Norfolk Colliery

Overview

A Newton, Chambers and Co. colliery near Thorpe Hesley, ventilated from 1887 through the Barley Hall shaft and worked with Smithy Wood. It employed over a thousand in 1933.

History

Norfolk Colliery was one of the Newton, Chambers and Company collieries between Chapeltown and Thorpe Hesley, north of Sheffield. To ventilate it the company sank the Barley Hall shaft between June 1886 and January 1887, to the Silkstone at 165 yards. A Walker fan drew fresh air through Norfolk's workings, and Barley Hall became the upcast for Norfolk and for the Smithy Wood drift opened in 1890.

Norfolk employed 430 in 1894, 550 in 1900 and 624 in 1910, raising coking, gas and household coal. It worked the Top Silkstone in 1905, and the Silkstone, Thin, Thorncliffe and Parkgate by 1915. Returned with Smithy Wood, it employed 678 in 1923 and 1,010 in 1933. The Barley Hall shaft was later used to pump water from the old Norfolk Colliery workings.

Geology

Yorkshire Coal Measures: the Silkstone (Top), Thin, Thorncliffe and Parkgate seams.

Workings

Ventilated from 1887 by a Walker fan on the Barley Hall shaft, which acted as its upcast; returned with the Smithy Wood drift in 1923 and 1933.

Closure

Its old workings were later pumped through the Barley Hall shaft. The closure date and reason are unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Barley Hall Colliery — Barley Hall's shaft was sunk as Norfolk's ventilation shaft in 1886-87.
• Smithy Wood Colliery — Returned together in 1923 and 1933; both ventilated through Barley Hall.

Recorded claims

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

• The Barley Hall shaft, sunk in 1886-87, carried a Walker fan drawing air through Norfolk Colliery's workings. ¹
• Employed 624 in 1910 and, with Smithy Wood, 1,010 in 1933. ²
• Worked the Parkgate, Silkstone, Thorncliffe and Thin seams in 1915. ²
• Barley Hall's shaft was later used to pump water from the old Norfolk workings. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Barley Hall Colliery - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Norfolk Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026