Frickley Colliery

Overview

One of the largest collieries in the country and a byword for union radicalism, sunk at South Elmsall from 1903 and worked for ninety years, whose adopted colliery brass band went on to become one of the finest in the world.

History

Frickley Colliery was sunk by the Carlton Main Colliery Co. Ltd, work beginning with the first sod cut on 23 April 1903. Two seven-metre-diameter shafts reached the Barnsley Bed seam on 23 May 1905 at a depth of 606 metres. A third shaft, at South Elmsall, was sunk from 1920 and reached the Shafton seam at around 218-236 metres in 1923, sharing common services with the original Frickley pit under one colliery general manager. Output in 1927 ran to some 23,000 tons a week from Frickley and a further 10,000 tons a week from South Elmsall; peak employment reached around 4,000 men and boys in the 1930s. Ownership passed to the National Coal Board at nationalisation on 1 January 1947, and later to British Coal Corporation from 1987. The colliery earned a reputation as one of the largest pits in the country and a key centre of union radicalism, adopting the motto 'second to none' during the 1984-85 miners' strike; Frickley men were among the last in the country to return to work, refusing to cross a picket line manned by hardline miners from Kent even after the NUM had formally called the strike off. Frickley's own history includes two major loss-of-life incidents (see Disasters, below): five deputies gassed while reopening the pit after Christmas in 1931, and an underground explosion on 8 June 1966 that required 500 men to be evacuated without loss of life. The colliery could not compete against the price of imported coal and production ceased on 26 November 1993, with 740 men losing their jobs. Its adopted brass band, first raised as the South Elmsall Village Brass Band by local miners and farmers in 1884 and taken on by Frickley Colliery from 1905, survived the closure to become one of Britain's leading contesting bands (see Culture, discovered this pass but not yet published).

Workings

Worked the Barnsley seam from 1905 (until 1934), the Dunsil seam from 1942 (marketed as 'Barnsley Deep'), the Shafton seam via the South Elmsall shaft (1923-25, 1942-1970s), the Cudworth seam from around 1970, the Top Haigh Moor seam from 1984 and the Newhill seam from development beginning in 1991.

Closure

Production ceased 26 November 1993; the colliery could not compete against the price of imported coal, and 740 men lost their jobs.

What remains

No specific present-day surface condition was established from the sources checked for this pass.

No specific surviving colliery structures were established from the sources checked for this pass.

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

• Frickley Colliery gassing, 1931
  28 December 1931 · Gas / Asphyxiation · 5 fatalities
  Five deputies were overcome by carbon monoxide and died while reopening Frickley Colliery after its Christmas shutdown on 28 December 1931, in what became remembered locally as the darkest single day in the colliery's history.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking began with the first sod cut on 23 April 1903; two seven-metre shafts reached the Barnsley Bed seam on 23 May 1905 at 606 metres. ^1,2
• A third shaft was sunk from 1920, reaching the Shafton seam in 1923. ^1,2
• Peak employment reached around 4,000 men and boys in the 1930s. ²
• During the 1984-85 miners' strike, Frickley adopted the motto 'second to none' and was among the last collieries in the country to return to work, its miners refusing to cross a picket line manned by miners from Kent even after the NUM had called off the strike. ²
• Production ceased on 26 November 1993; the colliery could not compete against the price of imported coal, and 740 men lost their jobs. ^1,2

Sources

1. (secondary) Frickley-South Elmsall Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Frickley Colliery — Wikipedia

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