Whitwick Colliery

Overview

Whitwick Colliery, sunk from 1822 by William Stenson, gave its name to the town that grew up around it -- Coalville -- and was the site of Leicestershire's worst-ever mining disaster, a gob fire in 1898 that killed 35 men and boys.

History

Whitwick Colliery began with trial borings carried out in 1822 near Long Lane, Leicestershire, by the mining engineer William Stenson, proving coal beneath the previously remote parish of Whitwick; a small colliery opened in 1824 under Stenson and Company, with first coal raised in 1828. The industrial settlement that grew up around the pit became the town of Coalville, and Stenson -- later known as 'the father of Coalville' -- went on to found the Leicester and Swannington Railway to move the colliery's coal to market, recruiting George Stephenson as an investor and Stephenson's son Robert as the railway's engineer; the line reached Long Lane in 1833. The colliery passed to the Whitwick Colliery Company Ltd in the 1870s, by which time it comprised five shafts including a dedicated pumping shaft and an upcast shaft, reaching the Main Coal Seam at 780 feet; Shaft No. 6, the 'New Pit', was completed in 1876 to 312 yards. Workforce grew from over 200 men and boys in the 1840s to 1,100 by nationalisation in 1947, when the colliery recorded the highest productivity per man-shift in the South Midlands. On 19 April 1898, a gob fire -- a spontaneous outbreak in the colliery's waste workings -- broke out overnight in No. 5 Pit; of the 40 miners underground at the time, including a 13-year-old boy, only seven escaped, and 35 died of carbon monoxide poisoning, 12 of their bodies never recovered, leaving 27 widows and 84 children under 13 orphaned. Production peaked in 1969-70; underground workings were connected to the neighbouring Snibston Colliery in the 1960s, and Whitwick merged with South Leicester Colliery in 1984 before closing for good with the last shift on 3 July 1986.

Workings

Reached the Main Coal Seam at 780 feet; by the 1870s the colliery comprised five shafts, including a pumping shaft and an upcast shaft, with Shaft No. 6 ('New Pit') completed in 1876 to 312 yards. Seams worked expanded over time from the Upper and Lower Main to the Five Foot, Splent, Middle Lount, Nether Lount and Yard seams by the mid-1940s; underground workings were connected to the neighbouring Snibston Colliery in the 1960s.

Disasters & major incidents

• Whitwick Colliery Fire, 1898
  19 April 1898 · Fire · 35 fatalities
  A gob fire in Whitwick Colliery's No. 5 Pit killed 35 men and boys overnight, the worst mining disaster in Leicestershire's history, leaving 27 widows and 84 children under 13 orphaned.

Recorded claims

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

• William Stenson's trial borings from 1822 proved coal beneath Whitwick parish; the industrial settlement that grew up around his colliery became the town of Coalville, and Stenson went on to found the Leicester and Swannington Railway, recruiting George Stephenson as an investor (a £2,500 stake) and Robert Stephenson as the railway's engineer. ¹
• Employment grew from over 200 men and boys in the 1840s to 1,100 by the 1947 nationalisation, when the colliery recorded the highest productivity per man-shift in the South Midlands; by 1952 the workforce stood at 792 underground and 207 on the surface. ²
• Underground workings were connected to the neighbouring Snibston Colliery in the 1960s; Whitwick merged with South Leicester Colliery in 1984 and closed for good with the last shift on 3 July 1986. ²
• The Whitwick Historical Group's own account of the 19 April 1898 gob fire records that it left 27 widows and 84 children under 13 orphaned, and that a memorial service was held on 24 April 1898 at Christ Church, Coalville. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) William Stenson — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Whitwick Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Whitwick Colliery — Whitwick Historical Group

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 September 2026