Speedwell Colliery, Giltbrook

Overview

A short-lived Digby Coal Company pit between Giltbrook and Kimberley, open for about ten years from 1875, returned in the official list of 1880 as 'Speedwell, Eastwood'. It was one of six collieries the Great Northern's Bennerley and Bulwell line was built to serve when it opened in 1879.

History

Speedwell was one of the Digby company's pits in the Erewash valley coalfield north of Kimberley, worked alongside its Digby and New London collieries: the official list of collieries at work in 1880 returns all three under Eastwood with the Digby Coal Co. as owner. Mindat's locality record gives the Digby Coal Co. as owner from 1875 to 1885 and those same years for the colliery's opening and closure. It stood beside the Bennerley and Bulwell Railway, on which track laying began at Bennerley on 5 November 1878 and which opened throughout to goods and mineral traffic on 12 August 1879; the line was sited next to, or connected with, six collieries, Speedwell among them with Awsworth, Digby, New London, Watnall and Bulwell, and coal was always the mainstay of its freight. North of the Giltbrook chemical works and the Great Northern's Giltbrook Viaduct, the line ran north-east past Speedwell Colliery before crossing Eastwood Road into Kimberley.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

The colliery was served by the Bennerley and Bulwell Railway, which passed it on the north-east side of Giltbrook, between the Giltbrook Viaduct and the Eastwood Road bridge into Kimberley.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Digby Colliery — Worked by the same firm, returned as the Digby Coal Co. for both pits in the 1880 List of Mines, and both served by the Bennerley and Bulwell Railway.
• New London Colliery — Worked by the same firm, the Digby Coal Co., under which the 1880 List of Mines returns both.

Nearby mines

• Digby Colliery — 0.7 km NW
• Awsworth Colliery — 1.2 km SW
• New London Colliery — 1.5 km N
• Cossall Colliery — 2.5 km SW
• Moorgreen Colliery — 3.3 km N

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.

• The official list of collieries at work in 1880 returns 'Speedwell, Eastwood' under the Digby Coal Co., alongside its Digby and New London collieries. ¹
• Mindat's locality record gives the Digby Coal Co. as owner from 1875 to 1885, with the colliery opening in 1875 and closing in 1885. ²
• The Bennerley and Bulwell Railway, opened to goods and mineral traffic on 12 August 1879, was built next to or connected with six collieries including Speedwell, and passed Speedwell Colliery north-east of Giltbrook before crossing Eastwood Road. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre
2. (secondary) Speedwell a Colliery, Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire (locality 381614) — mindat.org
3. (secondary) Bennerley & Bulwell Railway — Forgotten Relics

Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 18 September 2026