In 1853, in the Home Office in London, Robert Hunt began collating information of coal mines and in 1854 the first list of mines was published with the owner’s names. In the Midlands Coalfields there were 105 pits in North Derbyshire, 5 pits in NW Derbyshire, 7 pits in South Derbyshire, 11 pits in Leicestershire and 17 pits in Nottinghamshire. (See 1854 for names). There were some pits missing but not many.
Later the respective seam names were documented. Lists were made for every Coalfield.
As more information became available it was added to the list, such as Agents and later after 1873 Colliery Manager’s names and certificate numbers either by examination or service certificate, and also added after 1887 the names of Undermanagers similarly. From 1894 the number of workmen was also added.
A complete list of all collieries and information was published annually up to 1947/50 by the Home Office.
From 1948 ‘Guide to the Coalfields’ was published annually by the Colliery Guardian with all manner of information but now including maps showing the site position of each colliery in the UK.
Ernest Harwood Clarke (Colliery Manager’s certificate number 1274) from Kent originally and later with Eastwood Collieries Ltd joined HMI and was put in charge of abandonment plans and mining records in the region from 1914 to 1947. During the Second World War 1939 to 1945 all the plans were moved to a secure location near Buxton, Derbyshire for safe keeping away from any possible enemy bombing by Germany.
The National Coal Board was formed in July 1946 and all coal mines previously in private ownership were now managed by the NCB from vesting day 1st January 1947.
Abandonment plans were kept at No2 Area HQ at Mansfield Woodhouse from 1947 under the custodianship of Bob Bailey (Surveyor’s certificate number 1109) ex Surveyor at Welbeck Colliery for the New Hucknall Colliery Co.
After only 2 years though No2 Area was disbanded in July 1949 and the HQ closed and the 10 collieries were absorbed into neighbouring areas … No1 Area with HQ at Bolsover, No 3 Area HQ at Edwinstowe and No4 Area HQ at Huthwaite and the plans and records were then transported to accommodation at the Divisional HQ for the East Midlands, Burntstump near Arnold, Nottingham under his keeping 1949/50.
Percy W Hett (2111) ex Surveyor Silverhill Colliery was appointed Mining Records Officer at Division in his stead in 1956 and remained there until 1967 when the abandonment plans and mining records were taken to Eastwood Hall, HQ of No5 Area 1967 because the Divisional HQ was to be closed when the NCB was reorganised once again from April 1967.
Percy Hett retired in 1987 and Jack Milburn his assistant and previously ex assistant Surveyor Warsop Colliery was appointed Mining Records Officer for a short time until 1988/1989 when yet again there was a further reorganisation of the Coalfields. The decision to close and then sell Eastwood Hall meant that the plans had to be moved to temporary accommodation in the old Pit Head Baths at Newstead Colliery, that had closed in 1987, now under the management of David W Clarke ex Assistant Surveyor seconded to Eastwood Hall department some 2 years before.
In 1992 the many thousands of plans and records were then moved to new accommodation at Bretby HQ in Staffordshire, with the remit to completely reorganise the system by 1994. A copy of an abandonment plan had to be traced if a copy was required prior to this and also had to be scaled up or down by hand using an eidograph for example until larger photo-copying machines were available. This was a very long and laborious task.
The Coal Authority at Berry Hill, Mansfield was inaugurated in October 1994 and staff were housed in the large building that had been built in 1965 for the NCB computer centre for wages for the NCB East Midlands workforce. Later, purpose-built accommodation opposite the main building was opened to house all detailed general information that was kept in boxes and managed by a separate department and all the abandonment plans and mining records were transferred from Bretby and were available for viewing from 2001 managed by David W Clarke (MBE) (6912). A small team under his supervision was set up to scan all plans, firstly in black and white then as technology improved, scanned again later in colour and digitised. As each seam and then mines were abandoned, after perusal by HM Inspector those seam plans were added to the collection. Due to the size of some of the very old plans a series of cameras took images and ‘stitched the nine together’. To facilitate ease of copying the plans without ‘stitching the images’ a one off large overhead framework containing 6 cameras was installed in an enclosed room in the main building and all large plans were re photographed as one image. It was unique, being the only one of its kind and was imported from Germany. However when it was thought that no more large plans were needed to be photographed the camera was dismantled and scrapped. David Clarke was transferred to other duties in the main office block and Helen Simpson who had experience in museums etc in Lancashire was appointed in charge as Mining Records Officer from 2015 to October 2022 and when she retired, Coryn Reynolds who was her assistant was appointed Mining Records Officer from October 2022 on.
All mine plans can be accessed using the department’s computer and seen and manipulated for size etc and copies can be obtained on any scale required.
Similarly many thousands of photographs of surface and underground activities can be similarly viewed on a computer screen and copies can be obtained at the ‘touch of a button’. Such is the technology of today in 2023. Sometime in the near future it will be possible to access abandonment plans on personal computers in one’s home.
