Swadlincote Colliery

Overview

Hall and Boardman's colliery on the western edge of Swadlincote, sunk in 1852 beside the Midland Railway's Swadlincote branch and worked until February 1965. In February 1962 a Kilburn seam face here set a national record of 35½ tons a man-shift.

History

Coal was raised at Swadlincote before the colliery: the upcast shaft of the old Swadlincote pit was sunk to the Woodfield at 195 yards in 1845. The colliery itself was sunk in 1852, and Hall and Boardman's siding off the Midland Railway's Swadlincote branch, the first on the line, opened that year, with a second in 1854. The firm, later Hall's Collieries Ltd, worked it until nationalisation from three shafts: No. 1 upcast, 345½ yards deep, No. 2 at 268¾ yards and No. 3 downcast at 349½ yards. The Main coal was worked from 1856 to 1885, and the Eureka, Stanhope, Little Woodfield, Woodfield, Waterloo and Stockings after it; the colliery employed 451 in 1894 and 548 in 1923. A narrow-gauge railway, 1 ft 11 in, ran beside the Swadlincote loop to the colliery at Gresley Wood.

The Kilburn seam, first worked in 1911-14 and again in the 1920s, was reached by deepening Nos. 1 and 3 shafts in 1934 and reopened in 1938, and it carried the pit through its last decades. Under the National Coal Board output rose from 145,542 tons in 1947 to a peak of 297,030 tons in 1952, with up to 599 men in 1958. In the week ending 17 February 1962 a Kilburn face near the shaft pillar, with a trepanner power loader, powered supports and stable-hole machines, set a national record of 35½ tons a man-shift, and a Joy continuous miner produced 906 tons the same week.

The colliery closed in February 1965 after 83 years, with 257 men in its last year; its Kilburn workings were abandoned on 12 February 1965.

Geology

South Derbyshire coalfield: the Main, Eureka, Stanhope, Little Woodfield, Woodfield, Waterloo, Stockings, Yard and Kilburn seams.

Workings

Three shafts: No. 1 upcast (345½ yards), No. 2 (268¾ yards) and No. 3 downcast (349½ yards), Nos. 1 and 3 deepened to the Kilburn in 1934; the old Swadlincote pit (1845).

Closure

Closed in February 1965; the Kilburn plans are dated 12 February 1965.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bretby Colliery — Hall's Collieries pits.
• Cadley Hill Colliery — Hall and Boardman collieries; Hall and Boardman sank Cadley Hill in 1860.

Recorded claims

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

• Swadlincote Colliery was sunk in 1852; Hall and Boardman's siding off the Swadlincote branch opened that year. ^1,2
• Swadlincote belonged to Hall and Boardman, then Hall's Collieries Ltd, until 1947. ³
• Its shafts were No. 1 upcast at 345½ yards, No. 2 at 268¾ yards and No. 3 downcast at 349½ yards. ¹
• Swadlincote employed 451 in 1894, 548 in 1923 and 342 in 1947. ³
• In the week ending 17 February 1962 a Kilburn face at Swadlincote set a national record of 35½ tons per man-shift. ¹
• Under the NCB its output peaked at 297,030 tons in 1952. ¹
• Swadlincote Colliery closed in 1965, in February after 83 years. ^4,1,2
• Swadlincote's Kilburn workings were abandoned on 12 February 1965. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) 1965 - Page 1 (Bob Bradley) — Healey Hero
2. (secondary) Swadlincote Loop — Forgotten Relics
3. (primary) Swadlincote Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Swadlincote, Kilburn, abandoned 12 February 1965 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026