Speedwell Colliery, Staveley

Overview

One of Richard Barrow's Staveley pits, opened in 1841 with a village built round it, sold with the rest of Barrow's collieries to the new Staveley Coal and Iron Company in 1864 and worked until its coal ran short towards the end of the century. A nine-year-old door-trapper who started there in 1859 grew up to be president of the Derbyshire Miners' Association.

History

Speedwell began with a valuation. In March 1840 J. Cottingham of Hardwick Hall reported on the coal under land belonging jointly to Mr Rodgers of Staveley, William Leech of Manchester and William Swift of Staveley, whose minerals were being bought: the coal would be worth £150 an acre if it could be brought to market, but in all probability might lie unwrought for sixteen or seventeen years, so its value for money down was £40 an acre; he expected a workable coal about fifty-six yards above the Top Hard, and the Inkersall Rake ironstone besides, but thought the coal and ironstone beneath the Top Hard too deep to be worked in his time. The colliery was surveyed in 1840 and opened in 1841, one of the pits Richard Barrow sank on the Duke of Devonshire's Staveley mineral lease in the 1840s and 1850s alongside Hopewell, Hollingwood, Springwell and Seymour, and a colliery village was built with it. In 1864 Barrow sold Speedwell, Seymour, Hollingwood, New Hollingwood and Springwell to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, registered the year before, and the 1880 official list of collieries still returns Speedwell, Chesterfield, under that company. James Martin, born in 1850, came to Staveley with his family at the age of nine and began work at Speedwell as a door-trapper, later becoming a driver; he went on to be checkweighman at Ireland Colliery and president of the Derbyshire Miners' Association from 1906 to 1917. By the turn of the century the workings of Speedwell, Seymour and Campbell were nearing exhaustion and the company was concentrating on the Hartington and Ireland areas and on the new Markham sinkings to the south. One local account has the colliery out of work by 1896 and superseded by Ireland Colliery on the same site.

Geology

Speedwell worked in the Staveley coal measures on the Duke of Devonshire's lease. The 1840 valuation names the Top Hard coal, a coal about fifty-six yards above it, the Inkersall Rake ironstone, and beneath the Top Hard the Measure and Ball ironstone, Redfern Rake, Dunsil, Waterloo, Pinder Park ironstone, Handley Wood, Deep Hard or Potters, Three Bedded or Tomlinson Thin, Dog ironstone and Dogtooth coal, Broad Oak or Furnace coal, Blackshale ironstone and coal, and Brampton Moor Thin coal, which the valuer thought too deep to be worked in his time.

Workings

Unknown.

Closure

The sources disagree on the date. One local history has the colliery working in 1880 but apparently not by 1896, superseded by Ireland Colliery on the same site; Chapman's 1985 account of Staveley mining describes the workings of Speedwell, Seymour and Campbell as nearing exhaustion around the turn of the century, as the company moved to the Hartington and Ireland ground and the Markham sinkings.

What remains

The colliery village built with the pit was later demolished.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Ireland Colliery — Staveley Coal and Iron Company pits; one account has Ireland superseding Speedwell on the same site, and James Martin moved from Speedwell to be Ireland's checkweighman.
• Seymour Colliery — Both sunk by Richard Barrow on his Staveley lease, sold together to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company in 1864, and worked out together around the turn of the century.

Nearby mines

• Ireland Colliery — 0.1 km SW
• Hartington Colliery — 1.4 km N
• Seymour Colliery — 1.7 km E
• Markham Colliery — 2.2 km SW
• Arkwright Colliery — 3.9 km S

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

People

• Richard Barrow · owner, 1841–1864 — via the operator record
• J. Cottingham · surveyor, 1840 — Wrote the valuation of 24 March 1840 on the coal and ironstone to be bought for the colliery.
• William Leech · landowner, 1840 — One of the joint owners of the land and minerals bought for the colliery in 1840.
• James Martin (1850–1933) · worker, from 1859 — Started at Speedwell as a door-trapper at about nine, later a driver; checkweighman at Ireland Colliery from 1882 and president of the Derbyshire Miners' Association 1906-1917.
• William Swift · landowner, 1840 — One of the joint owners of the land and minerals bought for the colliery in 1840.

What's uncertain

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

• The colliery was working in 1880 but appears not to have been by 1896, superseded by Ireland Colliery on the same site. (disputed) ^1,2
• Around the turn of the century the workings of Speedwell, Seymour and Campbell were nearing exhaustion as mining moved to the Hartington and Ireland areas and the Markham sinkings. (disputed) ⁶

Recorded claims

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

• Speedwell was surveyed in 1840 and opened in 1841, with a colliery village built alongside it. ^1,2
• Richard Barrow sank Speedwell among the pits on his Staveley lease in the 1840s and 1850s, and in 1864 sold it with Seymour, Hollingwood, New Hollingwood and Springwell to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company. ³
• The official list of collieries at work in 1880 returns 'Speedwell, Chesterfield' under the Staveley Coal and Iron Company. ⁴
• A valuation of March 1840 by J. Cottingham of Hardwick Hall put the coal at £150 an acre if brought to market, but only £40 an acre for money down, since it might lie unwrought for sixteen or seventeen years. ²
• James Martin, later president of the Derbyshire Miners' Association (1906-1917), began work at Speedwell Colliery as a door-trapper after his family moved to Staveley when he was nine. ⁵
• The colliery was working in 1880 but appears not to have been by 1896, superseded by Ireland Colliery on the same site. (disputed) ^1,2
• Around the turn of the century the workings of Speedwell, Seymour and Campbell were nearing exhaustion as mining moved to the Hartington and Ireland areas and the Markham sinkings. (disputed) ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Staveley collieries (oldminer.co.uk) — oldminer.co.uk (Andrew Bridgewater)
2. (secondary) Speedwell (Staveley collieries) — oldminer.co.uk (Neil Tanner)
3. (secondary) Staveley Coal and Iron Co — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
4. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre
5. (secondary) James Martin (trade unionist) — Wikipedia
6. (secondary) Notes on 19th century coal mining at Staveley, Derbyshire (British Mining No. 28, NMRS Memoirs 1985) — Northern Mine Research Society

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