| Entry Type | Corporate |
| Corporate Name | Granville Colliery |
| Parent Body | Granville Colliery Company |
| National Coal Board |
| Place | Swadlincote |
| Epithet | coal mine |
| Dates | 1823-1967 |
| History | In about 1780 Bernard Dewes had opened a new colliery on the edge of Swadlincote Common. With the colliery approaching exhaustion, Court Dewes in 1823 sank new shafts (called Common and Church Pits) on the east of Swadlincote to reach the Main Coal Seam, which eventually formed Granville No. 1 Colliery. The growth of the colliery was encouraged by the development of the canal and railway networks in the area. In 1847 mineral rights were purchased under land at Gresley Common, allowing the colliery to extend its workings into Church Gresley, and similar happened in 1859 when the workings extended into Ashby Wolds. In 1872, the trustees of the late Court Granville offered up for auction the entire estate, including underlying minerals and the colliery, and all or most was bought by a syndicate of 23 merchants, manufacturers and gentlemen, most from Birmingham, for £75,000. The new Granville Colliery Company expanded the workings by adding more shafts and opened No. 2 Colliery in 1887. An onsite pithead baths and canteen were opened in 1941.
The colliery was transferred to the National Coal Board following nationalisation in 1947. The surface buildings closed in 1967, when the underground workings were merged with Rawdon Colliery. |
| Key Events | 1823: Deep shaft mine first sunk
1872: Bought by the Granville Coal Company
1947: Nationalisation
1967: Closed when merged with Rawdon Colliery |
| Source | ‘Granville (South Derbyshire/Leicestershire Coalfield) Closed After 142 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1967-H.html
Kelly, Directory of the Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland (London: 1891) https://www.andrewsgen.com/dby/kelly/swadlincote.htm
Swadlincote Tourist Information Centre, Mills, Mines And Murder: A Bretby Estate Walk |
| Authorised Form of Name | Swadlincote; Granville Colliery; 1823-1967; coal mine |
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