Coalmining Representation in the Heritage Sector of the East Midlands Blog

Industrial Heritage Walk around Annesley and Newstead

Annesley & Newstead Collieries – Past and Present

On Sunday 18th November 2012, twenty-seven walkers enjoyed a four-mile trek around Annesley and Newstead in the heart of the former Nottinghamshire coalfield.  The theme for the day was the industrial heritage of the area and several significant former industrial and railway sites were visited as part of the walk.  The walk was led by David Amos, a local historian who specialises in coalmining and railway history in that region, and was in conjunction with Ashfield District Council and the Friends of Annesley Old Church.

For more details on the Annesley Old Church Project contact the Project Officer on (01623) 457537 or have a look at the Annesley Old Church Facebook page.

Having the Crack – what was it?

The Eastwood Pitman in full flow!

Having the Crack was a distinct type of dry, quick witted humour that existed, not only in the pits, but in many of the traditional heavy British industries.  Have a neb at David Coleman, the Eastwood Pitman, telling a funny story about a miner’s snap tin   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLrrs5MI8oM

This section aims to collect some of the humorous bits connected to the coalmining industry – witty quotes, short stories, poems and cartoons.

Mining Heritage Tour – 2012 DH Lawrence Festival

On Sunday 16th September a group of 32 people took part in a Mining Heritage Tour as part of the 2012 DH Lawrence Festival.  The two-week annual festival took place from 6th – 19th September 2012 and included many activities and events  connected with the Eastwood author.  The Mining Heritage Tour visited various mining memorial sites at former Nottinghamshire collieries as well as various mining heritage sites including Brinsley Headstocks, Bestwood Winding Engine house and the Breach House.  David Amos, tour organiser, gave a potted pit history at each stop as well as introducing the visitors to some prominent, and often controversial characters, connected with the various pit sites on the tour.  These included Arthur Lawrence (Butty), Colin Clarke (NUM Branch Official), Harold Larwood (Cricketer) and George Spencer (Controversial Notts Miners Leader from 1926).

Visit to Bestwood Winding Engine House

I recently visited the former Colliery Winding Engine House at Bestwood Colliery.  It was the first time I have visited since restoration work was done as part of a successful HLF funding bid in 2009.  A magnificent example of a vertical steam winding engine, the only one in Britain that survives on its original site.  Most steam winding engines at collieries were of the horizontal type.  The Bestwood Winding Engine House is open on Saturday mornings (10.00am – 12 Noon) from April to October.

Dust – Mansfield Palace Theatre

On Wednesday 18th April 2012 the play Dust was performed at the Mansfield Palace Theatre in Mansfield.  Dust is the story of miners and coal mining communities.  It is a story of dreams and reality in Britain partly shaped by the the social and political upheaval of events surrounding the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike.  It is also the story of two Arthur’s – Arthur Scargill, NUM President 1982-2002, and Arthur Cook – A  J Cook – leader of the Miners Federation of Great Britain in the 1926 Miners lockout.  Scargill’s inspiration and involvement in mining trade unionism was based on his admiration for A J Cook.

Dust is a fictional account of a ghost from the past that comes to haunt Scargill the morning after the death of Margaret Thatcher.  It was not without controversy and the plot questioned aspects of Scargill’s role in the 1984-85 strike among other things.  To that end when the play opened in Barnsley on 17th March it was disrupted by hecklers in the audience.  The play was written and directed by Ade Morris.

Ch Ch Ch Changes – Mansfield Museum

This recent exhibition  looked at issues connected with the landscape, environmental and cultural changes  in the former Nottinghamshire coalfield following the demise of the once vast deep coalmining industry.  Some of the socio-economic implications from the run down of the industry are still being felt today.  The landscape has altered almost beyond recognition during the last decade with many former colliery sites now being transformed into country parks, industrial and commercial sites with light industry.  Some of the former  mining communities have become deserted ghost-towns and have been plagued by a benefits dependency culture, crime and drugs problems.

A display of David Severn’s photographs showing aspects of the changing mining landscape went on show at Mansfield Museum between 3rd March and 14th April 2012.  Coal mining entertainer, David Coleman, presented two of his mining shows on 2nd and 3rd April.

Newstead Colliery – End of an Era – 25th anniversary

19th March 2012 saw the 25th anniversary of the finish of coal production at Newstead Colliery.  At the time Newstead was part of the Annesley-Bentinck-Newstead Complex, with all coal from Newstead travelling by underground conveyors to the coal preparation plant at Bentinck.  From here coal was dispatched by “Merry Go Round” Trains to Ratcliffe Power Station.

Newstead’s peak period of production was 1960 – 1976 when it regularly turned over 1 million tons of coal each year.  During this period Newstead employed 1,400 men.  At the time of closure Newstead employed just over 600 men turning 385,000 tons of coal.  At the finish of production coal was being produced from the High Hazels seam.

The sinking of the Newstead shafts commenced in 1874 and the subsequent colliery village (the Old Village) followed shortly afterwards.  The colliery village was extended in the 1920′s (the New Village).  This part of the colliery village was sometimes nicknamed “Wembley” following one of the house designs being exhibited at the 1922 Wembley exhibition.

Food for thought that anyone under the age of 35 will hardly have known Newstead as a coalmining community.

Railway and Canal Historical Society Walk – Pinxton Area – 15th March 2012

On Thursday 15th March 2012 the MuBu Miner led an Industrial Heritage Walk for the East Midlands Branch of the Railway and Canal Historical Society around the Pinxton area on the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire borders.  Fifteen hardy souls took part in the walk which commenced at Pye Bridge, initially following the former Pinxton Branch of the Cromford Canal to the current Pinxton Wharf and the site of the former Great Northern Pinxton Station.  The second stage of the walk went from the Wharf to the John King Museum which was kindly opened up by members of the South Normanton and Pinxton Local History Society.  John King, a Pinxton Victorian, invented the safety detaching hook which unhooked the cage from the rope in the event of an overwind.

The third stage of the walk went from the museum to the Horse and Jockey Public House on Church Lane, Selston via the former Brookhill Colliery site (closed 1969) , the current coal prep plant which is washing the coal from the tip recycle at the former Langton Colliery (1844-1968) and the former Pinxton and Selston Station on the former Midland Kirkby to Pye Bridge line.

A good day was enjoyed by all and many thanks go to the South Normanton and Pinxton Local History Society for opening the John King Museum and providing tea and coffee for the walkers.  Also thanks go to Jane, Landlady of the Horse and Jockey.

South Normanton Colliery (Winterbank) Disaster – 75th anniversary.

On 15th February 1937 South Normanton Colliery or Winterbank as it was known locally, was the scene of two violent explosions on 11′s district in the Waterloo seam.  7 men were killed and an 8th succumbed to the injuries a week later.  Several other miners were injured. The explosion was a “double wamy” igniting both methane gas and coal-dust.

As with most explosions in the past crowds of men and women folk gathered at the pit head to hear of the dead or relief for the survivors.  Volunteer miners assisted in the rescue operation and according to one of the survivors, Ram Simpson, they did so without thought of the danger to themselves.

South Normanton Colliery staggered on in production through World War Two (keep the home fires burning) and finally closed in 1951.  It became a pumping station for minewater until the late 1960s to protect other nearby pits.  Following the demolition of the headstocks the site became the home to the NCB South Nottinghamshire Transport Depot until 1988.

How many of the vast hordes that congregate on the site today would have though the site was a scene of immense tragedy 75 years ago.  What is the site today I hear you ask; why its the McArthur Glen Shopping Outlet near Junction 28 of the M1 Motorway!

Sherwood Colliery – 20th anniversary of closure

31st January 2012 saw the 20th anniversary of the closure of Sherwood Colliery near Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire.  The colliery finished production after 90 years due to the ever increasing problems associated with the problems of subsidence damage in the built up urban regions around Mansfield.   Ironically the colliery achieved its highest ever output of 1,012,550 tons of coal only two years previously in 1989-90.

Lord Bernard Taylor of Mansfield, formerly MP for Mansfield in the 1960′s, was perhaps Sherwood’s  most famous former employee.  His 1972 book “Uphill all the way” told the story of a pit-lad making it to the House of Lords.