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Entry TypeCorporate
Corporate NameRufford Colliery
Parent BodyBolsover Colliery Company (1908-1993)
National Coal Board, later British Coal (1947-1993)
PlaceRufford, Nottinghamshire
Epithetcoal mine
Dates1908-1993
HistoryThe land used for the colliery was first leased from the Duke of Portland in 1908. An onsite wash plant halted the sinking in 1912, but as soon as it was completed, workings to find coal resumed. Coal was finally found in 1913. It worked the Top Hard coal seam. In 1913, a nail broke on a temporary awning erected in bad weather. This awning fell onto revolving drums that made a water barrel smash into a platform 18 men were working on. Out of these men 14 died and the rest injured. Other men were injured in their attempts to rescue the men.The existing village of Rainsworth was expanded by the colliery to accomodate workers and their families in 400 houses. These were painted white and became known as White City. The colliery was taken over by the National Coal Board in 1947 during the nationalisation of the coal industry. It closed in 1993.
Key Events1908: Land first leased from the Duke of Portland by the Bolsover Colliery Company
1912: Wash plant erected
1913: Coal first reached
1913: Accident where water barrel smashed a platform men were working on- killed 14 and injured many who came to the rescue.
1947: Nationalisation
1993: Closed
SourceRainworth Colliery: A Short History', Rainworth Village, https://rainworthvillage.webs.com/ruffordcolliery.htm
Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, Bolsover: Jubilee Souvenir, 1889-1939 (1939)
Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, Bolsover: The Company and its Coal (1940)
Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, The Monthly News: A Social Magazine for the Employees of the Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, no 5 (May 1923)
Earp, F. E., 'The Rufford Colliery Disaster', Nottingham Hidden History Team, https://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/the-rufford-colliery-disaster/
Weiss, M., Coal Mines Remembered 2 (2011)
Authorised Form of NameRufford, Nottinghamshire; Rufford Colliery; 1908-1993; coal mine

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