Portland Collieries, Kirkby

Overview

The Butterley Company's group of four collieries and seven shafts in Kirkby parish, sunk from 1818 on land leased from the Duke of Portland and worked until 1921: the forerunner of the deep mines of the Nottinghamshire coalfield.

History

The Portland Collieries were the Butterley Company's pits in Kirkby parish, on land it leased from the Duke of Portland, between Pinxton, Selston, Annesley Woodhouse, Kirkby Woodhouse and Old Kirkby. They grew into four collieries with seven shafts, the forerunner of the modern deep mines of the Nottinghamshire coalfield. Portland No. 1, called 'Old Isaiah' after its manager Isaiah Rigley, was sunk about 1818 half a mile from Park Lane, with two shafts, Nos. 1 and 3; No. 3 had a Cornish beam pumping engine in a house dated 1821 and went down 273 yards to the Top Hard seam. Portland No. 2, the single-shaft 'Jerry Pit', named after its manager Jeremiah, lay east of it across the lane. Both were producing by 1821, and by 1824 the pits raised 50,000 tons a year.

The Pinxton to Mansfield railway, opened in 1819, ran close to the first two pits and won Portland the contract to supply Mansfield's new gas works; in 1827 Butterley built Bleakhall Wharf Yard to haul coal from the Jerry Pit to the top of an incline at what is now Kirkby Woodhouse. In the 1840s the company sank Portland No. 4, two shafts to the Top Hard at 331 yards near Bleakhall, where a beam engine wound one tub above a water barrel that drew the mine's water, and Portland No. 6, two shafts about a mile to the west. Rope-hauled tramways joined the pits to each other and to the canal and ironworks at Codnor Park, and Nos. 1, 2 and 4 were connected underground by January 1880. In 1844 the pits employed 29 boys under thirteen, the youngest seven.

Nos. 1, 2 and 6 closed in 1916, and Nos. 2 and 4 were abandoned in 1921. The company's offices, Portland Fields, near Old Isaiah, became National Coal Board sub-area offices after 1947.

Geology

Nottinghamshire coal measures: the Top Hard seam, reached at 273 yards at No. 1 and 331 yards at No. 4; the High Hazel at No. 1.

Workings

Four collieries with seven shafts: No. 1 (shafts 1 and 3, about 1818), No. 2 (one shaft, about 1818), No. 4 (shafts 4 and 5, 1840s) and No. 6 (shafts 6 and 7, 1840s); a Cornish beam pumping engine at No. 3 shaft; rope-hauled tramways and inclines.

Closure

Nos. 1, 2 and 6 closed in 1916; the Portland Top Hard workings were abandoned on 28 February 1921, and No. 1's High Hazel in February 1910.

What remains

No. 1's shafts were filled in 1954 and its surface buildings demolished in 1966; the No. 4 shafts were destroyed by opencast mining in 1991-92.

Related mines

• Brookhill Colliery — Brookhill was one of the collieries that worked the Portland area after the Portland pits closed.
• Kirkby Colliery — Both were Butterley Company collieries in Kirkby parish; the Pinxton to Mansfield railway that served the Portland pits gave the Summit district its name.
• Langton Colliery — Langton was one of the collieries that worked the Portland area after the Portland pits closed.

Recorded claims

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

• The Butterley Company sank the Portland Collieries in Kirkby parish on land leased from the Duke of Portland, beginning with No. 1 about 1818. ¹
• Portland No. 1's No. 3 shaft was 273 yards deep to the Top Hard seam, with a Cornish beam pumping engine whose house was dated 1821. ¹
• By 1824 the Portland pits were producing 50,000 tons of coal a year. ¹
• Portland No. 4, sunk in the 1840s, reached the Top Hard at 331 yards. ¹
• The Portland Top Hard workings were abandoned on 28 February 1921, and No. 1's High Hazel in February 1910. ^2,3

Sources

1. (secondary) Portland Collieries (Nottinghamshire Mining Museum) — Nottinghamshire Mining Museum
2. (primary) BGS mine plan: PORTLAND NO. 1, High Hazel, abandoned February 1910 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: PORTLAND, Top Hard, abandoned 28 February 1921 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026