List of coal mines in the United Kingdom

This is a list of coal mines in the United Kingdom, sorted between those operating in the 21st century and those closed earlier.

The last operating deep coal mine in the United Kingdom, Kellingley colliery in North Yorkshire, closed in December 2015. ^[1] After 2015, most continuing coal mines were collieries owned by freeminers, or open pit mines of which there were 26 in 2014. ^[2] However, since December 2023 -with the closure of Ffos-y-fran- no major opencast coal mine operates. The largest mine is Aberpergwm, which is a drift mine. For example, in January 2024 the production of all opencast mines were around 1,000 tonnes while Aberpergwm (and other underground mines) produced around 7,000 tonnes. ^[3]

21st century

These coal mines closed in the 21st century or still operate.

Mine	Owner	Region	Production (tonnes) [a]	Manpower [a]	Status
Bradley Surface Mine	Banks Group	County Durham	340,000	<30 (2018)	Closed August 2020 [4]
Clipstone Colliery	RJB Mining	Nottinghamshire	?	1,300 (?)	Closed 2003 [5]
Daw Mill	UK Coal	West Midlands	3.25 million (2008)	683 (2008) [6]	Closed 7 March 2013 [7]
Hatfield Colliery	Hatfield Colliery Ltd	Yorkshire	704,740 (2011)	400 (2011)	Closed July 2015 [8]
Hill Top Colliery	Grimebridge Colliery Company Ltd	Lancashire	?	3 (2011)	Closed, 2014 [9]
Kellingley Colliery	UK Coal Operations Ltd	Yorkshire	2,276,434 (2011)	695 (2011)	Closed 18 December 2015
Maltby Main Colliery	UK Coal	Yorkshire	?	<400	Closed April 2013
Thoresby Colliery	UK Coal Operations Ltd	Nottinghamshire	1,283,346 (2011)	613 (2011)	Closed July 2015
Hartington	?	Derbyshire	87,000	?	Closed September, 2020 [10]
Danygraig 4 drift mine	Three D's Mining Limited	Wales	?	?	Closed March 2021
Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme	Merthyr Tydfil	South Wales	1,000,000 (at peak)	?	Closed November 2023 [11]
Aberpergwm drift mine	Energybuild Ltd	Wales	<100,000	160 (2021)	Operating
Ayle Colliery (Quarry Drift)	Ayle Colliery Company Ltd	Cumbria	1,000	?	Operating in Feb 2020
Hopewell Colliery	Rich Daniels [12] (Freeminer)	Forest of Dean	?	~1 (2018)	Operating [13]
Wallsend Colliery & Morse's Level	Mike Howells [14] (Freeminer)	Forest of Dean	?	?	Operating
Monument Colliery	Ray Ashly, Richard Daniels & Neil Jones [15] (Freeminers)	Forest of Dean	250 (2011)	3 (2011)	One of the only freemines in Forest of Dean operating as of 2002 [16]

^a For the year given.

Earlier

These coal mines closed before the 21st century.

Mine	Traditional county	Opened	Closed	Peak manpower [a]	Notes
North East England
Boldon Colliery	County Durham	1866	1982	(?)
Castle Eden colliery [17]	County Durham	1842	1959	891 (1880s)
Dawdon Colliery [18]	County Durham	5 October 1907	25 July 1991	3,798 (1930)
Newbottle Colliery [19]	County Durham	1774	1956	1,199 (1921)
Shincliffe colliery [20]	County Durham	1839	1875	(?)
East Midlands and Yorkshire
Asfordby Colliery	Leicestershire	1991	1997	490	Last deep coal mine to be sunk in England.
Babbington Colliery	Nottinghamshire	1841	1986
Bagworth Colliery	Leicestershire	1832	1991
Hucknall No.1 Colliery	Nottinghamshire	1861	1943
Hucknall No.2 Colliery	Nottinghamshire	1865	1986
Ollerton Colliery	Nottinghamshire	1920s	1994
Silverwood Colliery	Yorkshire	1900	1994
North West and North Staffordshire
Ellerbeck Colliery	Lancashire	1876	1965	(?)
Golborne Colliery [21]	Lancashire	1860s	1989	(?)	Site of explosion (1979) in which 10 workers died.
Silverdale Colliery	Staffordshire	(?)	1998	(?)	Last active coal mine in Staffordshire.
South East England
Snowdown Colliery [22]	Kent	1907	1987
Betteshanger Colliery	Kent	1927	1989
Tilmanstone Colliery	Kent	1906	1986
Chislet Colliery	Kent	1914	1969

Ww^a With given year of peak.

See also

• List of collieries in Derbyshire
• List of collieries in Yorkshire (1984–2015)
• Coal mining in the United Kingdom

References

1. "Thousands join march to mark closure of UK's last deep coal mine". The Guardian. 19 December 2015.
2. "Surface Coal Mining Statistics". www.bgs.ac.uk. 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
3. "Energy Trends". www.gov.uk. 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
4. "Bradley mine: Coal extracted for final time at County Durham site". BBC News. 17 August 2020.
5. "Clipstone Colliery". Northern Mine Research Society. 11 December 2023.
6. "Colliery on track for record output shows King Coal is striving to regain crown". The Guardian. 8 December 2008.
7. "HS2 could mean closure of Daw Mill". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
8. "Employee trust acquires Hatfield Colliery". Insider News Yorkshire. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014.
9. Mr H's Hot Pot: End of an era at Hilltop Colliery, Lancashire's last coal mine. 2. October 2018.
10. 9. January 2021.
11. 15 August 2023
12. "Hopewell Colliery Museum". Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism Association.
13. "Hopewell Colliery Centre for Freemining". Hopewell Colliery Museum and Working Mine.
14. "Freemining in the Forest of Dean 2018". Welsh Coal Mines Forum. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
15. "Monument Free Mine". Forest of Dean Local History Society.
16. "Monument Free Mine".
17. "Castle Eden Colliery". Durham Mining Museum. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
18. "Dawdon Colliery". Durham Mining Museum.
19. "Newbottle Colliery". Durham Mining Museum.
20. "Shincliffe Colliery". Durham Mining Museum.
21. "Golborne Colliery". Northern Mines Research Society. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
22. "Snowdown Colliery". Dover Museum.

External links

• List of Northern English Coal Mines at the Durham Mining Museum.