Ladysmith Pit

Overview

A Whitehaven Colliery Company pit at Kells, named for the Boer War siege, sunk about 1900 and worked from 1908 to 1930, whose coke ovens fed the Workington and Barrow steelworks until 1932 and whose site later housed a detergent-chemicals works.

History

Ladysmith Pit at Kells, Whitehaven, was one of the pits of the Whitehaven Colliery Company, named after the battle of Ladysmith in the Cumbrian custom of naming pits after the events and figures of the day. A newspaper history of the Whitehaven pits dates the sinking to 1900, and a list of pits with approximate dates gives 1898. The Buddlepit database, drawing on the Northern Mine Research Society, records the pit as worked from 1908 to 1930 by the Whitehaven Colliery Company.

The colliery had a coke works. Its coke and by-products in tank wagons went by the Corkickle Brake to the steelworks at Workington and Barrow. The works closed in 1932, and the brake stood idle for over twenty years. In 1943 Marchon Products moved to the site of the former Ladysmith coke ovens at Kells; by 1955 it had 1,500 employees.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

A coke works stood at the colliery, its output leaving by the Corkickle Brake incline to the Furness Railway.

Closure

The pit was worked to 1930 and its coke works closed in 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

In 1943 Marchon Products moved to the site of the former Ladysmith coke ovens at Kells and grew into a major maker of detergent chemicals, with 1,500 employees by 1955.

What's uncertain

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

• A newspaper history of the Whitehaven pits dates the sinking of Ladysmith Pit to 1900. (disputed) ¹
• A list of Whitehaven pits with approximate dates gives 1898 for Ladysmith Pit. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• A newspaper history of the Whitehaven pits dates the sinking of Ladysmith Pit to 1900. (disputed) ¹
• A list of Whitehaven pits with approximate dates gives 1898 for Ladysmith Pit. (disputed) ²
• Ladysmith Pit was worked from 1908 to 1930 by the Whitehaven Colliery Company. ³
• Ladysmith Pit was named after the battle of Ladysmith, in the Cumbrian custom of naming pits after the events and figures of the day. ⁴
• The coke works at Ladysmith Colliery sent coke and by-products to the steelworks at Workington and Barrow, and closed in 1932. ²
• Marchon Products moved in 1943 to the site of the former Ladysmith coke ovens at Kells. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) History of Whitehaven Pits (newspaper transcript), Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Sal Madge & Whitehaven Coal Mining History - Lakestay — Lakestay (West Cumbria Mines Research Group material)
3. (secondary) Whitehaven, Ladysmith Pit - Buddlepit Mine Database — Buddlepit Mine Database
4. (secondary) Haig Colliery — Wikipedia

Record created: 29 September 2026 · Last researched: 29 September 2026