Coal Mining In Scotland
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Coal mining in the United Kingdom dates back to
Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...
and occurred in many different parts of the country. Britain's coalfields are associated with
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
and Durham,
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
,
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, the Scottish Central Belt,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
,
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, the
East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and West Midlands and
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. After 1972,
coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
quickly collapsed and had practically disappeared by the 21st century. Production fell from 228 million tonnes in 1957 to just 107 thousand tonnes in 2024, while coal consumption fell from 216 million to 2 million in the same time period. 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. Almost all onshore coal resources in the UK occur in rocks of the
Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
period, some of which extend under the North Sea.
Bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...
is present in most of Britain's coalfields and is 86% to 88% carbon. In
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
, there are extensive deposits of
lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...
which is less energy-dense based on oxidation (combustion) at ordinary combustion temperatures. According to Euracoal, the UK has 3.56 billion tonnes of identified
hard coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...
resources with estimated total remaining coal resources possibly being as large as 187 billion tonnes. In 2020, the proposed Woodhouse Colliery gained planning permission but no works have begun, with legal challenges ongoing and no licence in place for seabed mining from the
Marine Management Organisation The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is an executive non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, with responsibility for English waters. The MMO exists to make a significant cont ...
. The planning permission for the mine was later quashed by the High Court.Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
rocks, some of which extend under the North Sea. The carbon content of the bituminous coal present in most of the coalfields is 86% to 88%. Britain's coalfields are associated with
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
and Durham,
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
,
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, the Scottish Central Belt,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
,
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, the
East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and West Midlands and
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
.


History

Stone and
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
flint axes have been discovered embedded in coal, showing that it was mined in Britain before the Roman invasion. Early miners first extracted coal already exposed on the surface and then followed the seams underground. It is probable that the Romans used outcropping coal when working
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
or burning lime for building purposes. Evidence to support these theories comes mostly from ash discovered at excavations of Roman sites. There is no mention of coal mining in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 although
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
and iron mines are recorded. In the 13th century there are records of coal digging in Durham and
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, the
Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...
,
Prestongrange Prestongrange is a place in East Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, situated between Musselburgh to the west, and Prestonpans to the east. The place name derives from "Preston", meaning "priest's town", and a Monastic grange, grange (or granary ...
in Lothian and
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
. At this time coal was referred to as ''sea cole'', a reference to coal washed ashore on the north east coast of England from either the cliffs or undersea outcrops. As the supply of coal on the surface became used up, settlers followed the seam inland by digging up the shore. Generally the seam continued underground, encouraging the settlers to dig to find coal, the precursor to modern operations. The early mines would have been drift mines or
adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) or stulm is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passage to an underground mine. Miners can use adits for access, drainage, ventilation, and extracting minerals at the lowest convenient level. Adits are a ...
s where coal seams outcropped or by shallow
bell pit A bell pit is a primitive method of mining coal, iron ore, or other minerals lying near the surface. Operation A shaft is sunk to reach the mineral which is excavated by miners, transported to the surface by a winch, and removed by means of a b ...
s where coal was close to the surface. Shafts lined with tree trunks and branches have been found in Lancashire in workings dating from the early 17th century and by 1750 brick lined shafts to depth were common.


Industrial Revolution until 1900

Coal production increased dramatically in the 19th century as the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
gathered pace, as a fuel for
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
s such as the
Newcomen engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is sometimes referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam being drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating ...
, and later, the
Watt steam engine The Watt steam engine design was an invention of James Watt that became synonymous with steam engines during the Industrial Revolution, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design. The Newcomen ...
. To produce firewood in the 1860s equivalent in energy terms to domestic consumption of coal would have required of land per year, nearly the entire farmland area of England (). A key development was the invention at
Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shro ...
in the early 18th century of coke which could be used to make
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...
in the
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
. The development of the
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
by Trevithick early in the 19th century gave added impetus, and coal consumption grew rapidly as the railway network expanded through the Victorian period. Coal was widely used for domestic heating owing to its low cost and widespread availability. The manufacture of coke also provided
coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...
, which could be used for heating and lighting. Most of the workers were children and men. At the beginning of the 19th century methods of coal extraction were primitive and the workforce – men, women, and children – laboured in dangerous conditions. By 1841 about 216,000 people were employed in the mines. Women and children worked underground for 11 or 12 hours a day for smaller wages than men. The public became aware of conditions in the country's collieries in 1838 after an accident at Huskar Colliery in
Silkstone Silkstone is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, between the towns of Barnsley and Penistone. The parish includes the village of Sil ...
, near
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
. A stream overflowed into the ventilation drift after violent thunderstorms causing the death of 26 children; 11 girls aged from 8 to 16 and 15 boys between 9 and 12 years of age. The disaster came to the attention of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
who ordered an inquiry. This led to the
Mines and Collieries Act 1842 The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 ( 5 & 6 Vict. c. 99), commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act forbade women and girls of any age to work underground and introduced a minimum age of ...
( 5 & 6 Vict. c. 99), commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, an act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
which forbade women and girls of any age to work underground and introduced a minimum age of ten for boys employed in underground work. However, the employment of women did not end abruptly in 1842; with the connivance of some employers, women dressed as men continued to work underground for several years. Penalties for employing women were small and inspectors were few and some women were so desperate for work they willingly worked illegally for less pay. Eventually, the
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c. 65) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status. The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassment, ...
(c. 65), another act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, was passed protecting women – and men – from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status, including regarding employment as miners. Also, children continued working underground at some pits after 1845. At Coppull Colliery's Burgh Pit, three females died after an explosion in November 1846; one was eleven years old. The Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act 1900 was an act of Parliament that prevented boys under the age of thirteen from working, or being (for the purposes of employment) in an underground mine. (The act was repealed in full by the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 ( 2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 70); by such time the act was out of date and was no longer necessary due to the stronger provisions in the Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act 1920 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 65). Although it has been surmised that there were no Black miners in the UK, two chapters in the book by Norma Gregory ''Jamaicans in Nottingham: Narratives and Reflections'', are on Black coal miners. The scarcity of resources on these workers led Gregory to curate an exhibition called ''The Digging Deep Project Exhibition'' at the National Coal Mining Museum, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and to found the Black Miners Museum.


Nationalisation

Until 1 January 1947 the mines were owned by various individuals and companies. On that date most were nationalised by the
Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 59) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or brought into state control, the coal industry in the United Kingdom. I ...
( 9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 59) and were run by the new
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 ...
. In March 1987 the legal name of the NCB was changed to the British Coal Corporation. The name "British Coal" had been used by the NCB since 28 April 1986.


Decline in volume

UK coal production peaked in 1913 at 287 million tonnes. Until the late 1960s, coal was the main source of energy produced in the UK, peaking at 228 million tonnes in 1952. Ninety-five per cent of this came from roughly 1,334 deep-mines that were operational at the time, with the rest from around 92 surface mines. In the 1950s and 1960s, around a hundred North East coal mines were closed. In March 1968, the last pit in the
Black Country The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...
closed and pit closures were a regular occurrence in many other areas. Beginning with wildcat action in 1969, the National Union of Mineworkers became increasingly militant, and was successful in gaining increased wages in their strikes in
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
and
1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
. Closures were less common in the 1970s, and new investments were made in sites such as the
Selby Coalfield Selby coalfield (also known as the Selby complex, or Selby 'superpit') was a large-scale deep underground mine complex based around Selby, North Yorkshire, England, with pitheads at ''Wistow Mine'', ''Stillingfleet Mine'', ''Riccall Mine'', ''No ...
. In early 1984, the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government of
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
announced plans to close 20 coal pits which led to the year-long miners' strike which ended in March 1985. The strike was unsuccessful in stopping the closures and led to an end to the
closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fr ...
in
British Coal The British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation responsible for the mining of coal in the United Kingdom from 1987 until it was effectively dissolved in 1997. The corporation was created by renaming its predecessor, the National Co ...
, as the breakaway Union of Democratic Mineworkers was formed by miners who objected to the NUM's handling of the strike. Numerous pit closures followed, and in August 1989 coal mining ended in the
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
coalfield. In 1986, Kellingley colliery near
Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...
achieved a record 404,000 tonnes in a single shift but nevertheless, since 1981 production fell sharply from 128 to 17.8 million tonnes in 2009. Between 1947 and 1994, some 950 mines were closed by UK governments.
Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
’s Labour government closed 101 pits between 1947 and 1951; Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits between 1957 and 1963; Wilson (Labour) closed 253 in his two terms in office between 1964 and 1976; Heath (Conservative) closed 26 between 1970 and 1974; and Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 between 1979 and 1990. In 1994, then-
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
privatised British Coal after announcing 55 further closures, with the majority of operations transferred to the new company
UK Coal 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 c ...
. By this time British Coal had closed all but the most economical of coal pits. The pit closures reflected coal consumption slumping to the lowest rate in more than a century, further declining towards the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s. This coincided with initiatives for cleaner energy generation as power stations switched to gas and biomass. A total of 100 million tons was produced in 1986, but by 1995 the amount was around 50 million tons. In 2001, production was exceeded by imports for the first time. In 2014, coal imported was three times more than the coal mined in Britain. In 2009, companies were licensed to extract 125 million tonnes of coal in operating underground mines and 42 million tonnes at opencast locations. Coal mining employed 4,000 workers at 30 locations in 2013, extracting 13 million tonnes of coal. The UK Coal mines achieved the most economical coal production in Europe, according to UK Coal, with a level of productivity of 3,200 tonnes per man year as of 2012, at which point there were 13 UK Coal deep mines. The three deep-pit mines were Hatfield and Kellingley Collieries in Yorkshire and Thoresby in
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
. There were 26 opencast sites in 2014, mainly in Scotland. Around that time, most coal was used for electricity generation and steel-making. Its use for heating homes had already declined because of pollution concerns. The
commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...
was also used for
fertiliser A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrition, plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from Liming (soil), liming materials or other non- ...
s, chemicals,
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...
s,
medicines Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
and road surfaces. Hatfield Colliery closed in June 2015, as did Thoresby, and in December 2015, Kellingley, bringing to an end deep coal mining in the UK. The occasion was marked by a rally and march attended by thousands of people. The closure of coal mines left the affected communities economically deprived, unable to recover even in the long run. In 2020, the Woodhouse Colliery proposal gained planning permission but has outstanding legal challenges as of 2024 and as yet to begin any works. The plan was criticised by some MPs and environmentalists due to the incompatibility of coal mining with government commitments to reduce carbon emissions. The mine is proposed by West Cumbria Mining and plans to extract coking coal from beneath the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
until 2049. The decision to grant planning permission for Woodhouse Colliery was overturned by the High Court in September 2024, leaving the application to be re-determined by the
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government The secretary of state for housing, communities and local government is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom and is the Cabinet minister responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of the Ministry of Ho ...
at a later date.


See also

*
Mines and Collieries Act 1842 The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 ( 5 & 6 Vict. c. 99), commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act forbade women and girls of any age to work underground and introduced a minimum age of ...
* Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act 1900 *
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 ...
*
Three-Day Week The Three-Day Week was one of several measures introduced in the United Kingdom in 1973–1974 by Edward Heath's Conservative government to conserve electricity, the generation of which was severely restricted owing to industrial action by coal ...
* Coal Mines (Emergency) Act 1920 * List of coal mines in the United Kingdom * Phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation in the United Kingdom * National Coal Mining Museum for England *
Big Pit National Coal Museum Big Pit National Coal Museum () is an industrial heritage museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales. A working coal mine from 1880 to 1980, it was opened to the public in 1983 as a charitable trust called the Big Pit (Blaenavon) Trust. By 1 February 2 ...
, Wales * National Mining Museum Scotland


References


Further reading

* Anderson, D. ''Coal: a pictorial history of the British coal industry'' (1982), 104pp
online
includes hundreds of photographs and a detailed chronology * Arnold, Jörg. ''The British Miner in the Age of De-industrialization: A Political and Cultural History'' (Oxford University Press, 2023). * Ashton, T. S. & Sykes, J. ''The coal industry of the eighteenth century''. (1929)
online
* Barnett, Correlli. ''The Audit of War: The Illusion and Reality of Britain as a Great Nation'' (1986) (published as ''The Pride and the Fall: The Dream and Illusion of Britain as a Great Nation'', (1986) in the USA); pp. 63–106; emphasizes the backwardness of the coal industry before 1945
online
* Baylies, Carolyn. ''The History of the Yorkshire Miners, 1881-1918'' (Routledge, 1993). * Benson, John. "Coalmining" in Chris Wrigley, ed. ''A History of British industrial relations, 1875-1914'' (Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1982), pp 187–208. * Benson, John. ''British Coal-Miners in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History'' (Holmes & Meier, 1980
online
* * Buxton, N.K. ''The economic development of the British coal industry: from Industrial Revolution to the present day''. 1979. * Dintenfass, Michael. "Entrepreneurial failure reconsidered: the case of the interwar British coal industry." ''Business History Review'' 62#1 (1988): 1-34
in JSTOR
* Dron, Robert W. ''The economics of coal mining'' (1928). * Ediger, Volkan Ş., and John V. Bowlus. "A farewell to King Coal: geopolitics, energy security, and the transition to oil, 1898–1917." ''Historical Journal'' 62.2 (2019): 427-449
online
* Fine, B. ''The Coal Question: Political Economy and Industrial Change from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day'' (1990). * First series o 18351898; Second series. 835-801904. Reprinted 1971 * Galloway, Robert L. ''A History of Coal Mining in Great Britain'' (1882
Online
at Open Library * Griffin, A. R. ''The British coalmining industry: retrospect and prospect.'' 1977. * Handy, L. J. ''Wages Policy in the British Coal Mining Industry: A Study of National Wage Bargaining'' (1981
excerpt
* Hatcher, John, et al. ''The History of the British Coal Industry'' (5 vol, Oxford U.P., 1984–87); 3000 pages of scholarly history ** John Hatcher: '' The History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 1: Before 1700: Towards the Age of Coal'' (1993)
online
** Michael W. Flinn, and David Stoker. ''History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 2. 1700-1830: The Industrial Revolution'' (1984). ** Roy Church, Alan Hall and John Kanefsky. ''History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 3: Victorian Pre-Eminence'' **Barry Supple. ''The History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 4: 1913-1946: The Political Economy of Decline'' (1988
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** William Ashworth and Mark Pegg. ''History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 5: 1946-1982: The Nationalized Industry'' (1986
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* Heinemann, Margot. ''Britain's coal: A study of the mining crisis'' (1944). * * * Hull, Edward. ''Our coal resources at the close of the nineteenth century'' (1897
Online
at Open Library. Stress on geology. * Jaffe, James Alan. ''The Struggle for Market Power: Industrial Relations in the British Coal Industry, 1800-1840'' (2003)
online
* Jevons, H.S. ''The British coal trade''. 1920, reprinted 1969 * Jevons, W. Stanley. ''
The Coal Question ''The Coal Question; An Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of Our Coal Mines'' is a book that economist William Stanley Jevons wrote in 1865 to explore the implications of Britain's reliance on coal. Given ...
: An Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of Our Coal Mines'' (1865). * Kirby, Maurice William. "The Control of Competition in the British Coal‐Mining Industry in the Thirties" ''Economic History Review'' 26.2 (1973): 273-284
in JSTOR
* Kirby, M.W. ''The British coalmining industry, 1870-1946: a political and economic history''. 1977
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* Langton, John, ed. ''Atlas of industrialising Britain 1780-1914'' (Methuen, 1986) pp 72–79. * Lucas, Arthur F. "A British Experiment in the Control of Competition: The Coal Mines Act of 1930." ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' (1934): 418-441.
in JSTOR
** Prest, Wilfred. "The British Coal Mines Act of 1930, Another Interpretation." ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' (1936): 313-332
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* Lewis, B. ''Coal mining in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries''. (Longman, 1971). * Mathis, Charles-François. "King coal rules: accepting or refusing coal dependency in Victorian Britain." ''Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique. French Journal of British Studies'' 23#3 (2018). * Murray, John, and Javier Silvestre. "Integration in European Coal Markets, 1833–1913". ''Economic History Review'' 73 (2020) 668–702. * Nef, J. U. ''Rise of the British coal industry''. 2v 1932, a comprehensive scholarly survey * Orwell, George. "Down the Mine" (''
The Road to Wigan Pier ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. Its first half documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the ...
'' chapter 2, 1937
full text
* Rowe, J.W.F. ''Wages in the coal industry'' (1923). * Tawney, R. H. "The British Coal Industry and the Question of Nationalization" ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'' 35 (1920
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* Waller, Robert. '' The Dukeries Transformed: A history of the development of the Dukeries coal field after 1920'' (Oxford U.P., 1983) on the Dukeries * Williams, Chris. ''Capitalism, community and conflict: The south Wales coalfield, 1898-1947'' (U of Wales Press, 1998). * Wrigley, Edward Anthony. ''Energy and the English Industrial Revolution'' (Cambridge University Press, 2010).


External links


Coal Mining in the British Isles (Northern Mine Research Society)


* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4jUELk55U4 Video and commentary on the Gateside Colliery bing, Sanquhar. {{DEFAULTSORT:Coal Mining in the United Kingdom Mining in the United Kingdom
Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
Climate change in the United Kingdom