Kiveton Park Colliery

Overview

A South Yorkshire colliery sunk from 1866 that turned a farming village of 300 people into a mining community of 1,400 within a decade. It reached the Barnsley seam at just over 400 yards in December 1867 and worked for 128 years, closing in 1994 with the loss of a thousand jobs. Every colliery building has since gone except the 1870s office block with its gothic clock tower.

History

Kiveton was a rural village until 1845, when a railway was built through the district linking Sheffield with Worksop, Retford and Grimsby. In 1864 Carrington and Company leased the rights to mine coal around Kiveton, sinking began on 6 June 1866, and the Barnsley seam was reached on 5 December 1867 at just over 400 yards. The effect on the village was immediate: the population rose from 300 to 1,400 in ten years. The colliery worked for the better part of a century and a quarter, passing to the National Coal Board at nationalisation, and closed in 1994 with the loss of a thousand jobs.

Geology

The colliery was sunk to the Barnsley seam, reached at just over 400 yards in December 1867 — the thick and productive bed that drew sinkings right across the South Yorkshire and Doncaster coalfields, and the same seam worked at Hickleton Main, Bullcroft, Brodsworth and Thorne.

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

Workings

Shafts sunk from June 1866 to the Barnsley seam at just over 400 yards, reached in December 1867. Pit-head baths were built in 1938. The colliery stood beside the Sheffield–Worksop railway that had opened the district in 1845.

Closure

The pit closed in 1994 with the loss of a thousand jobs.

What remains

All the colliery buildings have been demolished, including the pit-head baths of 1938 which had been protected, with one exception: the office building of the 1870s, with its gothic clock tower, still stands and is listed. A heritage trail now runs through the area.

The 1870s colliery office building with its gothic clock tower, which is listed; everything else, the protected 1938 pit-head baths included, has been demolished.

Recorded claims

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

• Carrington and Company leased the rights to mine coal around Kiveton in 1864; sinking began on 6 June 1866 and the Barnsley seam was reached on 5 December 1867, just over 400 yards below the surface. ¹
• The population of Kiveton rose from 300 to 1,400 over ten years as a result of the new colliery; until 1845 it had been a rural village living mainly by agriculture. ¹
• The pit closed in 1994, with the loss of a thousand jobs. ¹
• All the colliery buildings have been demolished, including the protected pit-head baths of 1938, except the 1870s office building with its gothic clock tower. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Kiveton Park Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Kiveton Park Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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