Bentley Colliery

Overview

A large Doncaster-area colliery working the Barnsley seam, struck by two separate disasters 47 years apart — a 1931 firedamp explosion that killed 45, and a 1978 underground train derailment that killed 7 — whose rescue efforts in the first brought eight Edward Medals.

History

Barber, Walker & Company first tried to prove coal near Bentley Mill in 1887, but abandoned the attempt owing to difficult ground; a second borehole at Daw Lane Plantation in 1895 succeeded, proving the rich Barnsley seam at a depth of 615 yards. Negotiations with landowners for working rights followed, sinking began in 1904, and despite hitting quicksand and severe flooding the main shaft was completed in 1906, with coaling under way by 1908. By 1910 the colliery employed 1,000 men; by the early 1930s it was one of the largest and best-equipped pits in South Yorkshire, producing over 1.2 million tonnes of coal in its peak year of 1924 and averaging just under 3,000 workers through the 1930s and 1940s. Barber, Walker & Co. owned the colliery until the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947, after which it passed to the National Coal Board, renamed British Coal Corporation from 1987. The Barnsley seam it worked was consistently troubled by methane, and the colliery was struck by two separate disasters: a firedamp explosion on 20 November 1931 that killed 45 men, and an underground train derailment on 21 November 1978 that killed a further 7 (see Disasters, below). Bentley Colliery finally closed in December 1993, with the loss of 450 jobs; all surface structures, including the headstocks, had been demolished by 1995.

Geology

Bentley worked the Barnsley seam, one of the South Yorkshire coalfield's richest but most gas-prone measures, proved by borehole at a depth of 615 yards in 1895; the seam's persistent release of methane during working was a direct factor in the colliery's 1931 explosion disaster.

Workings

Sinking the main shaft, begun in 1904, was badly disrupted by quicksand and flooding before completion in 1906; underground transport in the colliery's later years relied on diesel-hauled manriding trains ('paddies') to move miners to and from the coal face, the same system involved in the 1978 disaster.

Closure

Bentley Colliery closed in December 1993, ending 450 jobs; the site's surface buildings, including the headstocks, were fully demolished by 1995.

What remains

A pit wheel memorial, built from a winding headgear wheel, two emergency winding wheels and stone blocks salvaged from the colliery offices, was unveiled at the former Bentley Colliery Cricket Club in April 1995. The colliery site itself became Bentley Community Woodland in 2004 and remains open to the public.

No original colliery buildings survive; the pit wheel memorial at the former cricket club reuses genuine winding-gear components and stonework from the site.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Bentley Colliery explosion, 1931
  20 November 1931 · Explosion · 45 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion in the North-East District of Bentley Colliery's Barnsley seam killed 45 men and boys on the evening of 20 November 1931, most likely ignited by a gob fire smouldering in the mine's old workings; the rescue that followed brought eight Edward Medals.
• Bentley Colliery manrider derailment, 1978
  21 November 1978 · Haulage / Transport · 7 fatalities
  An underground manriding train carrying 65 miners derailed after running away down an incline at Bentley Colliery on 21 November 1978, killing seven men and injuring many more.

Recorded claims

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

• A 1895 borehole at Daw Lane Plantation proved the Barnsley seam at 615 yards depth after an 1887 attempt near Bentley Mill had failed; sinking began in 1904 and, despite quicksand and flooding, the main shaft was completed in 1906, with coaling under way by 1908. ¹
• By the early 1930s Bentley was one of the largest and best-equipped pits in South Yorkshire, producing over 1.2 million tonnes in its peak year of 1924 and averaging just under 3,000 workers through the 1930s and 1940s. ¹
• Barber, Walker & Co. owned the colliery from 1906 until the 1947 nationalisation of the coal industry, after which it passed to the National Coal Board, renamed British Coal Corporation from 1987, until closure. ^1,2
• Bentley Colliery closed in December 1993 with the loss of 450 jobs; all surface structures, including the headstocks, were demolished by 1995. ¹
• A pit wheel memorial built from a winding headgear wheel, two emergency winding wheels and stone blocks from the colliery offices was unveiled at the former Bentley Colliery Cricket Club in April 1995. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Bentley Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Bentley Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026