Hickleton Main Colliery

Overview

A Doncaster-coalfield colliery at Thurnscoe, sunk to the Barnsley seam in the 1890s and among the largest in the district — 2,560 people underground and 500 at surface in 1933. George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to thank the men for their war effort in 1944, and its union lodge was the four-hundredth recipient of the Order of Industrial Heroism. A memorial in Thurnscoe cemetery names the 161 miners who died at the pit.

History

The Hickleton Main Coal Company began sinking two shafts to the Barnsley seam in December 1892, and they were completed at 492 metres in June 1894. No. 1 shaft had a steel headgear; No. 2's was made of timber. The colliery grew to be one of the largest in the Dearne valley: in 1933 it employed 2,560 people underground and 500 on the surface. On 9 February 1944 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited and thanked the miners for their war effort. The colliery's union lodge was the four-hundredth recipient of the Order of Industrial Heroism, the award instituted for acts of courage by working people. From 1 January 1986 Goldthorpe and Hickleton collieries were merged into a single unit, and production finally ceased on 4 February 1994.

Geology

The colliery was sunk to the Barnsley seam, reached at 492 metres in June 1894 — the thick and productive seam that the whole Doncaster coalfield was opened up to work, and the same one pursued at Bullcroft, Brodsworth and Thorne.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts sunk from December 1892 and completed to the Barnsley seam at 492 metres in June 1894, No. 1 with a steel headgear and No. 2 with a timber one. A third shaft is recorded photographically as surviving into 1991. From 1986 the workings were run as one unit with Goldthorpe Colliery.

Closure

Goldthorpe and Hickleton collieries were merged into a single unit from 1 January 1986, and production ceased on 4 February 1994. Some accounts give the colliery's span as 1892 to 1988, which appears to reflect the end of winding at Hickleton itself rather than the end of production from the combined unit.

What remains

The site of the colliery now forms Phoenix Park in Thurnscoe. A black granite memorial was erected in Thurnscoe cemetery in 2006 bearing the names of the 161 miners who died at the pit over the years. The colliery's National Union of Mineworkers banner survives and has been photographed.

None of the colliery; the ground is now Phoenix Park, and the 2006 memorial stands in Thurnscoe cemetery.

Redevelopment

The colliery site was reclaimed as Phoenix Park, Thurnscoe.

Recorded claims

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

• The Hickleton Main Coal Company began sinking two shafts to the Barnsley seam in December 1892; they were completed at a depth of 492 metres in June 1894, No. 1 with a steel headgear and No. 2 with a timber one. ¹
• In 1933 the colliery employed 2,560 people underground and 500 on the surface. ¹
• King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the colliery on 9 February 1944 and thanked the miners for their war effort. ¹
• The colliery's union lodge was the four-hundredth recipient of the Order of Industrial Heroism. ¹
• Accounts differ: the colliery is described as working from 1892 to 1988, while Goldthorpe and Hickleton were merged into one unit from 1 January 1986 and production ceased on 4 February 1994. (disputed) ¹
• A black granite memorial bearing the names of the 161 miners who died at the pit over the years was erected in Thurnscoe cemetery in 2006. ¹
• The site of the colliery now forms Phoenix Park in Thurnscoe. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Hickleton Main Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Phoenix Park, Thurnscoe — Wikipedia

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026