![]() Harworth Colliery in December 2009 | |
Location | |
---|---|
Location | Harworth, Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire |
County council | Nottinghamshire |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°24′54″N1°03′40″W / 53.415°N 1.061°W Coordinates: 53°24′54″N1°03′40″W / 53.415°N 1.061°W |
Production | |
Products | Coal |
History | |
Opened | 1913 |
Closed | 2006 |
Owner | |
Company | UK Coal |
Harworth Colliery was a colliery near the town of Harworth Bircotes in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, England.
It was abandoned in 2006 due to troubles at the seam. UK Coal, who owned and maintained the mine, were waiting for a contract to make it worth investing money to open up a new seam. Bassetlaw has at the moment no working pits; the nearest was Maltby Main Colliery in South Yorkshire which closed in 2013.
The mothballing of the pit in 2006 [1] brought an end to 86 years of mining in Bassetlaw.
The area has since been redeveloped for retail, industrial and residential. [2] [3] [4]
Work began on sinking the shaft in 1913, when the Northern Union Mining Company was set up. This was with an investment in German equipment and men, but with the start of the First World War (1914-1918) the German workers were interned and the company's assets were impounded by the Government, and so construction was halted.
Later in 1917 the pit was bought by Messrs. Barber, Walker & Co. for £80,100, becoming full owners in 1921 after the war repayments scheme. The sinking of the shafts was started with preliminary works in 1919, but the first real sinking started in 1921. Water problems were encountered but this was overcome with the solidification of the ground with liquid cement grout. On 29 October 1923 the shaft sinkers eventually reached the Barnsley seam at 848 metres (2,782 ft) although there were problems with underground faults. The second shaft also reached the Barnsley seam on 15 November 1923.
In 1924 the colliery was connected with a 4.2 km railway line to connect with the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) owned East Coast Main Line (ECML). The main structure on the line was the 256 ft (78 m), 6 span 26 ft (7.9 m) high viaduct across the River Ryton. [5] The ECML became very congested and a connection the South Yorkshire Joint Railway (SYJR) was considered, also linking the new Firbeck Colliery (sinking started in 1923) near Carlton in Lindrick. A triangle junction would lead to another triangle junction near Styrrup with lines going to Harworth and another going through Oldcotes and Langold to reach Firbeck. The forecast for Harworth was 5000 tons per day; this would have meant more congestion, so the opportunity was taken by the new owners on the SYJR (LNER and the LMS) to build the line to connect both collieries. This was completed in 1928.
There were also several Coke ovens at Harworth, and like Maltby Main Colliery it was decided to modernise the pit in the 1950s. Rebuilding with the concrete headgears began in the late 1950s.
These structures were replaced with the current headgears in 1989 (No 1 Shaft) and 1994 (No 2 Shaft). Shortly after the No 1 Headgears were built the new surface main mine fan was also commissioned to efficiently ventilate the workings.
The coal early on was from the Barnsley seam, the top layer being good for steaming and the lower parts for house and coking (mix). Harworth coal was in great demand from railway companies like the LNER. The Flying Scotsman locomotive, one of the most famous steam engines in the world (now owned by the National Railway Museum) was burning Harworth coal[ citation needed ] when it covered the 392 miles from London to Edinburgh in a record seven hours and 27 minutes in 1932.
With the decline of steam power in the late 1960s and coal being used less for gas and heating the coal began to be used for producing power. Power stations like Drax and Cottam used Harworth coal, this being transported by the SYJR. Other lower seams included the Parkgate seam.
In more recent history, Harworth reached the one-million-tonnes-in-a-year figure in 1993.
The pit's closure was considered in November 2002 when owners UK Coal warned the 400 workers the pit was in trouble unless yearly losses of £8 million could be reversed. Three years later, to save the pit, the only possible solution for the 450 workers was to invest £50 million to access a new seam. If that was to happen the pit would have up to 25 more years worth of coal.
Profits at UK Coal increased nearly fourfold in one year as the company benefited from property sales, higher coal prices and smoother mining operations.
UK Coal, which operated four deep collieries and several surface mines, reported that pre-tax profits had jumped by 292% to £69 million in the year 2007. On 21 April 2008, UK Coal said it was to consider plans to reopen Harworth colliery, and also investing £100m to extend the lives of the Thoresby Colliery in Nottinghamshire and Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire.
In 2008 work started underground at Harworth Colliery to make good several kilometres of roadway and infrastructure to enable access to the millions of tonnes of coal that remain to be mined. Also a team of experts was assembled at the groups HQ tasked with planning the methods of accessing the remaining coal [6] however in April 2016 the Harworth colliery was demolished to make way for housing. [7] [8]
Bircotes is an area in the civil parish of Harworth Bircotes in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the border with South Yorkshire. The population of the civil parish was 7,948. The local school in the area is Serlby Park Academy. Bircotes was founded in the 1920s, with the discovery of coal during the First World War and the establishment of Harworth Colliery, to provide homes for miners. It is was home to one of the last deep-mine pits in the UK.
The South Yorkshire Joint Railway was a committee formed in 1903, between the Great Central Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway to oversee the construction of a new railway in the Doncaster area of South Yorkshire, England. The five companies had equal rights over the line, each of the companies regularly working trains over it.
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Shireoaks Colliery was a coal mine situated on the edge of the village of Shireoaks, near Worksop in North Nottinghamshire, close by the Yorkshire border.
Kellingley Colliery was a deep coal mine in North Yorkshire, England, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of Ferrybridge power station. It was owned and operated by UK Coal.
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Pleasley Colliery is a former English coal mine. It is located to the north-west of Pleasley village, which sits above the north bank of the River Meden on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. It lies 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Mansfield and 9 miles (14.5 km) south of Chesterfield. From the south it commands a prominent position on the skyline, although less so now than when the winders were in operation and both chimney stacks were in place. The colliery is situated at about 500 ft (152m) above sea level and is aligned on a NE–SW axis following the trend of the river valley at this point.
Langold is a village in the civil parish of Hodsock, in the Bassetlaw district, north Nottinghamshire, England. At the 2011 census it was defined as a ward of Bassetlaw Council with a population of 2,472. It was built to provide housing for the miners of Firbeck Colliery between 1923 and 1927, and Langold Lakes Country Park is situated on the south-western edge of the village.
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Tyldesley Coal Company was a coal mining company formed in 1870 in Tyldesley, on the Manchester Coalfield in the historic county of Lancashire, England that had its origins in Yew Tree Colliery, the location for a mining disaster that killed 25 men and boys in 1858.
Wheldale Colliery was a coal mine located in Castleford, Yorkshire, England which produced coal for 117 years. It was accessed from Wheldon Road.
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Thorne Colliery was a large colliery within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire in the South Yorkshire Coalfield.
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Hodsock is a settlement and civil parish about 4 miles from Worksop, in the Bassetlaw district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. The parish includes the village of Langold and the country house Hodsock Priory. In 2011 the parish had a population of 2,472. The parish is surrounded by the settlements of Babworth, Barnby Moor, Blyth, Carlton in Lindrick, Costhorpe, Firbeck, Letwell, Maltby, Styrrup with Oldcotes and Torworth.