Hartshay Colliery

Overview

An old Butterley Company colliery on the north-west side of Ripley, at work by 1835, linked by tramroad to the Cromford Canal and to Butterley Ironworks, and recorded as closing in 1931.

History

Hartshay Colliery lay on the north-west side of Ripley, west of Heage Road. It is an old mining site, probably worked in the eighteenth century, and it was already established by 1835, when it appears on Sanderson's map of the country twenty miles round Mansfield. Before the Butterley Railway was built it was linked by a tramroad to the Cromford Canal at Hartshay, and its coal contributed to the canal's trade. It was owned by C. V. Hunter of Kilburn Hall and by the Mold brothers of Morley Park Ironworks before passing to the Butterley Company, whose tramway linked it with Butterley Ironworks.

The colliery is recorded as closing in 1931. A plan of Hartshay workings in the Deep Hard seam is dated 1921. A photograph caption of 1962 instead says the colliery ceased production in 1936 and was used to train Bevin Boys from 1939 to 1948, and a plan of the Hartshay Training Centre's workings in the Fourth Waterloo seam is dated 1950. That caption calls it the Hartshay Colliery at Upper Hartshay, the name of the Butterley Company's larger pit about half a kilometre to the south, so its later dates may belong to either.

In 1972 two plain brick buildings of the colliery still stood, the southern one with a date stone 'J M 1863', beside the remains of the sidings and the main spoil heaps.

Geology

A plan of Hartshay workings in the Deep Hard seam of the Derbyshire coalfield is dated 1921.

Workings

Unknown.

Closure

Recorded as closing in 1931; another account gives 1936, followed by use for training Bevin Boys from 1939 to 1948.

What remains

The colliery railway track has been lifted and the area is scrub woodland; the extensive spoil heaps were left largely unlevelled, and the buildings at the southern end of the site are used by businesses as the Hartshay Trading Estate.

Spoil heaps; a small stable dated 1863 with cast-iron window frames has been recorded at the end of the site, though comparison of maps suggests the two 1863 buildings described in 1972 have since gone.

Redevelopment

The southern end of the site is the Hartshay Trading Estate.

Related mines

• Upper Hartshay Colliery — Butterley Company pits about 500 m apart at Hartshay; a 1962 caption calls Hartshay Colliery 'at Upper Hartshay', so the two may be confused.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Hartshay Colliery (Butterley Co.) closed in 1931. (disputed) ¹
• Hartshay Colliery ceased production in 1936 and was used to train Bevin Boys from 1939 to 1948. (disputed) ²
• A plan of Hartshay workings in the Deep Hard seam is dated 1921. (uncertain) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• Hartshay Colliery was already established by 1835, when it was shown on Sanderson's map. ¹
• Hartshay Colliery was linked to the Cromford Canal at Hartshay by tramroad before the Butterley Railway was built. ^1,2
• Hartshay Colliery was owned by C. V. Hunter of Kilburn Hall and the Mold brothers of Morley Park Ironworks before passing to the Butterley Company. ¹
• Hartshay Colliery (Butterley Co.) closed in 1931. (disputed) ¹
• Hartshay Colliery ceased production in 1936 and was used to train Bevin Boys from 1939 to 1948. (disputed) ²
• A plan of the Hartshay Training Centre's Fourth Waterloo workings is dated 20 September 1950. ³
• A plan of Hartshay workings in the Deep Hard seam is dated 1921. (uncertain) ⁴

Sources

1. (secondary) MDR9649 - Hartshay Colliery (site of), Ripley — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Hartshay Pit, March 1962 (Picture the Past DCHQ006732) — Picture the Past
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21883914: Hartshay Training Centre, Fourth Waterloo, abandoned 20 September 1950 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21884836: Hartshay, Deep Hard, abandoned 1921 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 18 October 2026 · Last researched: 20 October 2026