Boythorpe Colliery

Overview

Chesterfield's town colliery on the Boythorpe side, south-west of the centre, where coal was being got for the Smith family's ironworks by 1811 and a succession of owners worked the Blackshale, Tupton and Silkstone seams from two shafts either side of the Matlock road until about 1900. Four hundred men worked it in the 1890s, and in 1878 the whole of them ran for the shaft when a roof settlement loosed an estimated 400,000 cubic feet of gas into two miles of workings.

History

John Farey, writing in 1811, named George Booker as coal and iron agent for the Smith family's enterprises at Boythorpe, and Hoskin, Knowles and Company were selling Boythorpe coal at five shillings a ton at the pit in 1856; A. and L. Ludlam advertised the colliery as thoroughly repaired in 1858, and Luke Ludlam and John Oldfield were listed there in 1862. The Durham Mining Museum dates the colliery to 1855. By 1878 it was the Chesterfield and Boythorpe Coal Company's: on a Wednesday morning that May the roof of the south workings came on to what the men called dead weight, and more gas than the ventilation could carry was dislodged into two miles of roads. An engineman below saw fire in his lamp, the alarm was sent round, every naked light was put out and between three and four hundred colliers rushed to the shaft and were drawn up unhurt, many half-naked and borrowing sacks to walk home in. The same year the company's cashier was robbed of a thousand pounds of wages money at Derby station by two men who swapped the bags on a carriage seat. The company had two shafts, one to the Blackshale and one to the Tupton seam, two or three hundred yards apart and joined by two lines of railway across the Chesterfield to Matlock road, worked by the company's own small locomotive, which pushed tubs up an incline to coke ovens; on Christmas Eve 1885 it struck and killed the new secretary and manager, John Harrison, in fog at the crossing. The Boythorpe Colliery Company was wound up in the depression of 1887 but the pit went on under Brewis Brothers, who in 1890 offered a silver watch to the pony boy who kept his pony best. The Lists of Mines give 403 employed at Nos. 1 and 2 in 1894 and 304 in 1896 under Jacob Pearce, working household and manufacturing coal from the Tupton and Silkstone, with the Ashgate added at No. 1 by 1900, when 354 were employed. The museum closes the record at 1900, and the 1914 Ordnance Survey shows the colliery closed while the small New Riber footrill on Boythorpe Lane still worked.

Geology

Derbyshire coalfield, Middle Coal Measures on the Brimington anticline, whose coal bassets George Booker charted in Farey's day. Seams named: Blackshale, Tupton, Silkstone, Ashgate; the local historian also lists the Second Piper, Cockleshell, Low Tupton and Threequarters; the 1866 death entry names the Furness coal.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Two shafts, one to the Blackshale and one to the Tupton, two or three hundred yards apart with a surface railway between them across the Matlock road, a company locomotive, an incline and coke ovens. Employment from the Lists of Mines: 403 in 1894, 304 in 1896, 354 at No. 1 in 1900. Two miles of workings in 1878. Depths are not given in the sources read.

Closure

The museum's last return is 1900 and the 1914 Ordnance Survey shows the colliery closed; the date and reason are not given in the sources read.

What remains

Built over by the Boythorpe and St Augustine's housing of Chesterfield. The local historian notes that the Mount on the St Augustine's estate is the spoil heap of one of the Boythorpe collieries.

The Mount, a grassed spoil heap on the St Augustine's estate, according to the local historian; nothing else is reported.

Related mines

• Avenue Colliery — Neighbouring pits on the south side of Chesterfield.
• Grassmoor Colliery — Neighbouring Chesterfield-district pits; Grassmoor lies three miles south-east.

Nearby mines

• Avenue Colliery — 2.5 km SE
• Grassmoor Colliery — 4.0 km SE
• Arkwright Colliery — 4.9 km E
• Markham Colliery — 5.1 km NE
• Williamthorpe Colliery — 5.9 km SE

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.

• The museum dates the colliery 1855 to 1900; coal was being got at Boythorpe for the Smiths' ironworks by 1811 and the 1914 map shows it closed. ^1,2
• Chesterfield and Boythorpe Coal Company by 1878, Boythorpe Colliery Company wound up 1887, Brewis Brothers by 1890, Boythorpe Colliery Co. in the 1894 to 1900 lists. ^1,2
• 403 employed in 1894, 304 in 1896 and 354 in 1900. ¹
• In May 1878 a roof settlement loosed an estimated 400,000 cubic feet of gas over two miles of workings; every light was put out and three to four hundred men reached the surface unhurt. ²
• Two shafts, Blackshale and Tupton, two or three hundred yards apart, joined by a railway across the Matlock road and worked by a company locomotive, which killed the manager John Harrison on 24 December 1885. ^1,2,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Boythorpe Colliery — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Boythorpe Collieries — oldminer.co.uk (with Derbyshire Times and Courier extracts) — oldminer.co.uk
3. (secondary) Accidents and disasters — oldminer.co.uk — oldminer.co.uk
4. (secondary) Boythorpe Viaduct — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026