Parkhouse Colliery

Overview

The Clay Cross Company's No. 7 pit at Danesmoor, sunk in 1867 and worked for ninety-five years until 1962. Reckoned one of the safest pits in the district and worked with candles, it was wrecked on 7 November 1882 by an explosion that killed forty-five men and boys.

History

The Clay Cross Company sank Parkhouse as its Number Seven colliery in 1867; the NMRS account has it opening for coal in May 1874. It first employed 320 men and boys, 200 of them at the face. It worked the Blackshale seam, 4 ft 6 in thick, by longwall with stalls, lit by candles, since gas was rare in the district and safety lamps were issued only where it was met, and it was ventilated by a furnace at the shaft foot. In November 1882 an explosion killed forty-five (see Disasters, below). By 1896 the colliery employed 421 underground and 96 on the surface, working the Tupton seam, and after nationalisation in 1947 it came under the National Coal Board's No. 1 Area, employing 591 underground and 144 at the surface in 1948. It closed on 12 October 1962 with 420 men.

Geology

Derbyshire Coal Measures: the Blackshale seam (4 ft 6 in with two dirt bands) and later the Tupton.

Workings

A shaft colliery worked longwall with stalls, ventilated by a furnace at the shaft foot; later reached from the neighbouring Flaxpiece mine.

Closure

Closed on 12 October 1962 after ninety-five years, employing 420.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Clay Cross Colliery — Both Clay Cross Company collieries; Parkhouse was the company's No. 7.

Disasters & major incidents

• Parkhouse Colliery explosion, 1882
  1882 · Explosion · 45 fatalities
  At 10 a.m. on 7 November 1882 an explosion of firedamp in the Clay Cross Company's Parkhouse (No. 7) Pit at Danesmoor, Derbyshire, killed 45 men and boys. The pit was worked by candlelight and had a name as one of the safest in the district; the blast blew off the headstocks and put out the ventilating furnace.

What's uncertain

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

• NMRS says the pit opened in May 1874 and that 1882 was its first explosion. (disputed) ³

Recorded claims

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

• Sunk in 1867 by the Clay Cross Company as their Number Seven colliery, closing on 12 October 1962 after ninety-five years; it originally employed 320 men and boys. ^1,2
• NMRS says the pit opened in May 1874 and that 1882 was its first explosion. (disputed) ³
• The Blackshale seam was worked longwall with stalls by candlelight; safety lamps were issued only where gas was met, and the pit had a reputation as one of the safest in the district. ^2,3
• In 1896 it employed 421 underground and 96 surface workers; in 1948 591 underground and 144 on the surface, working the Tupton; 420 at closure. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Clay Cross Company's Parkhouse Number Seven Colliery — Clay Cross Genealogy and Local History
2. (secondary) Parkhouse Number Seven — Old Miner
3. (secondary) Clay Cross Colliery Parkhouse No.7 Explosions - Clay Cross - 1882 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 21 September 2026 · Last researched: 21 September 2026