| Description | The records for the company are arranged in the following series
NCB/A/HAR/1 Hardwick Colliery Company accident record books, including for Holmewood, Ramcroft and Williamthorpe collieries and Hardwick By-Products, 1934-1951
NCB/A/HAR/2 Hardwick Colliery Company employee records, 1937-1947
NCB/A/HAR/3 Hardwick Colliery Company management records and accounts, 1902-1947
NCB/A/HAR/4 Hardwick Colliery Company agreements and ownership records, 1909-1960
NCB/A/HAR/5 Hardwick Colliery Company plans for pithead baths and canteens, 1940-1942
NCB/A/HAR/6 Hardwick Colliery Company group photographs, 1941-1947 |
| Administrative History | It was John Chambers in conjunction with other local gentlemen of Hardwick who sank the Lings Colliery in c1840. With new partner J. Ward he bought out his previous partners in 1860, being then owners of the Lings, Owlcotes and Peewit collieries. Hardwick Colliery Company obtained a lease from the Duke of Devonshire and sinkings began at Holmewood in the late 1860s. The Hardwick Colliery Company became a limited company in 1900. The company developed a new colliery at Williamthorpe, where production started in 1905. Coke ovens were built in 1910 at Holmewood as part of a modernisation plan and became immediately profitable, being operated by Hardwick By-Products Company Limited. Ramcroft Coliery was acquired in 1929, but was not worked fully again until about 1939 when it was decided to open up the first Waterloo Seam. The company's collieries, comprising Homewood, Ramcroft and Williamthorpe, were transferred to the control of the National Coal Board as a result of the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947. |