Emley Moor Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Emley, between Huddersfield and Wakefield, owned by the Jaggar family in 1821 and later by Stringer and Son; under the National Coal Board it raised coal by a shallow shaft and surface drifts, and it closed in 1985 after the year-long miners' strike.

History

Emley Moor Colliery lay at Emley, about seven and a half miles south-west of Wakefield. Coal mines were working at Emley Woodhouse in 1597 and possibly from shallow shafts on Emley Moor in the seventeenth century, and the Jaggar family owned Emley Moor Colliery in 1821, when winding was done by a horse gin. A sinking was begun about 1850, and the colliery was later owned by Stringer and Son Ltd. Two men, a collier and a hurrier, were killed by a fall of side on 2 December 1896.

It employed 733 in 1923 and 554 in the 1930s, and at nationalisation in 1947 550 men raised 172,000 tons of coking, gas, household and steam coal; 710 were employed in 1954, working the New Hards and Wheatley Lime seams. By 1967 the colliery worked a 128-yard shaft for men and materials only, with two surface drifts, one of them the Skelmanthorpe mine, whose conveyor carried coal to a preparation plant about two miles away; 290 men then produced 121,000 tons from the Blocking and Beeston seams. Emley Moor Colliery closed in 1985 after the year-long miners' strike; a suggestion that nine miners might buy it came to nothing, and the site is now a business park.

Geology

Coal measures of the Yorkshire coalfield, worked in the New Hards, Wheatley Lime, Blocking and Beeston seams.

Workings

A 128-yard shaft for men and materials and two surface drifts, including the Skelmanthorpe mine with a 30-inch conveyor to the preparation plant.

Closure

Closed in 1985 after the year-long miners' strike.

What remains

The site is now a business park.

Recorded claims

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

• The Jaggar family owned Emley Moor Colliery in 1821, when winding was done by a horse gin. ¹
• A sinking at Emley Moor Colliery was begun about 1850. ²
• At nationalisation in 1947 Emley Moor employed 550 and raised 172,000 tons. ²
• In 1967 Emley Moor worked a 128-yard shaft for men and materials and two surface drifts; 290 men produced 121,000 tons. ²
• Emley Moor Colliery closed in 1985 after the year-long miners' strike; the site is now a business park. ¹
• A BGS surface plan of Emley Moor Colliery exists. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Emley — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Emley Moor Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21860308: Emley Moor, surface plan — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026