Southgate Colliery

Overview

A 1,000-foot Top Hard colliery at Clowne in north-east Derbyshire, sunk by the Shireoaks Colliery Company in 1877; it brought the village its growth, employed over a thousand by 1910, survived a fire in 1920 and closed after flooding in 1929.

History

Southgate Colliery was sunk at Clowne, north-east Derbyshire, in 1877; one local history gives 1875. It was about 1,000 feet deep, and the sinking brought in workers from elsewhere, turning Clowne into a mining town of Victorian terraces. The pit belonged to the Shireoaks Colliery Company, later limited, and worked only the Top Hard seam, raising manufacturing and steam coal. Its coal left by the Midland Railway's Clowne branch, which served Barlborough Colliery first and later Southgate and Oxcroft.

Employment rose from 400 in 1894 to 755 in 1905 and 1,034 in 1910, and stood at 1,117 in 1923; local accounts remember a peak of 400 men raising 600 tons a day. Thirty-two deaths are recorded. Two men were killed by a fall of roof while repairing a roadway on 5 March 1897; on 22 November 1911 the winding engineman lost control while twelve men were being lowered, the cage struck the sump boards and was twice raised and dropped, and three were killed; and a fall of stone after shot-firing killed two stallmen on 13 October 1919.

The colliery survived a fire in 1920 but closed in 1929 after the pit flooded; the Top Hard plan was closed on 15 July 1929. A memorial with a mining tub lettered for the colliery, a pit wheel and an information board stands in Clowne.

Geology

Coal measures of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire coalfield, worked only in the Top Hard seam.

Workings

Shafts about 1,000 feet deep to the Top Hard, with an endless-rope haulage plane underground.

Closure

Closed in 1929 after the pit flooded; the Top Hard workings were abandoned on 15 July 1929.

What remains

A memorial to the colliery stands on Station Road, Clowne.

Related mines

• Harry Crofts Colliery — Shared owner: both were owned by the Shireoaks Colliery Company.
• Shireoaks Colliery — Shared owner: both were owned by the Shireoaks Colliery Company.
• Steetley Colliery — Shared owner: both were owned by the Shireoaks Colliery Company.
• Whitwell Colliery — Shared owner: both were owned by the Shireoaks Colliery Company.

What's uncertain

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

• A Clowne local history dates the start of the pit to 1875. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Southgate Colliery at Clowne was sunk in 1877, about 1,000 feet deep. ¹
• A Clowne local history dates the start of the pit to 1875. (disputed) ²
• Southgate Colliery employed 1,117 people in 1923. ³
• Three men were killed at Southgate on 22 November 1911 when the winding engineman lost control while twelve men were being lowered. ³
• Southgate Colliery survived a fire in 1920 but closed in 1929 after the pit flooded. ^1,4
• The Top Hard workings of Southgate were abandoned on 15 July 1929. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Clowne (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Clowne: the recent past (local history page, oocities archive) — oocities.org (GeoCities archive)
3. (primary) Southgate Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (observational) Clowne and Barlborough railway (28DaysLater report, 2018) — 28DaysLater
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21907255: Southgate, Top Hard, abandoned 15 July 1929 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026