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Entry TypeCorporate
Corporate NameNorwood Colliery
Parent BodySheepbridge Coal & Iron Company Ltd (1865-1916)
J&G Wells Ltd (1916-1943)
Also Known AsHolbrook No. 2 Colliery
PlaceKillamarsh
PlaceKillamarsh
Epithetcoal mine
Dates1865-1943
HistoryThe colliery was first sunk by the Sheepbridge Coal & Iron Company between 1865 and 1866. The coal seam was finally reached in 1867. It worked the Top Hard, Deep Soft and Deep Hard coal seams. By 1869 the site was producing 400 tons of coal a day and was soon producing double that number. An onsite gas works was built in 1872 to provide power to the colliery and neighbouring residential properties. A strike in 1885 led to the company being unsuccessfully sued by a collier named W. Sargeson for a loss of earnings. At one point the colliery also had 56 pit ponies working here. At the time of its first closure in 1914, 390 men were still in employment here. Some of the coal seams lay underneath the Chesterfield Canal, which meant there were water problems, but these were solved by installing modern pumping technology. Following a fatal gas explosion, a new ventilation system was also installed.

In 1916, it was brought by J & G Wells Ltd. From then on it was known as Holbrook No. 2 Colliery. The highest recorded manpower was in 1933 with 772 men employed. Whilst coal was still being mined on the site, its main purpose had shifted to ventilation. A small scale drift mine was added south to the colliery. It eventually closed for good in 1943.

Known managers: William Wilde, TA Elliott, JW Tankard, WL Halpin, HL Faulkner, WH Burgin, Henry Burgin (twice), Thomas Greensmith, Arthur Hayes, Henry Kendall, E Thompson, George Walker
Source‘History of Mining in Killamarsh’, http://www.killamarsh.org/history/
‘Norwood Colliery’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/norwood.html
‘Norwood Colliery Closed After 77 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-3/B3-1943.html
Bridgewater, A. N., North Derbyshire Collieries (2009) https://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/Doe-Lea-Coal-Mine/North20Derbyshire20Collieries20Small20Update.pdf
Sutcliffe, A. F., Surveyor’s Report for J & G Wells LTD, 18th Aug 1908
Wain, K., The Coal Mining Industry of Sheffield and North Derbyshire (Amberley, 2014)
Authorised Form of NameKillamarsh; Norwood Colliery; 1865-1943; coal mine

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