South Yorkshire Coalfield
Encyclopedia
The South Yorkshire Coalfield is defined by a triangle lying between Barnsley
, Doncaster
and Sheffield
, though a few mines within the coalfield
lie outside this area. It is part of the larger Midland coal field which stretches from Nottingham
in the south to Bradford
and Leeds
in the north. Its western boundary is defined by the outcropping of the coal seams in the foothills of the Pennines
and in the east by the descent of the coal-bearing strata under overlying rocks as they approach the North Sea
.
Since the creation of the county of South Yorkshire
the name can be somewhat misleading as the coalfield itself stretches into much of West Yorkshire
and parts of North Yorkshire
.
or coal measures
that make up the South Yorkshire Coalfield outcrop in foothills of the Pennines and then dip gently downwards from west to east. This area is known as the exposed coalfield. The coal measures are carboniferous
rocks laid down between 290 and 354 million years ago. West of Doncaster the coal measures are overlain by younger rocks, permian
limestone
, and the area to the east of this is referred to as the concealed coal field.
The northernmost extent of the South Yorkshire Coalfield is marked by the change of the fields richest and highest grade coal seam, the Barnsley Seam or Bed, to a thin seam of inferior coal. This occurs to the north of Barnsley. The southern limit was marked by the Barnsley Bed losing its coking qualities.
The structure of the coal field is not significantly affected by faults except along the River Don between Sheffield and Mexborough
. These faults give rise to the Frickley and Maltby troughs where the coal measures are thrown down and lie deeper than other parts of the coalfield.
that was generally used for the production of coal gas
and coke
. The coke was then used for iron
and steel
manufacture. Some seams produced coal suitable for raising steam, i.e. it had a low ash and sulphur content. Finally other seams produced coal for household use.
The most famous seam in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was the Barnsley seam or bed. This seam which was up to 3 metres thick in places provided a significant amount of the coal produced by the coal field. The Barnsley seam coals properties varied through the depth of the seam. The top of the seam was a soft bright coal, the middle section known as the "hards" was a dull hard high quality coal suitable for raising steam. The bottoms was another band of bright soft coal called "bottom softs".
Other famous seams include the Parkgate seam that produced mainly gas coal, the Silkstone seam which produced coal suitable for many purposes and the Swallow Wood seam that produced household and gas coal.
There is evidence of coal mining in the field as far back Roman period
. Documentary evidence of medieval mining around Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield dates back to the 14th century. An example of this is permission granted by Sir John Fitzwilliam in 1367 for mining to take place on his estate near Elsecar
south of Barnsley. These mines were shallow shafts
or adit
s that exploited the coal seams where they outcropped. The coal would have been used locally as a heating fuel or in the production of iron
. This small scale mining persisted well into the late 1780s when the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam's
colliery at Lawwood had only 19 "picks" or miners. The reason for the delay in development when compared to the coalfields of Northumberland
and County Durham
was that the area had poor access to water transport which was the only economic method of transport prior to the development of the railways.
The first area of the coalfield to gain access to improved transportation was the southern edge when the River Don Navigation
was canalised as far as Tinsley
near Sheffield by 1740. This allowed the collieries near Rotherham to export their coal east to the English coast and beyond and west Sheffield. By 1769 300,000 tons of coal were exported from the southern area of the coalfield. The colliery owners to the south in Derbyshire
cut the Chesterfield Canal
from Chesterfield
to join with the River Trent
nr. Gainsborough
in 1777 which allowed them to compete directly with the South Yorkshire Coalfield. This in forced the colliery owners in Southern Yorkshire to improve their access to the sea. They planned a canal running from Wakefield south through Barnsley to the River Don at Swinton
east of Rotherham. The canal called the Dearne & Dove Canal was started in 1793 and completed in 1796. The canal with branches to Elsecar and Worsborough allowed collieries through the coal field to be expanded. This can be seen with sinking of the Elsecar New Colliery
by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam.
The 19th century
The coal trade in the early 19th century suffered several periods of recession
but as the British railway system expanded during the 1840s & 1850s the market for coal increased markedly and transport of the coal using the railways improved distribution of the coal further boosting the trade. This increase in demand drove colliery owners to move further eastwards away from the shallow coal seams sinking deeper shafts as the Barnsley seam, which was their main target dipped downwards.
During this period the coalfield suffered a series of fatal explosions
as the available mine ventilation techniques were unable to safely deal with large quantity of methane
or firedamp
produced by the Barnsley seam in the deeper and larger mines being sunk. The contemporary colliery ventilation techniques were often poorly applied and even in collieries where the ventilation was well engineered the technique had a significant flaw. The flow of air was controlled by 'traps' or doors opened and closed by children when the tubs of coal passed. The children, being children, did not always close the doors when they should, resulting in explosives gases building up in the working parts of the colliery often with fatal consequences.
Some notable explosions include are detailed further in the article.
The latter half of the 19th century was marked by further expansion eastwards. The opening of these collieries was possible as improved understanding of the geology of the coalfield allowed mining engineers to be more confident about the sinking collieries in previously un-mined parts of the coalfield. Improvements in drilling
techniques allowed deeper bore holes to be sunk so the engineers had a better understanding of the coal deposits and this gave confidence to the speculators as to possible returns. The costs required in the deeper pits required more coal to guarantee a suitable return, therefore mines were set up in rural areas where large royalties could be negotiated with little in the way of buildings on the land to minimise the amount of coal that had to be left to prevent subsidence. The lack of population in these areas meant that the colliery owners had to provide accommodation in the form of pit village
s and the quality of this varied considerably between collieries.
Early 20th century
At the turn of the 20th century many of the collieries on the exposed coalfield had exhausted the Barnsley seam in their royalty and rather than abandon their investment and experienced workforces many owners sank deeper shafts to exploit the seams that lay beneath the exhausted Barnsley seam such as the Parkgate and Swallow wood seams. Some examples of this include Cortonwood, Manvers Main and Elsecar Main At this time the first collieries on the concealed coalfield were opened such as Bentley & Brodsworth Main. These new collieries suffered many problems during the sinking of their shafts through wet sandstone
and quicksand
. It was during 1929 as these deeper pits sunk in the early years of the 20th century came into full production that the South Yorkshire Coalfield produced its record amount of coal 33.5 m tons, 13% of Britain's coal output that year.
The early part of the century was marked by increasing competition in foreign markets for the coal and as a result some mines were amalgamated to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. Outside the coalfield technology changes also reduced the size of markets as ships moved increasingly to oil as their primary fuel source, and train routes were electrified. Despite the amalgamations the industry was still seen as inefficient and in order to promote more efficient development of what was still a vital resource the Government in 1938 nationalised the coal reserves. During the Second World War, to ensure production levels were met, conscript labour redirected from the armed forces, the Bevin Boys
, was used in the collieries.
Post War
Following the end of the war the whole of the British coal mining industry was nationalised in 1947. Whilst this was done in, the words of the Labour Party Constitution, "To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service." as part of a wider process of nationalisation it did allow the coalfield to be modernised and streamlined in a way that had not been achieved in the previous decades. The National Coal Board
management did in the 40 years following nationalisation, close inefficient and worked out collieries, amalgamate and combine other collieries to form larger production units where significant assets such as skip winders and coal washing and grading facilities could be used by several collieries and open new drift mines which could be fitted with the latest equipment. The results of these actions carried out against a backdrop of a volatile and declining market was that by the time the collieries of South Yorkshire were sold to private owners in the mid eighties the coal they produced was some of the cheapest in the developed world.
Post privatization
Post privatization
pits continued to close as the market for coal in the united kingdom contracted with the development of gas fired power station in the Dash for Gas
and the continued use of cheap coal imports in the electricity generating business.
The following is a list of notable collieries:
During the 19th century a variety of unions or associations such as the Mining Association of Great Britain & Ireland, The Miners National Union and the Miners Federation were formed to campaign for improved wages and better working conditions. They were largely unsuccessful. Two large scale strikes took place during the century including actions in 1842 and 1893. The strike in 1893 was the result of a 25% wage cut by the mine owners which was eventually restored but not before two miners were killed by soldiers at Featherstone.
The 20th century brought further strikes in 1912, 1921 and the General Strike in 1926
. These all generally failed to bring about any improvement in pay and conditions.
Following nationalisation in 1947 working conditions improved but pay fell behind national averages. Successful strikes in the early 1970s resulted in wage improvements. However, as the market for UK coal declined and collieries closed, tension between the miners and the government increased and in 1984 a large scale strike
started. The colliery closure that started the strike was the closure of Cortonwood
, in South Yorkshire. The strike's aim to preserve miners' jobs was not met as colliery closures continued and by 2006 all the pits in the South Yorkshire Coalfield had closed.
s in Great Britain and the largest disaster in terms of fatalities in England. Some notable disasters either for their effect outside the region or scale:
Barnsley
Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...
, Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
and Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, though a few mines within the coalfield
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological...
lie outside this area. It is part of the larger Midland coal field which stretches from Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
in the south to Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
in the north. Its western boundary is defined by the outcropping of the coal seams in the foothills of the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
and in the east by the descent of the coal-bearing strata under overlying rocks as they approach the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
Since the creation of the county of South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
the name can be somewhat misleading as the coalfield itself stretches into much of West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
and parts of North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
.
Geology
The coal bearing rock strataStratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...
or coal measures
Coal Measures
The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...
that make up the South Yorkshire Coalfield outcrop in foothills of the Pennines and then dip gently downwards from west to east. This area is known as the exposed coalfield. The coal measures are carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
rocks laid down between 290 and 354 million years ago. West of Doncaster the coal measures are overlain by younger rocks, permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, and the area to the east of this is referred to as the concealed coal field.
The northernmost extent of the South Yorkshire Coalfield is marked by the change of the fields richest and highest grade coal seam, the Barnsley Seam or Bed, to a thin seam of inferior coal. This occurs to the north of Barnsley. The southern limit was marked by the Barnsley Bed losing its coking qualities.
The structure of the coal field is not significantly affected by faults except along the River Don between Sheffield and Mexborough
Mexborough
Mexborough is a town in the metropolitan borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, situated on the north bank of the River Don west of its confluence with the River Dearne...
. These faults give rise to the Frickley and Maltby troughs where the coal measures are thrown down and lie deeper than other parts of the coalfield.
Coal type & seams
The coal found in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was a bituminous coalBituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
that was generally used for the production of coal gas
Coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...
and coke
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
. The coke was then used for iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
manufacture. Some seams produced coal suitable for raising steam, i.e. it had a low ash and sulphur content. Finally other seams produced coal for household use.
The most famous seam in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was the Barnsley seam or bed. This seam which was up to 3 metres thick in places provided a significant amount of the coal produced by the coal field. The Barnsley seam coals properties varied through the depth of the seam. The top of the seam was a soft bright coal, the middle section known as the "hards" was a dull hard high quality coal suitable for raising steam. The bottoms was another band of bright soft coal called "bottom softs".
Other famous seams include the Parkgate seam that produced mainly gas coal, the Silkstone seam which produced coal suitable for many purposes and the Swallow Wood seam that produced household and gas coal.
History of the development of the coalfield
Pre 19th centuryThere is evidence of coal mining in the field as far back Roman period
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. Documentary evidence of medieval mining around Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield dates back to the 14th century. An example of this is permission granted by Sir John Fitzwilliam in 1367 for mining to take place on his estate near Elsecar
Elsecar
Elsecar is a village forming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Like many villages in the area, it was for many years a coal mining village until the widespread pit closures during the 1980s. Elsecar is next to the villages of Hoyland and Jump.Elsecar is...
south of Barnsley. These mines were shallow shafts
Shaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
or adit
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...
s that exploited the coal seams where they outcropped. The coal would have been used locally as a heating fuel or in the production of iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
. This small scale mining persisted well into the late 1780s when the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam's
William FitzWilliam, 4th Earl FitzWilliam
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam PC , styled Viscount Milton until 1756, was a British Whig statesman of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1782 he inherited his uncle Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham's estates, making him one of the richest people in...
colliery at Lawwood had only 19 "picks" or miners. The reason for the delay in development when compared to the coalfields of Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
and County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
was that the area had poor access to water transport which was the only economic method of transport prior to the development of the railways.
The first area of the coalfield to gain access to improved transportation was the southern edge when the River Don Navigation
Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation is a system of navigable inland waterways in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England....
was canalised as far as Tinsley
Tinsley, South Yorkshire
Tinsley is a suburb of northeastern part of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Its name derives from the Old English Tingas-Leah, which means 'Field of Council'...
near Sheffield by 1740. This allowed the collieries near Rotherham to export their coal east to the English coast and beyond and west Sheffield. By 1769 300,000 tons of coal were exported from the southern area of the coalfield. The colliery owners to the south in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
cut the Chesterfield Canal
Chesterfield Canal
The Chesterfield Canal is in the north of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was opened in 1777 and ran 46 miles from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire...
from Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
to join with the River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
nr. Gainsborough
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...
in 1777 which allowed them to compete directly with the South Yorkshire Coalfield. This in forced the colliery owners in Southern Yorkshire to improve their access to the sea. They planned a canal running from Wakefield south through Barnsley to the River Don at Swinton
Swinton, South Yorkshire
Swinton is a suburban town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, England on part of the west bank of the River Don...
east of Rotherham. The canal called the Dearne & Dove Canal was started in 1793 and completed in 1796. The canal with branches to Elsecar and Worsborough allowed collieries through the coal field to be expanded. This can be seen with sinking of the Elsecar New Colliery
Elsecar Collieries
The Elsecar Collieries were a series of coal mines sunk in and around Elsecar, a small village to the south of Barnsley in what is now South Yorkshire, but was traditionally in the West Riding of Yorkshire....
by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam.
The 19th century
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
but as the British railway system expanded during the 1840s & 1850s the market for coal increased markedly and transport of the coal using the railways improved distribution of the coal further boosting the trade. This increase in demand drove colliery owners to move further eastwards away from the shallow coal seams sinking deeper shafts as the Barnsley seam, which was their main target dipped downwards.
During this period the coalfield suffered a series of fatal explosions
Mining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
as the available mine ventilation techniques were unable to safely deal with large quantity of methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
or firedamp
Firedamp
Firedamp is a flammable gas found in coal mines. It is the name given to a number of flammable gases, especially methane. It is particularly commonly found in areas where the coal is bituminous...
produced by the Barnsley seam in the deeper and larger mines being sunk. The contemporary colliery ventilation techniques were often poorly applied and even in collieries where the ventilation was well engineered the technique had a significant flaw. The flow of air was controlled by 'traps' or doors opened and closed by children when the tubs of coal passed. The children, being children, did not always close the doors when they should, resulting in explosives gases building up in the working parts of the colliery often with fatal consequences.
Some notable explosions include are detailed further in the article.
The latter half of the 19th century was marked by further expansion eastwards. The opening of these collieries was possible as improved understanding of the geology of the coalfield allowed mining engineers to be more confident about the sinking collieries in previously un-mined parts of the coalfield. Improvements in drilling
Drilling
Drilling is a cutting process that uses a drill bit to cut or enlarge a hole in solid materials. The drill bit is a multipoint, end cutting tool...
techniques allowed deeper bore holes to be sunk so the engineers had a better understanding of the coal deposits and this gave confidence to the speculators as to possible returns. The costs required in the deeper pits required more coal to guarantee a suitable return, therefore mines were set up in rural areas where large royalties could be negotiated with little in the way of buildings on the land to minimise the amount of coal that had to be left to prevent subsidence. The lack of population in these areas meant that the colliery owners had to provide accommodation in the form of pit village
Pit village
A pit village is a term used in the UK for the village serving a deep coal mine.Many of the workers lived in houses that were provided by the colliery. Many villages have experienced depopulation after colliery closures forced people to move to other towns and cities where there are jobs for them...
s and the quality of this varied considerably between collieries.
Early 20th century
At the turn of the 20th century many of the collieries on the exposed coalfield had exhausted the Barnsley seam in their royalty and rather than abandon their investment and experienced workforces many owners sank deeper shafts to exploit the seams that lay beneath the exhausted Barnsley seam such as the Parkgate and Swallow wood seams. Some examples of this include Cortonwood, Manvers Main and Elsecar Main At this time the first collieries on the concealed coalfield were opened such as Bentley & Brodsworth Main. These new collieries suffered many problems during the sinking of their shafts through wet sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and quicksand
Quicksand
Quicksand is a colloid hydrogel consisting of fine granular matter , clay, and water.Water circulation underground can focus in an area with the optimal mixture of fine sands and other materials such as clay. The water moves up and then down slowly in a convection-like manner throughout a column...
. It was during 1929 as these deeper pits sunk in the early years of the 20th century came into full production that the South Yorkshire Coalfield produced its record amount of coal 33.5 m tons, 13% of Britain's coal output that year.
The early part of the century was marked by increasing competition in foreign markets for the coal and as a result some mines were amalgamated to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. Outside the coalfield technology changes also reduced the size of markets as ships moved increasingly to oil as their primary fuel source, and train routes were electrified. Despite the amalgamations the industry was still seen as inefficient and in order to promote more efficient development of what was still a vital resource the Government in 1938 nationalised the coal reserves. During the Second World War, to ensure production levels were met, conscript labour redirected from the armed forces, the Bevin Boys
Bevin Boys
Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines of the United Kingdom, from December 1943 until 1948. Chosen at random from conscripts but also including volunteers, nearly 48,000 Bevin Boys performed vital but largely unrecognised service in the mines, many of them...
, was used in the collieries.
Post War
Following the end of the war the whole of the British coal mining industry was nationalised in 1947. Whilst this was done in, the words of the Labour Party Constitution, "To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service." as part of a wider process of nationalisation it did allow the coalfield to be modernised and streamlined in a way that had not been achieved in the previous decades. The National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board 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 mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
management did in the 40 years following nationalisation, close inefficient and worked out collieries, amalgamate and combine other collieries to form larger production units where significant assets such as skip winders and coal washing and grading facilities could be used by several collieries and open new drift mines which could be fitted with the latest equipment. The results of these actions carried out against a backdrop of a volatile and declining market was that by the time the collieries of South Yorkshire were sold to private owners in the mid eighties the coal they produced was some of the cheapest in the developed world.
Post privatization
Post privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
pits continued to close as the market for coal in the united kingdom contracted with the development of gas fired power station in the Dash for Gas
Dash for Gas
The Dash for Gas was the significant shift by the newly privatized electric companies in the United Kingdom towards generation of electricity using natural gas during the 1990s....
and the continued use of cheap coal imports in the electricity generating business.
Collieries
There is currently one coal mine operating in the South Yorkshire Coalfield at Maltby, though some colliery shafts remain in use as pumping stations to reduce pollution from the abandoned workings.The following is a list of notable collieries:
- Elsecar CollieriesElsecar CollieriesThe Elsecar Collieries were a series of coal mines sunk in and around Elsecar, a small village to the south of Barnsley in what is now South Yorkshire, but was traditionally in the West Riding of Yorkshire....
Coal mines operated in Elsecar from around 1750 until 1983 when Elsecar Main closed. - Bentley Colliery was the first Colliery to be sunk on the concealed coalfield. The first sod was cut on 16 March 1905
- Caphouse Colliery: was sunk in the late 1770s and continued to supply coal until 1985. It then became the Yorkshire Mining Museum and later the National Coal Mining Museum for EnglandNational Coal Mining Museum for EnglandThe National Coal Mining Museum for England is based at the site of Caphouse Colliery in Overton, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was granted national status in 1995.-History:...
. - Ferrymoor or Riddings Drift: This was the first of the National Coal Board drift mines. It was sunk in 1969 and was the first British mine to produce over 8 tons per man per shift. It closed in 1988
Labour relations
There has been conflict between the mine owners and the miners for over 200 years. A strike by miners in 1792 for higher wages at the Duke of Norfolk's collieries near Sheffield is an early example.During the 19th century a variety of unions or associations such as the Mining Association of Great Britain & Ireland, The Miners National Union and the Miners Federation were formed to campaign for improved wages and better working conditions. They were largely unsuccessful. Two large scale strikes took place during the century including actions in 1842 and 1893. The strike in 1893 was the result of a 25% wage cut by the mine owners which was eventually restored but not before two miners were killed by soldiers at Featherstone.
The 20th century brought further strikes in 1912, 1921 and the General Strike in 1926
UK General Strike of 1926
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
. These all generally failed to bring about any improvement in pay and conditions.
Following nationalisation in 1947 working conditions improved but pay fell behind national averages. Successful strikes in the early 1970s resulted in wage improvements. However, as the market for UK coal declined and collieries closed, tension between the miners and the government increased and in 1984 a large scale strike
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
started. The colliery closure that started the strike was the closure of Cortonwood
Cortonwood
Cortonwood Colliery was sunk in 1873, a year after the formation of the Brampton Colliery Company, which took its name from the local parish of Brampton Bierlow, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England....
, in South Yorkshire. The strike's aim to preserve miners' jobs was not met as colliery closures continued and by 2006 all the pits in the South Yorkshire Coalfield had closed.
Mining disasters
The South Yorkshire Coalfield has suffered some the worst mining disasters and mining accidentMining accident
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
s in Great Britain and the largest disaster in terms of fatalities in England. Some notable disasters either for their effect outside the region or scale:
- Huskar Pit Disaster: The pit flooded during a rainstorm in 1838 and 26 children were drowned. This disaster led to the 1842 commission on the employment of children and women in mines which resulted in the banning of female and child labour underground.
- Warren Vale CollieryWarren Vale CollieryWarren Vale Colliery was a coal mine, also known as Piccadilly Colliery, situated alongside Warren Vale Road, between Rawmarsh and Swinton, South Yorkshire, in the valley of the Collier Brook, which runs east, for about two miles towards Kilnhurst....
: A firedamp explosion caused by naked flame in 1851 resulted in the death of 52 miners. At the inquest the coroner insisted on there being an increase in the number of mines inspectors in the district.
- Lower Elsecar CollieryElsecar CollieriesThe Elsecar Collieries were a series of coal mines sunk in and around Elsecar, a small village to the south of Barnsley in what is now South Yorkshire, but was traditionally in the West Riding of Yorkshire....
: A firedamp explosion in 1852 resulted in the death of 12 miners. In response to this explosion, Benjamin Biram the collieries mining engineer fitted the first underground fan to improve ventilation.
- The Oaks explosionThe Oaks explosionThe Oaks explosion occurred at the Oaks Colliery, near Stairfoot, Barnsley, South Yorkshire on 12 December 1866 killing more than 380 miners and rescuers. The disaster happened after a series of explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the workings...
: A series of firedamp and coal dust explosions that resulted in the death of 361 men and boys. This was the worst colliery disaster in the United Kingdom until the Senghenydd Colliery DisasterSenghenydd Colliery DisasterThe Senghenydd Colliery Disaster, also known as the Senghenydd Explosion, occurred in Senghenydd , near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales on 14 October 1913, killing 439 miners...
disaster in 1913 and is to date the worst in England.