Rotherham Coal Mining
The Carboniferous coal-bearing strata are close to the surface in South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. In places the coal-bearing strata and the lodes of iron ore are closely associated. The Iron Age arrived in this area possibly with Celtic peoples of the La Têne culture who invaded and colonised the British Isles some time after 450BC. The mining of iron ore probably led to the excavation of coal but it seems to have been a very long time before the human race realised that this waste product could have other uses.
Early coal mining as far back as the 13th Century was conducted by a small team of perhaps a man and a boy using shallow 'bell-pits', the remains of which have been found in various areas of the borough. By the 16th Century visitors to Rotherham commented about the goodly pits of coal which was used to heat many of the houses. Because of its impurities, it was unsuitable for iron-making.
Coal exploitation progressed into shafts which were accessed by ladders. The coal was brought out in wicker baskets ensuring that there was a fine trade in basket-making nearby. These needed shoring up to prevent collapse and pumps were often necessary to keep the shafts clear of water. As the seams of coal were excavated firedamp and chokedamp became problems. In the days before safety lamps, fire was a constant threat. In 1598 local coal output was over 2,000 plus tons a year: by local I mean South Yorkshire/Derbyshire coalfields. During the 16th and 17th Centuries coal was in demand as domestic fuel and industrial fuel in the smithies, glass works and potteries. There is evidence of small-scale mining operations in the Borough of Rotherham at Brampton, Greasbrough, Hooton Roberts, Kimberworth, Kiveton, Swinton, Thundercliffe Grange, Waleswood, Wentworth and Whiston.
In the 18th century steam engines were used to power the drainage pumps and winding gear. This enabled the digging of deeper mines to exploit buried seams of coal; coal which was the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Conditions down the mines were appalling. As well as the skilled men mine owners employed women, girls and young children both overground and underground. This maximized profits as you didn't have to pay any of this latter group of workers a man's wage. In 1842 there was such a popular outcry that an Act of Parliament was passed which prohibited all women, girls and boys below ten years of age from underground work.
Old Ordnance Survey maps show many parts of the borough of Rotherham were riddled with mine workings. The Survey of 1851 shows Rawmarsh and Parkgate surrounded by coal shafts and pits that were described as 'old' even then. This map shows small collieries like Swallow Wood and Victoria at Rawmarsh. Later surveys (1893 & 1901) show larger operations - once again at Rawmarsh - Newbiggin, Roundwood and Aldwarke, or at Greasbrough - Car House.
Through the 19th Century and well into the 20th, landowners all over the borough looked to maximize their income by exploiting the coal reserves under their properties. Once sleepy agricultural farmsteads, hamlets and villages were sacrificed to King Coal. It was not just the mining that affected things, but the spoil heaps and slurry ponds, the coke works and tar distilleries, and the massive railway concentrations need to transport the products from source to user.
In the 20th Century brought larger pits. Deep mining took place in the Borough of Rotherham at Wath on Dearne, Manvers, Cortonwood, Kilnhurst, Stubbin, Silverwood, Thurcroft, Dinnington, Maltby, Treeton, Orgreave, Brookhouse, Kiveton Park Colliery. Of these only Maltby is still working and this will close by 2015 when the seams are exhausted, if not before. Other pits I have come across in my reading were Barley Hall Colliery at Thorpe Hesley and Grange Colliery at Droppingwell which closed in the 1960s.
In Rotherham opencasting and strip mining have extracted millions of tons of coal from just below the surface e.g. from 1944 at Swallownest which was excavated with draglines. Rother Valley Country Park is the site of another opencast operation, as is Barkers Park at Kimberworth. Strip mining has extracted millions of tons of near surface coal at Treeton, Orgreave, Wentworth and in many other places. Surface coal still exists in many places and from time to time the ugly prospect of further opencasting raises its ugly head in the Rotherham area.
Most of the privately owned pits were taken over by the nationalised National Coal Board on 1 January 1947.
Coal come in many different qualities: variously called steam coal (different classes), household coal, gas coal, coking coal. Poor quality coal was crushed and used to make pottery.
Coal mining was always a dangerous occupations: accidents and deaths were frequent occurrences. Eventually mines had their own rescue teams and the borough has its own rescue stations called Rotherham and District Rescue Station.