Hazlehead Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Hazlehead near Crow Edge, west of Penistone, sunk from 1884, owned by Tinker Brothers Ltd in the 1900s, and closed in February 1948 soon after nationalisation.

History

Hazlehead Colliery worked coal at Hazlehead near Crow Edge, in the parish of Dunford west of Penistone, close to the mineral line that ran from Hazlehead Bridge station on the Woodhead line to the Hepworth Iron Company's works. It was being sunk from 1884 to 1887, and is not listed again until 1894. It worked the Halifax Hard and Halifax Soft seams.

Tinker Brothers Limited owned it in the 1900s. On 11 April 1904 the collier Harry Oldroyd, 27, was killed by a fall of roof where a slip met a smooth parting, having been allowed back to fill loose coal in a place he had been moved from; on 21 April 1911 Harry Charlesworth, 29, died under another fall that exposed a slip. Aerial photographs of 1926 and 1938 show the colliery beside Sledbrook Colliery and the Hepworth works.

The colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and closed in February 1948. A section of its Halifax Soft workings was abandoned in 1946, and the rest on 21 February 1948.

Geology

Lower coal measures west of Penistone: the Halifax Hard and Halifax Soft seams.

Workings

Sunk from 1884 to 1887; shaft and drainage plans survive among the abandonment plans.

Closure

Closed in February 1948 under the National Coal Board; the Halifax Soft workings were abandoned in 1946 (part) and on 21 February 1948.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Hazlehead Colliery was sunk from 1884 to 1887 and is not listed from 1888 to 1893. ¹
• Tinker Brothers Ltd owned Hazlehead Colliery in 1904 and 1911. ^2,3
• Falls of roof killed the colliers Harry Oldroyd in April 1904 and Harry Charlesworth in April 1911. ^2,3
• Aerial photographs of 1926 and 1938 show Hazlehead Colliery beside Sledbrook Colliery and the Hepworth Iron Company's works at Crow Edge. ⁴
• It closed in February 1948 as a National Coal Board colliery. ^5,1
• Its Halifax Soft workings were abandoned in 1946 and on 21 February 1948. ^6,7
• It worked the Halifax Hard and Halifax Soft seams. ⁸
• A mineral line carried goods from Hazlehead Bridge station to the Hepworth Iron Company's works at Crow Edge from 1857 to 1960. ⁹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Coal Mines in Yorkshire 1854 onwards (H) - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) NMRS deaths database: Harry Oldroyd, Hazlehead, 1904 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) NMRS deaths database: Harry Charlesworth, Hazlehead, 1911 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Britain from Above EPW016226: Hazlehead Colliery, Sledbrook Colliery and the Hepworth Iron Co Works, Crow Edge, 1926 — Historic England
5. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: HAZLEHEAD, Halifax Soft, abandoned 21 February 1948 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
7. (primary) BGS mine plan: HAZLEHEAD, Halifax Soft, abandoned 1946 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
8. (primary) BGS mine plan: HAZLEHEAD COLLERY, Halifax Hard and Soft — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
9. (secondary) Crow Edge (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia

Record created: 24 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026