Awsworth Colliery

Overview

A colliery in the Erewash valley opened in 1857 by the Awsworth Iron Company, working the Tupton, Silkstone and Kilburn seams beside its own ironworks and brickworks. It closed in 1896 with nearly three hundred people employed.

History

Awsworth sits in the Erewash valley on the Nottinghamshire side, in ground extensively mined for coal. The colliery opened in 1857 and belonged first to the Awsworth Iron Company and later to the Awsworth Colliery Company — the coal and the iron in one business, the pattern of this valley. The Bennerley furnaces beside it were built by E. P. Davis around 1870 and the Awsworth brand of Derbyshire foundry pig iron became well known; Bennerley Viaduct, opened to commercial traffic in January 1878, strides across the valley beside the works.

The official returns catch only the colliery's last years. It employed 292 people in 1894, 238 of them below ground, and 275 in 1896 with Nos. 1 and 2 pits returned together, producing gas, household and manufacturing coal from the Tupton, Silkstone and Kilburn seams. It closed that year.

Six deaths are recorded, and one of them is not a mining death at all: William Holland, a dataller of 40, sat down on the roadway after finishing his work in June 1890 and suddenly died, the verdict being death from natural causes.

Geology

The Tupton, Silkstone and Kilburn seams of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfield, worked here alongside the ironstone and clay that fed the works next door.

Workings

Nos. 1 and 2 pits, returned together by 1896. About four in every five of the workforce was below ground.

Closure

The colliery closed in 1896. The Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record lists the colliery at Awsworth Works as a monument running from the Georgian period to the mid-twentieth century, which reflects the longer life of the site rather than of this colliery.

What remains

A large chimney, the foundations of buildings and an extensive area of spoil and slag are all that remain of the Awsworth ironworks and colliery. The site lies in the Erewash valley north of Bennerley Viaduct.

A chimney, building foundations, and spoil and slag.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Awsworth' (catalogue 3924, Furnace Or Tupton, Three Quarters Or Tupton Three Quarters, Blackshale Or Silkstone & Kilburn, dated 1899); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ⁴

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The official returns give Awsworth Colliery as opened in 1857 and closed in 1896, owned by the Awsworth Iron Co. and then the Awsworth Colliery Co., with 292 employed in 1894 and 275 in 1896, working the Tupton, Silkstone and Kilburn seams for gas, household and manufacturing coal. ¹
• The Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record has Bennerley Colliery at Awsworth Works as monument M2335, a colliery of the Georgian to mid-twentieth-century period at SK 47100 44000 in the parish of Awsworth. ²
• The Bennerley furnaces were originally built by E. P. Davis in about 1870, and the Awsworth brand of Derbyshire foundry pig iron is well known. The furnaces did not produce pig iron after March 1931. ³
• Six deaths are recorded at the colliery. One, in June 1890, was William Holland, a dataller of 40, who was returning along the roadway after finishing his work, sat down and suddenly expired; the verdict was death from natural causes. ¹
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Awsworth' (catalogue 3924, Furnace Or Tupton, Three Quarters Or Tupton Three Quarters, Blackshale Or Silkstone & Kilburn, dated 1899); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Awsworth Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Bennerley Colliery at Awsworth Works (M2335) — Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record
3. (secondary) Bennerley Ironworks — Grace's Guide
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: AWSWORTH — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026