• Oxclose (Knight and Co)
• Stoneyford New (Swan and Wharton)
• Staveley (J Steele)
• Tibshelf New (John Chambers)
• West Field (John H Gosling) Hazle seam
• West Hallam (Newdegate)
• Whiteley (Messrs Coursham and Co)
  (39)

A stream running past Loscoe was referred to as ‘Red River’ and would do so to present day due to the red ochre deposit in water from old mines. Water pumped from a mine shown issuing from a pipe.

A plan dated 1856 belonging to the Duke of Devonshire showed the Blackwell sough.  The adit level was commenced about 1703 by Sir John Molyneaux and in 1761 was finished up to and into the Township of Hucknall (Huthwaite) by aid from the Duke of Newcastle. 

The sough was completed by the Duke of Devonshire about 1774. There were between 35 and 40 shafts along the route from near Ranson Barn to the river entrance.

At Heath End colliery at Staunton Harold (William Matthews and William Springthorpe) the lease was taken over by Richard Hall for 21 years at 1s 0d (5p) per ton royalty charge for large coal and 6d (2½p) for small coal.

Collieries Closed in 1856

• Addys Coal (Mr Thos Hollingsworth) at Coal Aston
• Ashgate (Jon Bennett), Glossop
• Ashgate (J Drabble), Glossop
• Barlborough (R and J Swallow)
• Birdholm(e) (Bird Holme) (Wingerworth Iron Co), Potters, 5 shafts, coal got to Lady Day
• Bobber’s Mill (Thomas North) Aspley
• Butterley New Main (Butterley Co) Furnace or Tupton
• Coal Aston (James Rhode) Aston, Blackshale
• Codnor Park (Butterley Co) sunk in 1794, closed after 68 years
• Gilt Brook (Shipley Jnr) finished due to meeting old works
• Greenhill Lane (James Oakes) Hard coal
• Hartshay (CV Hunter)
• Langley (Grammar’s Trustees)
• Marlpool colliery around this time, approx position 43/444400, 345250, 59 yards (54m) deep
• Millhay (or Milnhay?) (McAlum and Allen) two areas worked from pits 12 yards (11m) and 10 yards (9m) deep, one fin 1856, under Midland Railway, met old hollows 1858, John Thomas Woodhouse Surveyor
• Old and Turner’s Engine pit by north side of Chesterfield Canal at Nether Moor 2nd April
• Normanton South (M Wilkinson)
• Oakerthorpe (Messrs Strelley)
• Smalley (M Barber);
• Spink Hill (Appleby and Co)
• Stanton (North and Co)
• Tibshelf (M Chambers)
• Tibshelf (M Millward)
• Watnall (J Morley) Hard and Soft coal set up 24th January
• Walton (G Elliott)
• Walton (Appleby and Co)
• West Hallam (HB Whitehouse)
• Whittington (C Wharton)
• Whittington (Wilkinson)
• Woodhouse (Booker and Co) High Hazel
• Woodhouse Lane (JH Gosling) Hazel seam (Redding Lane colliery adjacent)
• Gibbon’s pit by the Ashby Canal was closed due to a gob fire and influx of water. He would sell the pit to the Moira Co for £14,000.

Butterley Co’s Top Cloddy shaft, Low Main, Exhibition – no coal, Bottom Cloddy position 43/4250/363783 or SK/4236350783; Redgates Foundation Bye And Engine pit, 75 yards (69m) to Low Main, position SK/443960, 351060.

Gas House colliery (Goodwin, Parker and Co) was abandoned and all plant was for sale by auction (Derbyshire Times 24 May 1856). 6hp vertical high pressure engine with drum and winding gear. 12hp direct acting pumping engine with a boiler 21 feet (6.4m) x 8 feet (2.43m) and 20 yards (18m) of 10” (0.25m) pump trees, 2 sets of headgear with conductors and pulley wheels, 2 wrought iron chairs, 29 pit wagons, 2 screens and a 6 tons weighing machine.

William Fowler and his father established an ironworks on land between Chesterfield and Whittington Moor and by 1862 would have three blast furnaces working at Sheepbridge.

First Paddy Train For Workers

Richard Barrow, Coal owner of Staveley, provided a train on the Midland Railway from Chesterfield to Staveley, morning and night, for 6d (2½p) a week to encourage workers to his mines.  It is probably the first example of a ‘Paddy Mail train’. Sheepbridge was sunk to 72 yards (66m).

Pegg’s Green (Leicestershire) changed hands from Bostock & Co to F Gibbons then to Kidger & Co in 1859.

From John Hedley’s the Mines Inspector records of 1857, it is noted that in Nottinghamshire, 15 persons were killed by methane gas explosions, 14 by falls of ground, 6 in shafts and 20 others were crushed by trams. HMI Hedley was also in charge of mines in Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

Thomas North of Cinderhill also provided a mission room at a row of framework knitters’ cottages that he bought to house some of his workforce at his new Newcastle colliery (named after the Duke of Newcastle).

A List of Fatal Accidents For The Year 1856 (John Hedley, Inspector of Mines report)

• Barlborough (M Barber), Joseph Wells (31), fell down shaft 7 Nov 1856.
• Birdholme (Wingerworth Iron Co), J Gough (13), fell down shaft 23 Nov 1856.
• Brands (Butterley Co), D Foulds (46), coal fell down shaft 2 Apr 1856.
• Brinsley (Barber Walker), T Clifford (40), fall 10 Apr 1856.
• Britain (Butterley Co), T Burnham (43), fall of coal 18 Sep 1856.
• Clay Cross, J Haywood (37), fall of roof 18 Mar 1856.
• Clay Cross, B Routledge (30), fall of roof 1 Jul 1856.
• Denby (Lowe), R Hannibal (26), fall of roof 2 Feb 1856.
• Denby (Lowe), G Bridges (26), fall 17 Sep 1856.
• Forty Horse (Butterley Co), Jos Swann (36), explosion 24 Jan 1856.
• Grassmoor (Barnes) there was a sinking accident and 2 sinkers J Bradley (aged 60) and W Fletcher (aged 25) were killed by a fall of ground in the shaft 13 Dec 1856.
• Hasland (Knowles and Co), J Thompson (26), fall of roof 12 Dec 1856.
• Heath (Joshua Townley), George Clay (13 year old banksman), fell down shaft 8 Apr 1856.
• Highfield (R Wright), William Wagstaff (21) and Edward Radford (30), fall in shaft 15 Jul 1856.
• Hollingwood (Barrow), G Grey (23), crushed by loaded trams 30 Sep 1856.
• Ibstock (EM Green and Co) S Deaning  (14), fall of roof 25 Feb 1856.
• Langley (Butterley Co), J Ratler (22), fall of coal 4 Jun 1856.
• Plumptre (Butterley Co), R Cresswell (42), fall 6 Feb 1856.
• Pinxton (Coke and Co), T Henshaw (30), fell out of cage 5 Mar 1856.
• Pinxton (Coke and Co), J Borth (22), fall of coal 1 Dec 1856.
• Ripley (Butterley Co), G Bridges (26), fall of roof 17 Sep 1856.
• Silkstone (R J Swallow), Eckington, H Oates (15), explosion 3 Sep 1856.
• Snibston (R Stephenson and Co), J Smith (15), fall of coal 1 Oct 1856.
• Snibston (R Stephenson and Co), T Lush (14), crushed by cage.
• Springwell (R Barrow), T  French (12), fell down shaft 18 Jun 1856.
• Staveley (J Marples), J Sampson (59), fall of roof 5 Mar 1856.
• Tapton (John Clayton), R Kidger (67), fall of coal 16 Apr 1856.
• Tibshelf (J Chambers), E Watson (or J Chambers) (32), fall of ground 19 Mar 1856.
• Trowell (Lord Middleton), John Stones (21), was killed when he fell down the shaft 11 Apr 1856.
• Underwood (Barber Walker), S Henshaw (40), fall 15 Jul 1856.
• Whittington (IC Plevins), J Coke (31), boiler burst 9 Jun 1856.
• Whitwick (W Stenson and Co), G Turner (14), run over by tubs 20 Jun 1856.
• Whitwick (W Stenson and Co), J Moult (26), fall of roof 22 Nov 1856.

Output

The total output from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire pits was 3,293,325 tons in 1856.

The value of £1 in 1856 compared with today’s value in 2010 would be about £46.