Ollerton Colliery Cricket Club

The cricket team of Ollerton Colliery, the Butterley Company's Sherwood Forest pit, was captained and chaired by the company's Montague Wright, 'Mr Monty', who believed a mining community needed good teams to keep good feeling among the men. The colliery XI shared the Bassetlaw and District League championship with Glapwell Colliery in 1939, in a competition that pit sides dominated between the wars.

The mining history in this record

The Butterley Company of Ripley sank Ollerton Colliery on a green-field site east of Ollerton village between 1923 and 1925, reaching the Top Hard seam at about 550 yards, and began raising coal in August 1926. Like other colliery companies it backed sport among its workforce. Montague Wright of the Butterley Company, known as Mr Monty, was both captain and chairman of the colliery cricket club, and in his memoirs explained why: in a community like Ollerton, he said, it was necessary to have good games teams to promote good feeling among the men, and he captained the Ollerton Colliery XI himself.

The club played in the Bassetlaw and District League, founded in 1903 as the Worksop Guardian Cup for clubs in north Nottinghamshire, east Derbyshire, south Yorkshire and west Lincolnshire. Colliery sides won its championship in all but one of the twenty-one seasons between the wars, and in 1939, the last before the Second World War, Ollerton Colliery shared the title with Glapwell Colliery.

People

Montague Wright ('Mr Monty') of the Butterley Company, captain and chairman of the Ollerton Colliery cricket club.

Legacy today

After nationalisation in 1947 the National Coal Board went on promoting cricket in the Nottinghamshire coalfield. Ollerton Colliery raised its last coal in 1993, and its headstocks came down on 20 September 1994; the pit site is now occupied by the Sherwood Energy Village and a supermarket. In 1998 the county cricket historian Peter Wynne-Thomas counted twenty-three colliery grounds in Nottinghamshire where cricket was still played.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Montague Wright of the Butterley Company, known as Mr Monty, was captain and chairman of the Ollerton Colliery cricket club, and wrote that in a community like Ollerton good games teams were needed to promote good feeling among the men. (later recollection) ¹
• Ollerton Colliery were joint winners of the Bassetlaw and District League championship with Glapwell Colliery in 1939. (documented fact) ²
• Colliery clubs were champions of the Bassetlaw and District League in all but one of the twenty-one interwar seasons. (documented fact) ³
• The Butterley Company sank Ollerton Colliery in 1923-25; coal production began in August 1926, the last coal was wound in 1993 and the headstocks were demolished on 20 September 1994. (documented fact) ⁴

Mines

• Ollerton Colliery — Nottinghamshire
  The colliery cricket XI, captained by the Butterley Company's Montague Wright.

Operators

Butterley Company

People

• Montague Wright · official — Of the Butterley Company; captain and chairman of the Ollerton Colliery cricket club.

Regions

Nottinghamshire

Sources

1. (secondary) Shout Down the Shaft for a Fast Bowler — Mining Heritage
2. (secondary) Bygones: Bassetlaw & District Cricket League titles — Nottingham Sport
3. (secondary) The strike that forged a cricketing generation (Jon Gemmell, 4 May 2026) — Morning Star
4. (secondary) Ollerton Colliery - a brief history (Norman Tarry) — Ollerton and Villages

Record created: 19 September 2026 · Last researched: 19 September 2026