Yorkshire Main Colliery was a coal mine situated within the village of

Edlington Edlington is a town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, lying to the south west of Doncaster and Warmsworth. It has a population of 8,276. The original parish town of Edlington is now known as ''Old Edlington ...

, south west of

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

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.

History

The colliery was created by the

Staveley Coal and Iron Company The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was an industrial company based in Staveley, Derbyshire, Staveley, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, north Derbyshire. History The company was registered in 1863, appearing in provincial sto ...

, which bought land in Edlington and leased the right to exploit the coal reserves under this and adjoining land from the Battie-Wrightson of Cusworth estate in several transactions in 1909 and 1910. William Wrightson of Cusworth had acquired the Edlington estate in 1803 from the Molesworth family, which had owned it since the late seventeenth century. Two shafts were sunk in 1909 and 1910. The new colliery, originally known as "Edlington Main" had a name change in September 1911 and became "Yorkshire Main". It 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 ...

at a depth of 905 yards in July 1911, however this was on a fault. The main seam was relocated in October 1912. The Colliery first produced a million tons of coal in 1923 and in 1939 it achieved a record output of 1,138,512 tons. In 1937, the pit became part of the Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd company, and was nationalised into the National Coal Board in 1947. Extraction of the Dunsil seam, about 18 yards lower, began in the 1950s. In the 1970s work started on a new seam, the ''Swallow Wood Seam'', with and area of about . Plans had also been made to open up the Parkgate seam, but these were later abandoned. In 1984, the mine was recorded as making a profit of £4.5 million, however, the mine was closed in 1985. In 1987, the headstock winding tower, which cost £6 million, was demolished. The colliery had a war memorial sited at the main entrance to commemorate those who worked at Yorkshire Main who died in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The memorial was moved into the village of

in the 1970s. In 2018, part of the surface of the old colliery was granted approval for the building of 375 homes.

Arthur Wharton Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) was a British footballer. He is widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world. Though not the first black player outright – the amateurs Robert Walker, of Q ...

, the first black professional player in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, worked as a collier there after his retirement from playing in 1902.

References

External links

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Image of the coal mine from 1925
{{Coal mining in Yorkshire Coal mines in Doncaster Coal mines in South Yorkshire Underground mines in England

History

See also

References

External links