Brinsley Colliery. A Barber and Walker Colliery near Eastwood, Brinsley (1872-1970). Brinsley Colliery was originally 450 feet (137m) deep but by the 1870s the good quality 'top hard' coal had been almost exhausted and a second shaft was sunk in 1872 to a depth of 780 feet (238m). The 'tandem' headstocks, were erected at this time. Each cage was suspended from a steel cable and held six men. The cable passed over the winding wheels to the drum of a steam winding engine. The beams were made of wood. At its peak of production the colliery produced around 500 tons of coal a day and employed 361 men, 282 of whom worked at the coal faces.
By 1930 coal reserves had been exhausted but hte shafts were kept open until 1970 for access to neighbouring pits.
It was here that D H Lawrence's father worked from six in the morning till four in the afternoon he crouched in an 18-inch coal seam.
Now you can picnic beneath the headstocks, approaching them via a path which was the route of the railway line from the pit to Langley Mill.

The Brinsley Explosion
Sunday 10th June 1883