Pits

Annesley Pit near Kirkby-in-Ashfield was sunk in 1860 by the Annesley Colliery Co. with production beginning in 1865. Two shafts were sunk to the Top Hard seam and each had it's own headgear.
In 1925 the colliery was sold to the New Hucknall Colliery Company and in 1947 it was nationalsied.
By 1982 the Annesley Bentinck Concentration Scheme was completed and in December 2000, the colliery's owners Midland Mining closed the pit, despite the large coal reserves beneath the surface.
Photo H.G.Owston of Annesley Woodhouse 1909.
Fatal Colliery Accident - June 27th 1877 Annesley, Notts
More pictures of Annesley

Bentinck colliery, 1911. Owned by the New Hucknall Company, Bentinck (Kirkby), also the family name of the Dukes of Portland, started production in 1896. It was the first British colliery to produce one million tons in seven months, and in 1978, 20 acres of barley was grown on the tip. By the 1980s the screening sheds at Bentinck were part of a modern coal preparation plant which also processed coal from Annesley and Newstead. Most of the output went to Ratcliffe Power Station.
In April 2000 the winding wheels were purchased for £100 and taken to a mining heritage centre at Newcastle under Lyme.

Cinderhill - Babbington Coal Co. (Basford, Nottingham ), sunk between 1841 and 1843, was the first pit in the Notts concealed coal seam. It was developed by Thomas North, a legend in his own lifetime, and a pioneer who introduced much new technology including the tandem-linked headgear which can be seen in the picture. He also built 28 miles of private railway line. When North died, penniless, it was the miners who contributed to his memorial which still stands in Old Basford cemetery. The man with the horse and cart is going to the landsales office and the trucks are Midland Railway and Great Northern.
After the pit closed in 1986, the Phoenix Business Centre was developed on the site.

Coppice - Opened 1975 Closed 1966 Now Shipley Park Visitors Centre. Tip planted with trees.

Digby, near Eastwood near Nottingham. Originally owned by Digby Colliery Co., It is notable for what happened during the General Strike. In the autumn of 1926, 70% of the men at Digby had resumed work and the rest begged George Spencer (Labour MP and NUM official) to get their jobs back. For this he was expelled from the union and the breakaway Spencer union was formed.

Hucknall No. 1 and No. 2 Collieries. Of all Nottinghamshire's collieries none has been more closely associated with the development of a major town than Hucknall, the first of a chain of important mines to be constructed in the Leen Valley proper.

Kimberley, Basford. Originally owned by Babbington Coal Co., Cinderhill, Nottingham

Kirk Hallam - Closed 1882

Langton, "Nos. 7 & 9". Originally owned by Pinxton Coke and Co., Pinxton, Alfreton

Linby Nottingham. Originally owned by Linby Colliery Co., Nottingham

Lodge - Opened 1878 Closed 1959 Kirkby Kirkby. Originally owned by The Butterley Co., Alfreton

Manner Pit

Manner Pit, originally owned by Ilkeston Collierys Ltd, was behind the Ilkeston Mines Rescue station. Opened in 1877 it closed on the 29th Oct 1949 as part of the N.C.B's centralisation scheme. In an attempt to reduce overheads the NCB decided to close some pits and access their reserves from others.
In 1948 Sir Herbert Houldsworth, of the NCB warned the consultative committee that Manner was on the list for possible closure however numbers employed at the pit rose from 500 to 531. Despite this the bad news came, the NCB said the pit was not profitable enough, the coal seams were too far from the pit bottom. The axe fell and from the end of 1948 miners were moved to Shipley and Cossall then later to Mapperley and Stanley Drift.

Mansfield

Mapperley - Opened 1872 Closed 1965

Moor Green Colliery was established in 1865 and closed in 1985. It was originally owned by Barber, Walker and Co., Eastwood, Nottingham.

Newcastle- In operation 1824 Off Shipley Common Lane - had fire ventilation shaft taken to Lound Museum. House next to pit tilted sideways at about 20 degrees but remained occupied. It was originally owned by Babbington Coal Co., Cinderford, Nottingham.

New Granby - Opened 1868 Closed 1888. A tramway ran from Old to New Granby which was on what is now Portland Road. A few years ago a man got up one morning, opened his back door to go into his garden and nearly fell into the opened up shaft of New Granby - 600 feet deep.

New London, Eastwood. It was originally owned by Digby Colliery Co., near Nottingham

New Selston, Alfreton. It was originally owned by J. Oakes and Co., Riddings, Alfreton

Newstead, Nottingham. It was originally owned by Newstead Colliery Co., Nottingham

Oakwell- Opened 1874 Closed 1911 On Derby Road, Ilkeston

Ollerton

Old Granby - Site acquired in 1896 for Recreation ground. 3 shafts on Granby Park, 2 across Cotmanhay Road under new houses, formerly marked by stone pillars -Shaft covered in concrete.

We lived in one of these new houses when the hollows appeared in Granby park. A lot of work was done to properly cap off the shafts. There was also a shaft in the front garden of one of the houses near us, but there were no problems with it.

Peacock - Closed 1893 Vicarage Avenue Cotmanhay. Now site of new bungalows!

Pinxton No.1 pit, near to the Old Pinxton Wharf area, to the rear of the Boat Inn, was sunk around 1806 when a shaft was sunk to the deep hard seam.

Piper, Low Main, Kilburn Rutland - No.2,3 & 4

Plumptree, Eastwood. Originally owned by The Butterley Co., Alfreton

Pollington, Alfreton. Originally owned by J. Oakes and Co., Riddings, Alfreton

Portland, "Nos. 1, 2, & 4" Kirkby. Originally owned by The Butterley Co., Alfreton

Pye Hill, "Nos. 1 & 2" Alfreton. Originally owned by J. Oakes and Co., Riddings, Alfreton

Rufford Coliery These temporary wooden headstocks were erected during the sinking of Rufford Colliery between 1911 and 1913.
Disaster struck in February 1913, when overwind caused a seven ton steel suction water barrel to plunge 115ft down the sinking shaft, demolishing scaffold as it fell into the workings. Fourteen men lost their lives and four escaped by clinging onto debris in the icy water.
Most shafts of this period were round and bricklined, though metal tubbing was also used.
Modern ones are usually lined with concrete.

Rutland Collieries - There were four (nos. 1-4) in the Ilkeston area as far as I know, all owned by the Duke of Rutland (Manners family). These were fairly early "deep" pits,

Selston - New Selston colliery was sunk by James Oakes & Co and coal was transported by a private rail from this pit to Pye Hill which later became Pye Hill No2 at Jacksdale. The entrance to the colliery was opposite Lindley Street in Selston. The pit was known locally as the Bull pit from being close to The Bull & Butcher public house.

Sherwood

Sherwood Colliery between 1902 and 1903 two shafts were sunk at Sherwood by Sherwood Colliery Company. Pits in the concealed seam were large and had great impact on the countryside. By 1934, Sherwood had pit head baths, and in 1983 both winders were electrified. Production had ceased by 1992.

Sherwood, taken from cab of loco in 1986. Steve Burgess

Shipley - In operation 1824 Behind Michael House School Shaft used for emergencies for Woodside.

Shire Oaks, "Nos. 1 & 2" Shire Oaks. Originally owned by Shire Oaks Colliery Co., Worksop

Silverhill, "No. 1" Mansfield. Originally owned by Stanton Iron Co., Teversall, Mansfield
Silver Hill, "No. 2" Mansfield. Originally owned by Stanton Iron Co., Teversall, Mansfield

Silverwood Silverwood Colliery, Yorkshire, was situated between the Villages of Thrybergh and Ravenfield.

Stanley -Opened 1897 Closed 1961 Seams worked Piper, Low Main Kilburn.

Steetly Shire Oaks. Originally owned by Shire Oaks Colliery Co., Worksop

Sutton, "No. 1" Mansfield. Originally owned by Sutton Colliery Co., Mansfield

Sutton, "No. 2" Mansfield. Originally owned by Sutton Colliery Co., Mansfield

Teversall, "Nos. 1 & 2" Mansfield. Originally owned by Stanton Iron Co., Teversall, Mansfield

Trowell

Trowell Colliery, (1881-1928). A railway line was opened from Nottingham to Trowell in 1875, and the full coal trucks on the left are just leaving the pit. Trowell Field, an earlier Trowell pit was, in 1773, one of the first in the area to use a steam engine for pumping instead of soughs (drainage channels).

Tunnel Alfreton. Originally owned by J. Oakes and Co., Riddings, Alfreton

Turkey Fields - Opened 1848

The 1969 six inch to 1 mile geological map shows two shafts called "Turkey Pits" at grid reference 4990 4240. These are three-quarters of a mile due East of the the former Oakwood Grange Colliery which was once part of the Cossall Colliery complex. The shafts are located just South of "Turkey Farm"; their proximity would suggest an upcast and downcast arrangement, possibly with tandem headgear. Something similar can be seen at Brinsley at the mining monument.
The detail for one of these shafts ( known as "Turkey Field Colliery") is as follows:
Constructed 1848
Datum 330 ft above sea level
Geological sequence:
Down from Lower Middle Coal Measures to Upper Lower Coal Measures, commencing with Fourth Waterloo coal (14 inches) at 79 ft, and passing through numerous other thin seams common to the area before reaching the Deep Soft (42 inches) at 366 ft, and base of the the Deep Hard (46 inches) at 416 ft (shaft bottom). Extraction often commenced on Deep Soft and Deep Hard coals during this period throughout the region.
The amount of ground disturbance around the pit suggests it was more active/long-lived than many of the other small pits scattered around the immediate area.
I have no date for closure, or who sank it.
Joe Henshaw

	From: Dale Fearn Sent: 04 July 2008 Subject: Picture of Underwood Pit Before it was Demolished

Hi there
A picture of Underwood pit in Nottinghamshire just before it was demolished in 1984 - 1985.
Thought you would like the picture for your website. Picture was taken by my Dad, Mr Bryan Fearn of Brinsley.

Many Thanks
Dale Fearn

Underwood pit went back centuries, being taken over in 1728 by Barber Walker & Co when it was probably just an opencast or outcropping site. Barber Walker sank a real vertical mine shaft there in 1831. It was included in the 1842 Children's Employment Commission. The pit at Underwood was 140 yards deep. Workers were let down and up, four at a time by a flat rope. They had no Davy Lamp but fortunately no accidents had been recorded at the pit for two years. At that time Barber and Walker owned 12 shafts employing a total of 101 children under the age of 13.
Underwood Pit eventually amalgamated with three other pits sunk by different mining companies:-
(i) Pye Hill, (ii) Selston/Underwood, and (iii) New Selston where-upon it became known as Pye Hill No 1

Deep mining in the area came to an end in 1985 with the closure of Moorgreen, Pye Hill and Underwood.

Philip's Great Grandfather, John Smith was a Hanger-On at Underwood Pit. He lost his life on Sunday 12th April 1874, aged 22.

Underwood Pit (Memorial)

Warsop Main Mansfield. Originally owned by Staveley Coal and Iron Co., Chesterfield

Watnall, Eastwood. Originally owned by Barber, Walker and Co., Eastwood, Nottingham

West Hallam No.1 - Opened 1889 Closed 1931 Seams, Deep Soft, Hard.
West Hallam Colliery No 1 Rescue Team

West Hallam No.2 - Opened 1889 Closed 1931 Both pits behind Newdigate Pub. Sites used as screens.

Wollaton, "Nos. 1 & 2" Nottingham. Originally owned by Wollaton Colliery Co., Nottingham

Woodside Colliery- Opened 1889 Closed 1966.
Drift at Woodside Colliery