Barnburgh Main Colliery was a coal mine situated on the outskirts of the village of Barnburgh, about two miles north of

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster, City of Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England, between Manvers and Denaby Main, on the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road. It is co ...

in the Dearne Valley,

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The sinking of the colliery was commenced in 1911 by the

Manvers Main Colliery Manvers Main Colliery was a coal mine, sunk on land belonging to the Earl Manvers on the northern edge of Wath-upon-Dearne, in the borough of Rotherham. Sited within the Dearne Valley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The regional h ...

Company of

Wath-upon-Dearne Wath upon Dearne (shortened to Wath or often hyphenated) is a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster. It had a po ...

. The sinking reached the

Barnsley seam The coal seams worked in the South Yorkshire Coalfield lie mainly in the middle coal measures within what is now formally referred to as the Pennine Coal Measures Group. These are a series of mudstones, shales, sandstones, and coal seams laid do ...

in 1914 and later the Parkgate seam was reached. The colliery was adjacent to the Dearne Valley Railway to which it was connected but in 1924 a private line was constructed between Barnburgh and the Manvers complex. On 24 April 1942, the mine suffered a collapse in the Park Gate coal seam. Miners reported that the floor rose up towards the ceiling. Geologists put forward the theory that the downward pressure caused the floor to be forced upwards. 18 miners were sealed in and despite frantic rescue efforts, four men died. The last two bodies were located and removed from the pit on 30 April 1942 some six days after the disaster. In 1947 Barnburgh was, as with other mines, nationalized, becoming part of the

National Coal Board 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 "ve ...

. On 26 June 1957 an explosion at the colliery caused the death of 6 underground workers and severe burning to 14 others. The explosion was caused by

firedamp Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and, when they are penetrated, the ...

ignited by a 'flash' from a damaged cable. On 4 December 1981, Reginald Canham was killed in an accident aged 57 leaving a wife and two children, one of the last fatalities before its closure. The colliery was closed on 16 June 1989.

References

{{Coal mining in Yorkshire Underground mines in England Coal mines in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley