Corporate DS/UK/3470 Killamarsh; Westthorpe Colliery; 1923-1984; coal mine Westthorpe Colliery J & G Wells Ltd (1923-1941) Tinsley Park Colliery Company (1941-1944) United Steel Company Ltd (1944-1947) National Coal Board (1947-1984) coal mine 1923-1984 Killamarsh 1923: First opened as ventilation shaft 1928: First produced coal 1941: Sold to Tinsley Park Colliery 1944: Sold to United Steel Company 1947: Nationalisation 1984: Closed

The colliery was first opened in 1923 as ventilation for Holbrook Colliery. It finally began to produce its own coal from 1928. It worked the Deep Soft, Thorncliffe, Chavery and Deep Hard coal seams. The colliery was taken over by the Tinsley Park Colliery Company in 1941 and then by the United Steel Company Ltd in 1944. The colliery was transferred to the control of the National Coal Board by the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947. It was part of the East Midlands Division Area No.1 until 1967, when it became part of the North Derbyshire Area. An onsite drift mine was later added in 1949. The highest recorded output was 603,828 tons in 1970/71, with the highest recorded manpower of 1,308 men in 1956. Onsite facilities including pithead baths, built in 1949 and a washery, which was replaced in 1977. The colliery eventually closed in 1984. Known managers: Henry Burgin, H Kendall, JH Bailey, Arthur Hayes, E Thompson, George Walker, P Julian Griffiths, Harold Glasby, Albert Wheeler (later Deputy Chairman of British Coal), Joe A Rodgers, C Arnold Heeley, John H White, Konrad P Hess, Arnold Vardy, Len Edwards. DS/UK/3792 International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Derbyshire Record Office Collections Manual Section 7 v5.1 (May 2020) 'Westhorpe Closed After 60 Years', http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1984-P1.html Bell, D., Memories of the Derbyshire Coalfields (Newbury: Countryside Books, 2006) Bridgewater, A. N., North Derbyshire Collieries (2009) https://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/Doe-Lea-Coal-Mine/North20Derbyshire20Collieries20Small20Update.pdf National Coal Board North Derbyshire Area, Westthorpe Colliery, 1923-1984 (1984) Yes DERBYSHIRE\a7005277 19/06/2020 DERBYSHIRE\71072486 10/02/2022 b502469b-7d32-47aa-9272-a61145d11972