| Entry Type | Corporate |
| Corporate Name | Blackwell A Winning Colliery |
| Parent Body | Blackwell Colliery Company: NH&B Collieries Ltd: National Coal Board |
| Place | Blackwell, Alfreton |
| Epithet | coal mine |
| Dates | 1871-1969 |
| History | The pit was first sunk in 1871. The rights were leased from a Mrs H. B. Whitworth, who owned the royalties from 1875. It worked the Low Main and Deep Hard coal seams. The Silkstone seam was also worked but was abandoned in 1881. The coal produced was used for the domestic and manufacturing industry markets. In the early years the colliery produced about 1,500 to 2,000 tons per day. In the years leading up to the closure of the colliery, the Yard seam was experimented with but proved to be uneconomic. The highest recorded output was 578,059 tons in 1957, with the highest recorded manpower 1,342 in 1952.
The colliery was transferred to the National Coal Board during the nationlisation of the coal industry in 1947. There were 72 ovens onsite to produce coke, sulphate of ammonia and benzolm for the gas industry. The colliery was connected underground with Blackwell B Winnings and shared its surface facilities. The onsite railway sidings replaced the original line haulage system that had been in use since the colliery was opened. An aerial ropeway was also used to take away the spoil. Water was diverted to the colliery from Swanwick Colliery which closed in 1968. Blackwell ‘A’ Winnings itself closed in 1969. Even after closure, pumping at the site remained to take water away from Bentinck Colliery. Some of the men still working here prior to the closure were transferred over to Shirebrook Colliery.
Known managers of the Colliery were William Elliott, J Alfred Longden, Maurice Deacon, J.W. Cutts, Norman D Todd, T. H. Elliott, G. A. B. Millar, Sam M Merry, Henry Westmoreland, Tommy R Jameson, Horace Wenman, Bernard Gascoyne, Eric G Sellars and Ben H Beevers.
The colliery had its own football club. One of its most famous players was Willie Layton, who was signed as a professional for Sheffield Wednesday, for whom he played for nearly 12 years, being part of their FA Cup winning team in the 1906-07 season. The story behind his signing was linked to an accident at the colliery. On the night shift of the 10th/11th November 1895 a gas explosion killed seven miners. Layton was meant to be on shift that day but decided to take the day off so he could rest for a trial match he was due to have next day for Shffield Wednesday. When he found out the news, he said it must have been fate and if he was signed, he vowed never to leave the club. Compensation given to the widows and family of the men killed in the explosion ranged from £7/10/ down to 2/6. |
| Key Events | 1871: First sunk by the Blackwell Colliery Company
1947: Nationalised
1969: Closed |
| Source | ‘Blackwell A Winning Colliery (North Derbyshire) Was Closed After 97 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1969-C.html
‘Blackwell 'A' Winning Colliery Disaster’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/pits/Blackwell/Blackwell1.html
‘Willie Layton’, http://www.adrianbullock.com/swfc/stats/play0336.htm
‘Willie Layton’, http://www.whoispopulartoday.com/Willie-Layton/us
Bell, D., Memories of the Derbyshire Coalfields (Newbury: Countryside Books, 2006)
Blackwell A Winning Colliery (North Derbyshire) Was Closed After 97 Years, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1969-C.html
Clean Rivers Trust, Blackwell Colliery (first Site) also known as A Winning Minewater Treatment Site, 4 December 2017, https://www.cleanriverstrust.co.uk/blackwell-colliery/
Swanwick Colliery (North Derbyshire) was closed after 102 years, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1968-J.html
Weiss, M., Coal Mines Remembered (2010)
Weiss, M., Coal Mines Remembered 2 (2011) |
| Authorised Form of Name | Blackwell, Alfreton; Blackwell A Winning Colliery; 1871-1969; coal mine |
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