Rufford Colliery

Overview

A Nottinghamshire colliery near Rainworth, sunk from 1911 and worked until 1993, where a runaway water barrel killed fourteen sinkers in 1913 in one of the county's worst mining disasters.

History

Rufford Colliery, near Rainworth, had its first shafts sunk from 1911; the Bolsover Colliery Company operated it from 1915 to nationalisation in 1947, after which the National Coal Board and, from 1987, the British Coal Corporation took over. On 8 February 1913, during shaft-sinking operations, a piece of wood fell between the levers controlling the winding engine's steam brake and throttle, preventing the engineman from stopping the engine in time as it overwound. A water barrel weighing around five tons detached and plunged some 156 yards down the shaft onto a scaffold where men were installing tubbing, extinguishing every light and giving those below no chance to escape. Fourteen men were killed outright and four others injured, one of whom died five days later of his injuries. In the House of Commons, Sir Arthur Markham raised the disaster's cause and urged that electric lighting and rope escape ladders be fitted in sinking shafts to give trapped men a chance in future emergencies; the Home Secretary acknowledged the value of the case being raised and promised full consideration once a formal inquiry had reported. The colliery worked on for another eight decades, finally closing in 1993; the site has since been landscaped by the Harworth Group and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, with tree planting from 2021 and a battery energy storage system installed from 2018, alongside the adjoining Rainworth Heath, one of the county's few surviving heathland areas.

Workings

Sunk from 1911; the fatal 1913 accident occurred during the sinking of the shaft itself, before the colliery reached full production.

Closure

Closed in 1993.

What remains

Nottinghamshire County Council began a land-reclamation and tree-planting project on the former colliery site in 2021, working with Harworth Group and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust; the adjoining Rainworth Heath, one of the county's last surviving heathlands, has been managed as a nature reserve. A grid-scale battery storage installation was later built on part of the site.

No colliery buildings survive above ground; the winding shafts were capped and the surface largely cleared and landscaped after closure in 1993.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Rufford Colliery Water Barrel Disaster (1913)
  8 February 1913 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 14 fatalities
  A jammed brake lever caused a runaway winding engine to drop a five-ton water barrel some 156 yards down the sinking shaft onto a scaffold of workers below.

Recorded claims

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

• Rufford Colliery's first shafts were sunk from 1911; the Bolsover Colliery Company operated it from 1915 until nationalisation in 1947, followed by the National Coal Board and, from 1987, the British Coal Corporation, until closure in 1993. ¹
• On 8 February 1913, a jammed brake lever caused the winding engine to overwind, dropping a five-ton water barrel some 156 yards onto a sinking scaffold; fourteen men were killed outright -- including Frederick Paddon, James Wigman, Frank and Andrew Dagnall, Herbert Woodward, John Knowles, William Hollings, Walter Storey, Henry Scott, Jesse Hart, John Tomlinson, Joseph Bettney, Thomas Gordon and Patrick Mulligan -- and a further injured man died five days later. ²
• Sir Arthur Markham raised the disaster in the House of Commons, urging electric lighting and rope escape ladders be fitted in sinking shafts; the Home Secretary promised full consideration once a formal inquiry had reported. ³
• A £8 million reorganisation added a new third shaft to the Low Main seam, and by the late 1960s some 1,800 men were producing around 1,000,000 tons a year from three seams including Top Hard. ⁴
• Nottinghamshire County Council, Harworth Group and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust began reclaiming and replanting the former colliery site from 2021. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (secondary) Rufford Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Rufford Colliery Shaft Accident - Mansfield - 1913 (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) RUFFORD COLLIERY DISASTER (Hansard, 14 February 1913) — Hansard, House of Commons
4. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Rufford Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026