Harworth Colliery
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Harworth Colliery is a mothballed mine in north Nottinghamshire, it is in the Bassetlaw area. It has recently been abandoned due to troubles at the seam. UK Coal who own and maintain the mine, are waiting for a contract to make it worth investing money to open up a new seam. Bassetlaw has at the moment no working pits, the nearest is Maltby Main Colliery in south yorkshire.
With the mothballing of Harworth, Bassetlaw has had an end to 86 years of mining history.
[edit] History
Work began on sinking the shaft in 1913, when the Northern Union Mining Company was set up.
There was German investment with equipment and men, but with the First World War (1914-1918) the German workers were interned and the company impounded by the Government, construction was halted.
Later in 1917 the Harworth Main Colliery Company was formed, at first with £100 capital, later this increased to over £80,000.
The sinking of the number one shaft started on 4th June 1919, work started on the second shaft on 9th July.
By 1922 the company found itself £500,000 in debt, money it owed to the Nottinghamshire Mining Company.
Under the new ownership of the Barber Walker Co work restarted and on 29th October 1923, workers in the number one shaft reached the Barnsley seam, there were problems with underground faults.
The second shaft also reached the Barnsley seam on 15th November 1923.
The resulting coal was of a very high quality and in great demand from railway companies like the LNER
The Flying Scotsman one of the most famous steam engines in the world (now owned by the National Railway Museum) was burning Harworth coal when it covered the 392 miles from London to Edinburgh in a record seven hours and 27 minutes in 1932.
In more recent history Harworth successfully reached the one million tonnes in a year figure in 1993.
The pit's closure was considered in November 2002 when owners UK Coal warned the 400 workers the pit was in trouble unless yearly losses of £8 million could be reversed.
Three years later, to save the pit, the only possible solution for the 450 workers was to invest £50 million to access a new seam. If that was to happen it would have to be through Government intervention, the pit would have up to 25 more years worth of coal.
