South Leicester Colliery

Overview

A Leicestershire colliery near Hugglescote, sunk in the mid-1870s by the South Leicestershire Colliery Company, which also held the Snibston pits. Its two shafts stood sixty yards apart and reached the Upper Main seam in November 1876 and the Lower Main in January 1877. In 1957 the National Coal Board drove a connection to Ellistown Colliery in the Nether Lount seam and the two were worked as one, South Leicester's shafts kept for access and ventilation only. It merged with Bagworth in 1983.

History

Sinking began in January 1876, the shafts placed near Hugglescote station on the line from Shackerstone Junction through Coalville East to Loughborough, with a branch running into the colliery just north of the station. Both shafts were fourteen feet in diameter and sixty yards apart. The Upper Main seam was reached in November 1876 and the Lower Main in January 1877. The owners were the South Leicestershire Colliery Company Ltd, who at that time also owned the Snibston collieries; the company built terraced housing for its workers on South Street, the lane leading to the pit, as Joseph Joel Ellis had done a little earlier for Ellistown next door. The colliery was considerably modernised through the twentieth century. In 1957, under the National Coal Board, a connection was made in the Nether Lount seam to Ellistown Colliery and from then the two were worked as a single entity. South Leicester's own shafts were retained for access and ventilation only, which made the large steam plant redundant: smaller electric winders replaced the steam winding engines. In 1983 the colliery merged with Bagworth, which itself closed in February 1991 as the last deep coal mine in Leicestershire.

Geology

The Leicestershire coalfield, worked here in the concealed ground east of the exposed measures. The colliery took the Upper Main and Lower Main seams from its own shafts and later the Nether Lount, which is the seam the 1957 connection to Ellistown was driven in — the seams being continuous enough between the two setts for one tunnel to make them a single mine.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts, each fourteen feet in diameter and sixty yards apart, wound at first by steam. The colliery's shape changed completely in 1957: once the Nether Lount connection to Ellistown was made, coal went out through Ellistown and South Leicester's shafts served only for men, materials and ventilation. The steam winding engines were replaced by smaller electric winders, the large steam plant having no further work to do.

Closure

South Leicester did not close so much as lose its separate identity twice over: as a producing pit in 1957 when its coal began going out through Ellistown, and formally in 1983 when it merged with Bagworth.

What remains

The colliery site has been cleared. The terraces the company built on South Street for its workers, and the pattern of settlement they created between Hugglescote and Ellistown, are what survives of it above ground.

Related mines

• Bagworth Colliery — South Leicester merged with Bagworth in 1983; Bagworth went on to be the last deep coal mine in Leicestershire, closing in February 1991.
• Ellistown Colliery — A tunnel driven in the Nether Lount seam in 1957 joined the two collieries underground and they were worked as a single entity from then, South Leicester's shafts serving only for access and ventilation.

Nearby mines

• Snibston Colliery — 1.0 km W
• Ellistown Colliery — 1.5 km S
• Whitwick Colliery — 1.6 km N
• Cliffe Hill Quarry — 3.7 km E
• Bagworth Colliery — 4.6 km S

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.

• Sinking began in January 1876, with two shafts fourteen feet in diameter standing sixty yards apart near Hugglescote station; the Upper Main seam was reached in November 1876 and the Lower Main in January 1877. ¹
• The Northern Mine Research Society dates the start of sinking to January 1876; an account of Ellistown village instead says the South Leicestershire Coal Company opened its colliery in 1874, north-east of the crossroads. (disputed) ^2,1
• In 1957 a connection was made in the Nether Lount seam to Ellistown Colliery and the two were worked as one entity, South Leicester's shafts being retained for access and ventilation only; the steam winding engines were replaced by smaller electric winders. ¹
• South Leicester merged with Bagworth in 1983. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Coal mining — Leicestershire Museum Collections — Leicestershire County Council Museums
2. (secondary) Ellistown — Wikipedia

Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026