Corporate DS/UK/3508 Heath; Ramcroft Colliery; 1916-1966; coal mine Ramcroft Colliery Ramcroft Colliery Company Hardwick Colliery Company National Coal Board coal mine 1916-1966 Heath 1916: First sunk 1929: Mothballed 1930: Sold to Hardwick Colliery Company 1935: Water pipeline and pumping station built 1940: Reopened 1947: Nationalisation 1952: Drift mine added 1966: Closed

The Ramcroft Colliery Company first sunk a shaft in 1916. During its lifetime it worked the Top Hard and Waterloo coal seams. Following the colliery's success during the First World War, a railway branch line and sidings were added to move the coal more easily. This success was short lived as in 1929, it became mothballed due to a build up of water. During this time it was still being pumped by the Hardwick Company, so it didn’t flood their nearby mines. The pipeline and pumping station for this was built in 1935 to help water batteries at nearby Holmewood Colliery. Only 3 men worked onsite during this time of abandonment. The Hardwick Company finally took over in 1930, following the liquidation of the Ramcroft Colliery Company. Due to the continuing problems of the build-up of water, the colliery was not reopened until 1940. At its reopening 500 men were initially employed. The colliery was transferre to the control of the National Coal Board as a result of the nationalisation of the coal industry on 1947. A drift mine was added in 1952 to connect the onsite workings of the Waterloo and Top Hard coal seams. The maximum recorded output was 236,177 tons in 1954, with the maximum recorded workforce being 577 men. The site officially closed in 1966, but some opencast mining still continued here after that date. Known management: JW Woodbridge, Dominic Lavin, EB Flint, J Houghton, JS Raynor, John N Booth, F Ford, George Bunting, George Bishop, Peter I Allsop, A Russell Dove, Joe Rodgers, George S Payton. 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) ‘Holmewood’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/heath,-holmewood.html ‘Holmewood Colliery (North Derbyshire) Was Closed After 95 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1968-K.html ‘Ramcroft Colliery’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/ramcroft.html ‘Ramcroft Colliery (North Derbyshire) Closed After 50 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-4/B4-1966-P4.html Bagshaw, S., History, Gazetteer and Directory of Derbyshire, with the Town of Burton-upon-Trent (Sheffield: William Saxton, 1846) 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 Deeds relating to the acquisition of the Ramcroft Colliery by the Hardwick Company following the liquidation of the Ramcroft Company (1930), N36/8/5 Fowkes, D. V., ‘Notes on the History of North Wingfield’, Derbyshire Miscellany, 8.6 (1979) Richard’s Bygone Times, Ramcroft Colliery: A Brief History http://www.richardsbygonetimes.co.uk/rammy.htm Wain, K., The Coal Mining Industry of Sheffield and North Derbyshire (Amberley, 2014) Yes DERBYSHIRE\71026502 27/08/2020 DERBYSHIRE\71010800 28/01/2022 cd177445-2078-4a22-971b-d9881e88d31c