Bagworth Colliery

Overview

The last deep coal mine in Leicestershire, closed in February 1991 after 166 years of production. Viscount Maynard had the first shaft sunk in the late 1820s, one of the early sinkings into the concealed part of the county’s Coal Measures, and built his own branch off the Leicester and Swannington Railway to carry the coal. In 1966 the workings were connected underground to Nailstone Colliery, and from then on Bagworth’s coal came to the surface there. The mine took the village with it in more than one sense: subsidence wrecked the church, tower and all, and it was demolished in 1968.

History

Coal had been dug in Leicestershire since the thirteenth century, mostly in shallow pits, but the coalfield’s deeper, concealed part only became workable with steam. Workable seams were found at Ibstock and Bagworth in the 1820s and the sinkings followed. Viscount Maynard, the landowner — whose family had endowed the village school in 1761 — had the first shaft at Bagworth sunk in 1828; the Northern Mine Research Society dates the instigation of the sinking to 1826. The seams were reached at shallow depth and were thick: the Stone Smut at 120 yards and nine feet thick, the Swannington Five Foot at 124 yards and 6 ft 4 in. At first the coal went to Leicester by road. Under the Leicester and Swannington Railway Act of 1830 the railway company had powers to build a branch to Bagworth Colliery; those powers were transferred to Maynard, who built the line at his own expense and opened it on 11 July 1832, the same day as that section of the Leicester and Swannington itself. The village station stood at the foot of the rope-worked Bagworth Incline with the colliery at the top. The Midland Railway took the line over in 1845 and built a gentler deviation bypassing the incline, opening a new station in 1849 that was renamed Bagworth and Ellistown in 1894 after the colliery village that had grown up since Ellistown was sunk in 1873. In 1966 Bagworth was connected underground to Nailstone Colliery, and from then on its coal was raised, washed and sent by train from there back to interchange sidings beside the old Bagworth and Ellistown station; in 1980 that branch line was replaced by a conveyor to a rapid loader. The colliery closed in February 1991 when its economic reserves were exhausted — the last coal mine in Leicestershire, after 166 years of production — and the rapid loader was demolished.

Geology

The Leicestershire coalfield, part of the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire field, which is split in two by a major geological fault; Leicestershire lies in the Eastern Basin. Bagworth was one of the early sinkings into the concealed part of the Coal Measures, where the coal is buried beneath younger rocks rather than outcropping as it does at Swannington. The seams were both shallow and thick: the Stone Smut nine feet at 120 yards, the Swannington Five Foot 6 ft 4 in at 124.

Workings

Shafts from the late 1820s at the top of the rope-worked Bagworth Incline, with the colliery’s own branch line built by Viscount Maynard and opened in 1832. From 1966 the mine was connected underground to Nailstone Colliery and its coal was raised there instead, reaching the surface up a one-in-four drift; a branch line carried it back to Bagworth until 1980, when a conveyor belt to a rapid loader replaced it.

Closure

Bagworth closed in February 1991 when its economic reserves were exhausted, the last deep coal mine in Leicestershire and the end of 166 years of production. The rapid loader that had handled its coal since 1980 was demolished with it.

What remains

The colliery site has been cleared. What the mine left behind in the village is more visible than what it left on its own ground: the Victorian church and its medieval tower suffered subsidence through the twentieth century and were demolished in 1968, replaced by a prefabricated concrete building that decayed in turn and was itself demolished in 2019, leaving the site grassed over with the graveyard and a few relics of the earlier church.

None of the colliery identified.

Related mines

• Desford Colliery — Desford was sunk in 1900 half a mile south-east of the already long-established Bagworth Colliery, and the two worked the same Eastern Basin measures. Worth knowing for a reader of either record: Bagworth Heath Country Park occupies the reclaimed Desford site, not Bagworth’s.
• Ellistown Colliery — The neighbouring colliery village that grew up after Ellistown was sunk in 1873 gave its name to the shared railway station, renamed Bagworth and Ellistown in 1894, and the two pits were latterly worked together as Bagworth–Ellistown.
• Nailstone Colliery — The two mines were connected underground in 1966, after which Bagworth’s coal was raised, washed and dispatched at Nailstone, reaching the surface there up a one-in-four drift; a branch line and then, from 1980, a conveyor belt carried it back towards Bagworth.

Nearby mines

• Desford Colliery — 0.6 km S
• Merrylees Drift Mine — 2.0 km SE
• Nailstone Colliery — 2.7 km W
• Ellistown Colliery — 3.5 km NW
• Cliffe Hill Quarry — 4.1 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Wikipedia records that the then Viscount Maynard had the first shaft of Bagworth Colliery sunk in 1828, with the coal at first carried to Leicester by road; the Northern Mine Research Society dates the instigation of the sinking by Maynard to 1826. (disputed) ¹
• Under the Leicester and Swannington Railway Act of 1830 the railway company had powers to build a branch to Bagworth Colliery; these were transferred to Viscount Maynard, who built the line at his own expense and brought it into use on 11 July 1832, the same day as the opening of that section of the railway. ¹
• Bagworth Colliery was connected underground to Nailstone Colliery in 1966; the coal was raised, washed and taken by train from Nailstone back to interchange sidings beside the site of Bagworth and Ellistown station, and in 1980 the branch line was replaced by a conveyor belt to a rapid loader. ¹
• Bagworth Colliery was the last coal mine in Leicestershire and closed in February 1991, after 166 years of production; it closed when its economic reserves were exhausted. ^1,2
• The Victorian church at Bagworth and its medieval tower suffered subsidence during the twentieth century and were demolished in 1968, replaced by a prefabricated concrete building that was itself demolished in 2019. ¹
• The Leicestershire and Derbyshire coalfield is divided into two areas by a major geological fault, with Leicestershire in the Eastern Basin; workable seams were found at Ibstock and Bagworth in the 1820s, which encouraged further shafts to be sunk in the area. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Bagworth — Wikipedia
2. (observational) Bagworth Colliery: mining history, compilation no. 23 — I. A. Recordings
3. (secondary) Coal mining — Desford Heritage

Record created: 6 September 2026 · Last researched: 6 September 2026