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Entry TypeCorporate
Corporate NameCreswell Colliery
Parent BodyBolsover Colliery Company
National Coal Board
PlaceCreswell
Epithetcoal mine
Dates1896-1991
HistoryLand for this colliery was leased from the Duke of Portland, although this lease initially created problems in early stages due to infringements on other pieces of land owned by the Duke. The colliery was sitiated one mile away from Creswell Craggs and was built in a similar style to Bolsover. Coal was found between 1894 and 1896, with the Top Hard and High Hazel coal seams being worked. Its shafts were deepened between 1935 and 1940. After 1941, the workings of the Top Hard coal seam were abandoned in favour of the High Hazel seam. In 1938 there was an accident which killed 3 men and injured several more

The colliery was taken over by the National Coal Board in 1947 during nationalisation of the coal industry. The weekly output of the colliery in 1950 was just over 14,000 tons, which was worked by 1,144 men underground. Around 350 men were employed at the surface during this time. In September 1950, an accident caused by carbon monoxide killed 82 men. Most of them were poisoned but the gas did catch fire and trapped the rest of the men, meaning rescuing any the survivors was virtually impossible. The incident was seen as Derbyshire's worst pit fire disaster. As the rubber belts were believed to be at fault, all types of rubber belts were removed from collieries all over the world. Shafts were used at Langwith Colliery after its closure in 1978 to help pump water out of Creswell Colliery.In 1991 Creswell Colliery was closed.
Key Events1894-1896: Coal seams first found and worked
1947: Nationalisation
1950: Carbon monoxide poisoning killed 82 men
1991: Closed
Source"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)
Bridgewater, A. N., North Derbyshire Collieries (2009) https://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/Doe-Lea-Coal-Mine/North20Derbyshire20Collieries20Small20Update.pdf
Northern Mine Research Society, Cresewell Colliery, https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/derbynotts/mansfield/creswell/
Weiss, M., Coal Mines Remembered 2 (2011)"
Authorised Form of NameCreswell; Creswell Colliery; 1896-1991; coal mine

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