Upper Hartshay Colliery

Overview

The Butterley Company's colliery on the south side of Ripley, working the Kilburn and Tupton seams with up to 839 men in 1923, on the site the county's historic record also calls Marehay.

History

Upper Hartshay Colliery lay on the south side of Ripley, beside the Marehay pits, and was worked by the Butterley Company. An abandonment plan of the Hartshay Upper workings in the Deep Soft seam is dated 1849. The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record says that the Marehay Colliery shown on the Ordnance Survey map of about 1880 had expanded by the early twentieth century, when it was known as Upper Hartshay Colliery. The Durham Mining Museum, though, lists Upper Hartshay under the Butterley Company and Marehay under Ford's Limited as separate collieries in 1910 and 1915, at almost the same grid reference.

In 1910 Upper Hartshay worked the Kilburn and Tupton seams for household and steam coal with 535 men, 418 of them underground. It employed 617 in 1915 and 839 in 1923, then only 85 in 1933, 22 in 1937 and 11 in 1940. Plans of its Low Main workings are dated December 1924. Among the men killed there were Samuel Adams, a stallman struck by a prop knocked out by falling coal in the Tupton seam in 1908, and Kirkby Seals, a pony driver of 17 buried by a fall of dirt in 1919.

Geology

Derbyshire Coal Measures: the Kilburn and Tupton seams, with older plans in the Deep Soft and later ones in the Low Main.

Workings

Shaft workings in the Kilburn and Tupton seams; abandonment plans cover the Deep Soft (1849) and Low Main (1924).

Closure

Employment fell from 839 in 1923 to 11 in 1940; the Low Main workings were abandoned in December 1924.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Marehay Colliery — The historic environment record gives Marehay the name Upper Hartshay by the early twentieth century; the Durham Mining Museum lists them separately at almost the same place.

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 Marehay Colliery site had expanded by the early twentieth century, when it was known as Upper Hartshay Colliery. (uncertain) ³
• Upper Hartshay (Butterley Co.) and Marehay (Ford's Ltd) are listed as separate collieries in 1910 and 1915. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Upper Hartshay Colliery, Ripley, was owned by the Butterley Company Ltd. ^1,2
• The Marehay Colliery site had expanded by the early twentieth century, when it was known as Upper Hartshay Colliery. (uncertain) ³
• Upper Hartshay (Butterley Co.) and Marehay (Ford's Ltd) are listed as separate collieries in 1910 and 1915. (uncertain) ¹
• In 1910 and 1915 it worked the Kilburn and Tupton seams for household and steam coal. ¹
• It employed 535 men in 1910, 617 in 1915, 839 in 1923, 85 in 1933, 22 in 1937 and 11 in 1940. ¹
• An abandonment plan of Hartshay Upper workings in the Deep Soft seam is dated 1849. ⁴
• Abandonment plans of Hartshay Upper workings in the Low Main seam are dated 1 December 1924. ⁵

Sources

1. (primary) Upper Hartshay Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Herbert Maycock, Upper Hartshay, 1910 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) MDR11312 - Marehay Colliery (site of), Ripley — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Hartshay Upper, Deep Soft seam, abandoned 1849 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Hartshay Upper, Low Main seam, abandoned 1924 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 17 October 2026 · Last researched: 18 October 2026