Manvers Main Colliery

Overview

A Wath-upon-Dearne colliery sunk from 1867 that grew into Europe's largest coking and by-products site, with the deadly explosion of one of its own coal-cutting machines' damaged cables killing five men in the final winter of the Second World War.

History

Manvers Main Colliery was developed by the Manvers Main Company, which began sinking two shafts around 635 metres apart to the Barnsley seam in May 1867, reaching it at 260 metres depth in 1870. The company incorporated as the Manvers Main Colliery Co. Ltd in 1888, becoming Manvers Main Collieries Ltd in 1901. Two further shafts, Nos. 3 and 4, were sunk to the Parkgate seam between 1900 and 1904, and from 1906 a major coke and by-products plant was built alongside the colliery, growing at its peak into one of the largest industrial sites in Europe and eventually hosting the National Coal Board's regional headquarters and laboratories.

The colliery worked the Barnsley (exhausted at No. 1 shaft by May 1942), Haigh Moor (1942-1970), Meltonfield (1925-1930, 1935-1946), Silkstone (1944-1986), Swallow Wood (1971-1987) and Newhill (1987-1988) seams across its long working life. On 4 March 1945, an explosion in the Meltonfield seam killed five men when a damaged power cable, left connected and re-energised, ignited accumulated firedamp (see Disasters, below). Manvers Main was amalgamated with the neighbouring Kilnhurst and Wath collieries into the wider Manvers Complex on 1 January 1986, alongside its long-standing relationship with nearby Barnburgh Main Colliery, whose coal was carried to Manvers by surface railway under a nationalisation-era rationalisation plan. The coking works closed in 1981, and the colliery itself finally closed on 25 March 1988, with the surface plant demolished the following year.

Geology

Coal of the South Yorkshire field: the Barnsley seam from the first two shafts and the Parkgate from two more sunk between 1900 and 1904.

Workings

Two shafts sunk from May 1867, reaching the Barnsley seam at 260 metres in 1870; two further shafts (Nos. 3 and 4) sunk 1900-1904 to the Parkgate seam. Worked the Barnsley, Haigh Moor, Meltonfield, Silkstone, Swallow Wood and Newhill seams at different periods.

Closure

Amalgamated into the wider Manvers Complex with Kilnhurst and Wath collieries on 1 January 1986; closed 25 March 1988, surface plant demolished 1989.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Barnburgh Main Colliery — Barnburgh's coal was carried to Manvers by surface railway under a nationalisation-era rationalisation, and the two were formally amalgamated into the wider Manvers Complex in 1986.
• Kilnhurst Colliery — From 1950-56, Kilnhurst's coal was transported underground to be wound at the surface at Manvers Main instead, ending coal winding at Kilnhurst's own shafts even as underground working there continued for decades more.
• Warren Vale Colliery — Warren Vale's men were redeployed to Manvers Main when it closed in 1943.
• Wath Main Colliery — Amalgamated with its neighbour on 1 January 1986.

Disasters & major incidents

• Manvers Main Colliery sinking accident, 1869
  14 December 1869 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  Sinkers at Manvers Main Colliery, near Rotherham, went back down on 14 December 1869 to drill out a shot that had missed fire, against the rules and under their master sinker; it exploded and killed two.
• Manvers Main Colliery roof fall, 1892
  9 May 1892 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  A dataller and a sixteen-year-old driver were killed by a fall of stone at Manvers Main Colliery, Wath-upon-Dearne, near the end of the night shift on 9 May 1892.
• Manvers Main Colliery explosion, 1945
  4 March 1945 · Explosion · 5 fatalities
  A firedamp explosion in the Meltonfield seam at Manvers Main Colliery on 4 March 1945 killed five men after a damaged power cable, left connected and re-energised, ignited gas that had escaped past a ventilation failure.

Recorded claims

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

• The Manvers Main Company began sinking two shafts to the Barnsley seam in May 1867, reaching it at 260 metres depth in 1870. ^1,2
• From 1906 a major coke and by-products plant was built alongside the colliery, growing at its peak into one of the largest industrial sites in Europe and later hosting the NCB's regional headquarters and laboratories. ²
• Manvers Main was amalgamated with the neighbouring Kilnhurst and Wath collieries into the wider Manvers Complex on 1 January 1986; the coking works closed in 1981 and the colliery itself closed on 25 March 1988. ²
• Coal from Barnburgh Main Colliery, developed as Manvers Main's Nos. 5 and 6 shafts, was carried to Manvers by surface railway under a nationalisation-era rationalisation plan. ²
• Located at about 53.505 N, 1.325 W. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Manvers Main Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Manvers Main Colliery — Wikipedia

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026