List of coal mines in the United Kingdom

Last updated

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

Contents

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.

MineOwnerRegionProduction (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  ?<400Closed April 2013
Thoresby Colliery UK Coal Operations LtdNottinghamshire1,283,346 (2011)613 (2011)Closed July 2015
Hartington ?Derbyshire87,000 ?Closed September, 2020 [10]
Danygraig 4 drift mineThree D's Mining LimitedWales ? ?Closed March 2021
Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme Merthyr TydfilSouth Wales1,000,000 (at peak) ?Closed November 2023 [11]
Aberpergwm drift mineEnergybuild LtdWales<100,000160 (2021)Operating
Ayle Colliery (Quarry Drift)Ayle Colliery Company Ltd Cumbria 1,000 ?Operating in Feb 2020
Hopewell CollieryRich Daniels [12] (Freeminer) Forest of Dean  ?~1 (2018)Operating [13]
Wallsend Colliery & Morse's LevelMike Howells [14] (Freeminer) Forest of Dean  ? ?Operating
Monument CollieryRay 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.

MineTraditional countyOpenedClosedPeak manpower [a] Notes
North East England
Boldon Colliery County Durham18661982(?)
Castle Eden colliery [17] County Durham18421959891 (1880s)
Dawdon Colliery [18] County Durham5 October 190725 July 19913,798 (1930)
Newbottle Colliery [19] County Durham177419561,199 (1921)
Shincliffe colliery [20] County Durham18391875(?)
East Midlands and Yorkshire
Asfordby Colliery Leicestershire 19911997490Last deep coal mine to be sunk in England.
Babbington Colliery Nottinghamshire 18411986
Bagworth CollieryLeicestershire18321991
Hucknall No.1 CollieryNottinghamshire18611943
Hucknall No.2 CollieryNottinghamshire18651986
Ollerton CollieryNottinghamshire1920s1994
Silverwood Colliery Yorkshire 19001994
North West and North Staffordshire
Ellerbeck Colliery Lancashire18761965(?)
Golborne Colliery [21] Lancashire1860s1989(?)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 19071987
Betteshanger CollieryKent19271989
Tilmanstone CollieryKent19061986
Chislet CollieryKent19141969


Wwa With given year of peak.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Coal Board</span> British statutory corporation, 1946–1987

The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "vesting day", 1 January 1947. In 1987, the NCB was renamed the British Coal Corporation, and its assets were subsequently privatised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horden</span> Village in County Durham, England

Horden is a village and electoral ward in County Durham, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast, to the east of Peterlee, approximately 12 miles south of Sunderland. Horden was a mining village until the closure of the Horden Colliery in 1987. Main features include the Welfare and Memorial Parks and St Mary's church. It is connected to the villages of Blackhall Colliery and Blackhall Rocks to its south by a spectacular rail viaduct which spans Castle Eden Dene near Denemouth. Horden Dene provides Horden's northern boundary with Easington Colliery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tower Colliery</span> Historic Welsh coal mine active until 2008

Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, until its closure in 2008. It was the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys. It was located near the villages of Hirwaun and Rhigos, north of the town of Aberdare in the Cynon Valley of South Wales.

Longannet coal mine was a deep mine complex in Fife, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeminer</span> Ancient title of coal and iron miners in England

Freeminer is an ancient title given to coal or iron miners in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, who have earned the right to mine personal plots, known as gales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Coal</span> Private mining firm in the United Kingdom

UK Coal Production Ltd, formerly UK Coal plc, was the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The company was based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The successor company that contains the former property division, Harworth Group, is still listed on the London Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining in Wales</span> Overview of the mining industry in Wales

Mining in Wales provided a significant source of income to the economy of Wales throughout the nineteenth century and early to mid twentieth century. It was key to the Industrial Revolution in Wales, and to the whole of Great Britain.

Aberpergwm is the site of a colliery in the Vale of Neath near Glynneath in south Wales.

Open-pit coal mining in the United Kingdom ended in November 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal mining in the United Kingdom</span> Fossil fuel from underground

Coal mining in the United Kingdom dates back to Roman times and occurred in many different parts of the country. Britain's coalfields are associated with Northumberland and Durham, North and South Wales, Yorkshire, the Scottish Central Belt, Lancashire, Cumbria, the East and West Midlands and Kent. After 1972, coal mining quickly collapsed and had practically disappeared by the 21st century. The consumption of coal—mostly for electricity—fell from 157 million tonnes in 1970 to just 587,000 tonnes in 2023. Employment in coal mines fell from a peak of 1,191,000 in 1920 to 695,000 in 1956, 247,000 in 1976, 44,000 in 1993, 2,000 in 2015, and to 360 in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marley Hill</span> Village in Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom

Marley Hill is a former colliery village about six miles to the south west of Gateshead, near the border between Tyne and Wear and County Durham. It has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead since 1974. Prior to this it was part of Whickham Urban District. It lies within the Whickham South & Sunniside electoral ward of the Blaydon parliamentary constituency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellington Colliery</span> Former colliery in Northumberland, England

Ellington Colliery, was a coal mine situated to the south of the village of Ellington in Northumberland, England. The colliery was the last deep coal mine in the north east of England. At one time, the deepest part of the mine was 800 metres (2,600 ft) and it extended 15 miles (24 km) under the North Sea. During the 1980s, the pit was known as the biggest undersea mine in the world and produced 69% of the mined coal in Northumberland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest of Dean Coalfield</span>

The Forest of Dean Coalfield, underlying the Forest of Dean, in west Gloucestershire, is one of the smaller coalfields in the British Isles, although intensive mining during the 19th and 20th centuries has had enormous influence on the landscape, history, culture, and economy of the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheldale Colliery</span> Former coal mine in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England

Wheldale Colliery was a coal mine located in Castleford, Yorkshire, England which produced coal for 117 years. It was accessed from Wheldon Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal industry in Wales</span>

The coal industry in Wales played an important role in the Industrial Revolution in Wales. Coal mining in Wales expanded in the 18th century to provide fuel for the blast furnaces of the iron and copper industries that were expanding in southern Wales. The industry had reached large proportions by the end of that century, and then further expanded to supply steam-coal for the steam vessels that were beginning to trade around the world. The Cardiff Coal Exchange set the world price for steam-coal and Cardiff became a major coal-exporting port. The South Wales Coalfield was at its peak in 1913 and was one of the largest coalfields in the world. It remained the largest coalfield in Britain until 1925. The supply of coal dwindled, and pits closed in spite of a UK-wide strike against closures. Aberpergwm Colliery is the last deep mine in Wales.

Woodhouse Colliery, also known as Whitehaven coal mine, is a proposed coal mine near to Whitehaven in Cumbria, England. The coal mine has been advertised as bringing jobs to a deprived area, but has also come in for criticism by green campaigners. The mine is proposed by West Cumbria Mining and plans to extract coking coal from beneath the Irish Sea for 25 years. The plan has been criticised by some MPs, scientists and environmentalists due to the coal mine's environmental impact and the UK government's legal commitments to reduce UK carbon emissions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bentley Colliery</span> Former coal mine in South Yorkshire, England

Bentley Colliery was a coal mine in Bentley, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, that operated between 1906 and 1993. In common with many other mines, it suffered disasters and accidents. The worst Bentley disaster was in 1931 when 45 miners were killed after a gas explosion. The site of the mine has been converted into a woodland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monckton Coke Works</span> Former coking plant in South Yorkshire, England

Monckton Coke Works was a coking plant near Royston in South Yorkshire, England. The plant opened in 1884 and was closed 130 years later in 2014, being one of the last remnants of the coal industry in Yorkshire. In the 21st century, it was known as being the last independent coke works in the United Kingdom. For many years it was known for its high-quality coking coal, even being exported to coal-rich South Africa for use in steelmaking. However, in 2013/2014, the market was swamped with cheap imports from the Far East, spelling the demise of Monckton due to it being uneconomical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ironstone mining in Cleveland and North Yorkshire</span> Ironstone mines and quarries in Cleveland and North Yorkshire, England

Ironstone mining in Cleveland and North Yorkshire occurred on a sizeable scale from the 1830s to the 1960s in present-day eastern parts of North Yorkshire but was recorded as far back as Roman times mostly on a small scale and intended for local use. This Cleveland is not to be confused with a smaller area covered by the county of Cleveland from 1974-96.

The Prince of Wales Colliery was a coal mine that operated for over 130 years in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It was permanently closed in 2002 after geological problems were found to make accessing remaining coal reserves unprofitable, and most of the site was later converted for housing.

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.