Measham Colliery

Overview

Coal was worked around Measham from the 1500s, and by the 1720s the area was so riddled with shafts and shallow workings — of which no records were kept — that later companies had to feel their way through them. The Moira company sank Abney’s shafts in 1856–57 to about 100 yards and gave up in 1862; Measham Collieries Ltd tried again in 1894 and abandoned the Main Coal in 1905. What survived was a modest but highly productive pit that ended, in the 1960s, taking six feet six inches out of a seven-foot-eight Stockings seam on a fully mechanised retreat face. It merged with Donisthorpe in 1985 and worked its last shift on 26 June 1986.

History

Coal was being worked around Measham in the 1500s, and it seems likely that at least one Newcomen atmospheric pumping engine was at work here in the 1720s. The whole area became riddled with shafts and their associated shallow workings, of which no records were kept. In 1856–57 the Moira company began exploring in the hope of establishing a colliery on modern lines. It found the ground already well worked and the Main Coal varying widely in thickness. Two shafts known as Abney’s looked the best proposition and were sunk to about 100 yards, cutting the Main Coal — twelve feet thick — at 25 yards, the Woodfield at 74, the Stockings at 85 and the Eureka at 95. Limited working in the Main Coal went on until 1862, but the colliery proved difficult and was suspended, the site being used as a pumping station instead. Measham Collieries Ltd was established in 1894 to work the Main Coal and the seams below it. Now called Measham Main Colliery, it was linked by tramway to a wharf on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal, and in 1903 despatched 38,000 tons by rail and canal. Difficult conditions hampered it again: the Woodfield was given up in 1902 and the Main Coal in 1905. Under the National Coal Board the pit was renamed simply Measham by 1950 and rebuilt around electricity: a 400-horsepower three-phase electric winder about 1950, and in the same decade a one-in-four drift 370 yards long to bring the trunk conveyor to the surface in place of winding coal up the shaft. In 1964 a retreat face was opened in the Stockings seam a mile from the shaft, 90 yards deep, fully mechanised with a 200-horsepower Anderson Boyes ranging drum shearer on a panzer conveyor. About 600 men were then producing 600,000 tons a year, at an output per manshift of 85 hundredweight. Measham merged with Donisthorpe in March 1985. The last shift was worked on Thursday 26 June 1986, with official closure the following day.

Geology

The Leicestershire and South Derbyshire coalfield around Measham, where the measures lie in a basin and the angle of dip is variable. Abney’s shafts proved the Main Coal twelve feet thick at 25 yards, the Woodfield five feet at 74, the Stockings eight feet at 85 and the Eureka four feet at 95 — thick coal at shallow depth, which is why the ground was worked so early and so chaotically. The modern colliery’s take was bounded to the north by Donisthorpe’s workings, to the east by the Boothorpe Fault, and to the south and west by the outcrop. In the Stockings seam the roof was weak, so fourteen inches of coal were left up to form one.

Workings

Longwall face working was used in the Measham pits from the 1700s and continued to the end. The shaft was replaced for coal winding in the 1950s by a one-in-four drift, 370 yards long, carrying the trunk conveyor which ran along the bottom of the basin. The winding engine installed about 1950 was a 400-horsepower AC three-phase machine, electrical parts by English Electric and mechanical parts by Fullerton, Hodgart & Barclay of Paisley, using dynamic braking with calliper mechanical brakes for decking and parking. The 1964 retreat face in the Stockings seam was 224 yards long and fully mechanised: a 200-horsepower Anderson Boyes ranging drum shearer mounted on a panzer scraper-chain conveyor driven by a 50-horsepower motor at each end, with a stable hole at each end for manoeuvring the shearer, cut at the supply-gate end by a 70-horsepower A.B.15 chain coal cutter with a five-foot jib and hand-loaded. Face supports were Wild-Desford hydraulic goal post chocks; the stables were held by Dowty props and link bars. The seam was seven feet eight inches thick there, of which six feet six was taken, and the soft floor could let the supports sink in when wet.

Closure

Measham merged with Donisthorpe in March 1985, and the last shift was worked on Thursday 26 June 1986, with official closure the following day. Longwall working had gone on in the Measham pits, in one form or another, since the 1700s.

What remains

No specific present-day description of the colliery site has been established from the sources read.

No surviving surface structure has been identified from the sources read.

Related mines

• Desford Colliery — The face supports on Measham’s fully mechanised Stockings retreat face of 1964 were Wild-Desford hydraulic goal post chocks — the design invented at Desford Colliery by its undermanager in the 1950s and still carrying its name a decade later.

Nearby mines

• Donisthorpe Colliery — 2.2 km NW
• Moira Collieries — 3.1 km NW
• Cadley Hill Colliery — 7.5 km NW, Derbyshire
• Granville Colliery — 8.1 km NW, Derbyshire
• Califat Coal Mine — 8.9 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Coal was being worked around Measham in the 1500s, and it seems likely that at least one Newcomen atmospheric pumping engine was at work in the 1720s. The whole area became riddled with shafts and their associated shallow workings, of which no records were kept. ¹
• In 1856-57 the Moira company explored in the hope of establishing a colliery on modern lines, found the area already well worked and the Main Coal varying widely in thickness, and sank two shafts known as Abney’s to about 100 yards. They cut the Main Coal, twelve feet thick, at 25 yards; the Woodfield, five feet, at 74; the Stockings, eight feet, at 85; and the Eureka, four feet, at 95. ¹
• Limited working in the Main Coal proceeded until 1862, when the colliery proved difficult to work, operations were suspended and the site was used as a pumping station instead. After Measham Collieries Ltd was established in 1894, working in the Woodfield ceased in 1902 and the Main Coal was abandoned in 1905. ¹
• Renamed Measham Main Colliery, the pit was linked by a tramway to a wharf on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal; in 1903 a total of 38,000 tons of coal were despatched by rail and canal. ¹
• In the 1950s the shaft was replaced for coal winding by a one-in-four drift, 370 yards long, through which the trunk conveyor serving the underground workings was brought to the surface. ¹
• A retreat face opened in 1964 in the Stockings seam, about a mile from the shaft and 90 yards deep, was fully mechanised and 224 yards long, worked by a 200-horsepower Anderson Boyes ranging drum shearer on a panzer scraper chain conveyor. The seam was 7ft 8in thick there with a weak roof, so fourteen inches of coal were left up to form a roof and 6ft 6in extracted. ¹
• About 600 men were employed at this time, producing 600,000 tons of coal a year, with an overall output per manshift of 85 hundredweight. ¹
• The area available for coal extraction was limited to the north by the workings of Donisthorpe Colliery, to the east by the Boothorpe Fault, and to the south and west by the outcrop of the seams. ¹
• Measham merged with Donisthorpe in March 1985, and the last shift was worked on Thursday 26 June 1986, with official closure the following day. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Measham Colliery — Coal Mining in Leicestershire (reproducing Northern Mine Research Society)
2. (primary) BGS mine plans catalogue: Measham Colliery — British Geological Survey

Record created: 7 September 2026 · Last researched: 7 September 2026