| Entry Type | Corporate |
| Corporate Name | Pinxton Colliery |
| Parent Body | Messrs Coke and Co. |
| Pinxton Coal Company Ltd, later Pinxton Collieries Ltd |
| National Coal Board (1947) |
| Place | Pinxton |
| Epithet | coal mine |
| Dates | 1788-1947 |
| History | The first shaft at the colliery was sunk in 1788 by Reverend D'Ewes Coke, who had inherited mineral rights in Pinxton from his former guardian, Sarah Lillyman. Five more shafts were sunk by the middle of the 19th century. Pinxton Colliery would benefit from the development of the Mansfield Pinxton Railway, which was completed in April 1819 and operated initially as a horse-drawn railway, before being bought by the Midland Counties Railway in 1847 and converted for use by steam locomotives. No. 1 shaft turned Deep Hard coal but suffered from water problems, which were relieved by a pumping engine known as Persevere Pump, which was installed in 1828 and also kept Pits Nos. 2-3 working in 1844. Any coal that was dug prior to 1844 was only 100 yards below the surface, as the technology used wasn’t able to go too deep. Most of the early pits were closed in due course, with Pits Nos. 4-5 closing in 1860, No. 3 in 1910, with No. 1 and 6 being used as air intakes from 1925, with No. 6 (Old Soft) being closed in 1942. Only No. 2 Pit (later known as Plymouth Colliery) survived into the era of nationalisation. It was, however, closed down very soon by the National Coal Board, who concentrated the remaining coal workings at the nearby Brookhill Colliery. A shaft at Pinxton was still in use as a pumping shaft until Brookhill closed in 1969. |
| Source | ‘Pinxton and Brookhill Collieries’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/Collection/shane/pinxton.htm
Amos, D., J is for the John King Museum – Pinxton, 21 January 2012, http://www.digitalengagementnetwork.org/miningscholarship/2011/01/21/j-is-for-the-john-king-museum-pinxton/
Griffin, A. R., Mining in the Midlands, 1550-1947 (London: Frank Cass & Company, 1971)
Smith, F., A Complete History of Pinxton (Somercotes: Baileys & Sons, 1994)
Smith, F, 'History of Pinxton', 1950
Taylor, N., ‘Pinxton-Village of Coal, Part 3, 50 years to 1844’, Pinxton & South Normanton Local History Society Newsletter, Winter 2000 |
| Authorised Form of Name | Pinxton; Pinxton Colliery; 1788-1947; coal mine |
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