Banner
Address FT Site Email CCL Info In Memory Menu Philip Individuals Search Webmaster Content Work Fionn Bob
Information and photographs submitted by subscribers are posted in good faith. If any copyright of anyone else's material is unintentionally breached, please email me


Calendar
The Decline Of The Industry Continued
After Nationalisation 1947

Chimneys
1950
1952
 1950    1    2    3    4    5    6 

1950 - Page 6


Watnall Colliery Closed After 75 Years

On 23rd December 1950, Watnall (Nottinghamshire) sunk in 1875 and 1893 by Barber Walker and Co was abandoned in 1950 after 75 years.
121,837 tons was produced by 410 men in the final year.
The mine is situated to the West of Hucknall Torkard.

  • Watnall No1 shaft High Main at 79 yards (72m), Main Bright 3’ 0” (0.91m) at 198 yards (181m), Two Foot seam at 203 yards (185.5m), Low Bright (High Hazel) at 216 yards (197.5m), Top Hard 319 yards (291.5m), Dunsil at 340 yards (311m), sump 342 yards (312.7m). Shaft positions E450070 N345783, E450438 N345065, E450750 N345005. 
  • Watnall Air shaft 120 yards (110m) to Combe coal.
  • Watnall No2 shaft Combe coal at 317 yards (289.8m) and Top Hard at 319 yards (291.6m)
  • Watnall No3 shaft Combe coal at 320 yards (292.6m) and Top Hard at 322 yards (294.4m)
  • Watnall shaft Combe at 106 yards (96.9m) and Top Hard at 116 yards (106m). Watnall No4 Soft coal (Deep Soft) pit worked from Lady Day 1849 - Michaelmas 1851.

Seams worked: included 

  • Main Smut heads to Lady Day 1921
  • Combe 2’ 6” (0.76m)
  • Clunch 2’ 0” (0.61m)
  • Top Hard 5’ 1” (1.55m)1875 to Lady Day 1921
  • High Hazel (Low Bright due to wrong correlation of seams) variable 2’ 0” to 3’ 0” (0.6m to 0.9m) 1939 – 1943
  • Main Bright - 3’ 0” (0.91m) 29th Apr 1943...uneconomic, no working since 22/12/1950 signed William (Bill) E Martin Sub Area Surveyor 15/3/1951 and Jack H Pedley Sub Area Manager.

The pit was kept open for pumping for a while, 87,500 gals per day pumped to surface. The brickyard adjacent had 4 tall chimneys and until they were demolished in 2009 They were visible from the M1 Motorway that passes close by.

- Demolition of iconic chimneys 'was inevitable' -
Dave Stevenson's first job was at Watnall - James Walter Clarke was the senior blacksmith at Watnall

Boundary pit is noted on one of the plans. By comparison workings surrounding Watnall, Cinderhill Top Hard at 218 yards (199.3m), Hempshill Air shaft Top Hard at 235 yards (214.8m), Kimberley 2 shafts to Top Hard at 110 yards (100.6m) and 2 shafts down to Deep Soft at 270 yards (246.9m)

Manpower: Barber, Walker and Co:

  • 1894: Top Hard 578, s/f 128, total 706 men
  • 1895: 691 men
  • 1900: 778 men
  • 1903: 765 men
  • 1905: 789 men (max)
  • 1911: 675 men
  • 1913: 512 men
  • 1915: Top Hard, High Hazles, 573 men
  • 1920: Main Bright, High Hazles 658 men
  • 1923: 718 men
  • 1925: 662 men
  • 1926: 570 men
  • 1927: 542 men
  • 1928: 531 men
  • 1929: 506 men
  • 1930: 519 men
  • 1933: 635 men
  • 1935: 625 men
  • 1940: 564 men
  • 1945: Main Bright 340, s/f 92, total 432 men

Tonnage and Manpower NCB: No6 Area EMD:

  • 1947: 105,571 tons, 406 men
  • 1948: 107,239 tons, 390 men
  • 1949: Highest tonnage 121,837 tons, 410 men
  • 1950: 102,527 tons, 317 men

Agents

  • John William Fryar (349) pre 1909 – 1912
  • J Robert Harrison (994) 1912 – 1913
  • Len C Hodges (2528) 1913 – 1917
  • CW Phillips 1917 – 1919
  • J Robert Harrison (994) 1919 - 1946

Sub - Area Manager

  • Jack H Pedley (2182) 1947 - 1951

Managers for Watnall:

  • Isaac Chambers (82) – 1907
  • Henry Greener (2569) 1907 – 1908 Manager for 2 years at New Watnall and High Park. Went to be Manager of New Thorne Sinking in Yorkshire in October
  • Don Macgregor (2788) 1908 – 1912
  • George Dixon (2987) 1912 – 1915
  • J Robert Harrison (994) 1915 – 1916
  • William Wright (271) 1916 – 1923
  • William L Boon (1096) 1923 – 1934
  • Charles Potts (93) 1934 – 1951

Undermanagers for Watnall

  • Zac Clay (service cert)
  • Jos Brown (2nd) – 1913
  • J Ball (2nd) 1914 – 1918
  • JS Towle 1917 – 1922
  • William Wright (2nd) 1915 – 1917
  • TB Brown (2nd) 1918 – 1920
  • Tom Bonser (2nd) 1922 – 1935
  • J Ball (2nd) 1935 –
  • S Akers (2nd) - 1951

Surveyors: included

  • George E Whitelock (910) (Surveyor to Barber, Walker Co Ltd) pre 1922 – 1946
  • Sub - Area Surveyor EA Nirgo 1947 – 1950
  • William (Bill) E Martin (1523) Sub - Area Surveyor (later Area Chief Surveyor)

Fatal Accidents Watnall

  • George Rhodes (40) fall of roof 9/1/1848, died 10/2/1848
  • Edward Cooke (boy) fall of roof 28/9/1851
  • William Burrows (60) fell down the shaft 29/4/1853
  • Moses Burrows (20) explosion of gunpowder 20/9/1866
  • Noah Burrows (15) run over by tubs 19/12/1867
  • Gervase Sisson (57) shotfiring accident 25/10/1876
  • John Burrows (24) fall of roof 4/4/1878
  • William Smith (38) fall of roof 7/2/1884
  • Joseph Treen (14) fall in a roadway 10/12/1884
  • Sam Cresswell (23) leg injury 24/11/1884, died after amputated in London 22/7/1885
  • Joseph Leivers (42) fall of roof 4/2/1887, died 25/9/1887
  • William Henry Drury (21) fall of roof 11/9/1888
  • James William Gibson (14) run over by tubs 3/11/1892
  • John Thomas Fisher (12) fall in a roadway 20/11/1893
  • Thomas Meakin (34) fall of roof 19/12/1893, died 22/12/1893
  • Henry Clarke (29) fall of roof 20/8/1894, died 21/8/1894
  • George Webster (16) fall in a roadway 12/11/1902
  • William Rider (18) fall in a roadway 8/10/1903
  • William Wagstaff (15) crushed by cage 13/10/1903
  • George Meakin (17) fell out of the cage down the shaft 9/8/1904
  • Edwin Kirk (25) fall of roof 10/5/1905
  • John Edwin Gibson (30) fall of coal 6/8/1907
  • Amos Brooks (31) fall of roof 31/3/1904, died 2/4/1904
  • Frank William Lowe (51) fall of roof 15/4/1915
  • Benjamin Butt (17) fall of roof 8/6/1916
  • Sam Hopewell (21) fall of roof 20/7/1917
  • Alfred Thomas Chambers (34) shotfiring accident 17/4/1919
  • John Bilson (49) fall of roof 27/5/1920
  • Wilfred John Terry (27) electrocuted 1/7/1922
  • Ernest Chapman (20) fall of roof 28/8/1924
  • Ernest Taylor (44) hit by an aerial dirt tip bucket on the surface 20/8/1925
  • Matthew Coleman (48) injured hand 26/4/1927, died from septicaemia 3/5/1927
  • Bernard Lilley (38) hand injury, died from septicaemia 25/7/1927
  • Victor Robinson (25) fall of roof 20/10/1930
  • John Joseph Freeman (29) caught in a coal cutter 4/10/1935
  • George Drabble (62) fall of roof 17/11/1937
  • Dennis Limb (45) fall of roof 22/5/1939, died 25/5/1939
  • Sam Chambers (51) fall of roof 8/12/1939
  • Owen Edward Bostock (26) fall of roof 15/5/1940
  • James Clark (44) fall of roof 18/7/1941
  • George Wheeldon (26) fall of roof 29/7/1941
  • Albert Edward Hill (46) fall of roof 24/10/1941
  • Walter Barker (59) fall of roof 11/4/1943, died 4/1/1943
  • John Thomas Bird (61) run over by tubs 12/10/1947
  • John Priestley (72) knocked down by a loco on the surface 3/1/1952
  • George Leslie Oldknow (51) electrocuted 22/9/1952

Watnall Colliery - Mining Methods in Europe by Lucius W Mayer E.M - 1909 - Philip Wyles


High Park Colliery Merged With Moorgreen 1950 After 90 Years

High Park, (Nottinghamshire) sunk to 195 yards (182m) 1854 - 1860 by Barber Walker and Co was closed after 90 years in 1950 and merged with MoorgreenNo1 shaft SK44NE 448636, 348664 and UC 447973, 347887.  It was an extremely difficult sinking taking about 5 years due to ingress of water in the shafts and required the nearby Moorgreen reservoir to be drained. Top Hard at 194 yards (177.4m), 1in2 drift to Deep Hard, Abbey developed off this drift, start face 1930, abandoned Michaelmas 1931. The mine is situated North East of Eastwood, beyond Moorgreen and to the East of Brinsley.

Seams worked :

  • Top Hard coal 1’ 2” (0.35m) dirt 9” (0.23m) coal 1’ 10½” (0.57m) and Coombe, 1860 - Mix 1921 abandoned 8/6/1922,
  • Deep, Abbey exploration headings from 1in2 drift - 11/7/1918
  • Abbey (Waterloo) coal 1’ 2” (0.35m), dirt 9” (0.23m), coal 1’ 10½” (0.57m) – Mix 1931 and redeveloped but finished -  Nov 1944

Manpower:

  • 1894: 448 Top Hard, 90 s/f
  • 1895: 437 TH, 91 s/f
  • 1900: 529 TH, 73 s/f
  • 1905: 325 TH, 48 s/f
  • 1911: 443 TH 136 s/f
  • 1915: 415 TH and Coombe 75 s/f
  • 1920: 379 Deep and Coombe, 54 s/f
  • 1925: 295 Deep, 45 s/f
  • 1930: 397 Abbey and Deep, 3 s/f
  • 1935: 362 Deep, s/f men combined with Moor Green 196
  • 1940: 423 Deep
  • 1945: 302 Deep, 84 s/f
  • 1949: 367 Deep 124 s/f, 150,000 tons

Tonnages

  • 1941: 170,730 tons
  • 1942: 178,503 tons
  • 1943: 158,958 tons
  • 1944: 129,326 tons
  • 1945: 142,439 tons
  • 1946: 152,361 tons
  • 1947: 207,180 tons

Agents:

  • Robert Harrison
  • William Weston

Managers for High Park:

  • George Harrison (427)
  • Don McGregor
  • George Dixon
  • William Wright (271)
  • William L Boon (1096)
  • Charles Potts (93), colliery merged with Moorgreen

Undermanagers for High Park

  • Herbert Knighton (2nd)
  • A Longden (2nd) Left to Undermanager at Bentley, in Sept 1908
  • John Ball (2nd)
  • TB Brown (2nd)
  • W Topping (2nd)
  • G Hodkin (2930), merged with Moorgreen

Surveyors:

  • George H Whitelock (910)

Fatal Accidents High Park:

  • Enoch Rowely (age..?) 20/1/1863
  • Thomas Clifford (28) 27/10/1863
  • William Wright (22) 6/1/1864
  • Thomas Phillips (54) 20/6/1864
  • William Nellors (..?) 16/12/1864
  • Isaac Soar (12) 6/8/1870
  • Joseph Parkinson (19) 30/5/1873
  • Christopher Chambers (15) 4/3/1880
  • John Birkin (19/5/1881
  • Edmund Roweley (27) shaft accident 16/1/1886
  • William Varley (15) 13/2/1893
  • Louis Cook (52)
  • George Gaunt (29)
  • Arthur Cutts (36) Arthur-C   Russ
  • Ernest Smithurst (31) 20/8/1952

Coal turning ceased at the shafts 20 Feb 1927

Shafts sinking in 1856
Shafts filled in 1957


Pye Hill

Pye Hill Threequarters seam working was abandoned in December 1950


Opencast Sites

  • Boiley Lane 2nd Waterloo 1950
  • Cossall III and Foundry Deep Hard and Piper
  • Lodge Farm 1st Piper – Nov 1950
  • Newman Spinney Foxearth 1’ 5½” (0.44m) and Sough 2’ 10” (0.86m) 4th July 1949 to July 1950
  • Purdy House Farm Middle Coombe, 19/6/1950
  • Riley Lane Low Main 3’ 9” (1.14m) and Threequarter 2’ 4” (0.71m) Aug
  • Shipley Hall Middle Coombe, Waterloo,  2/10/44 – 12/9/50
  • Springwood Farm Waterloo 4’ 6” (1.37m) and Dunsil 1’ 8” (0.50m) 27th Sep
  • Wood Zone (McFez) near Trowell, Tupton or Low Main 3’ 5” (1.04m), Threequarter 1’ 11” (0.58m) Mar 1950

 

 

left

 

 

Next 1951
Menu

Pit Terminology - Glossary