| Administrative History | Holmewood Colliery , also known as Hardwick Colliery, was first sunk by the Hardwick Colliery Company in 1870. It worked the Top Hard, Waterloo, Silkstone, Deep Hard, Tupton and Threequarter coal seams. The colliery was transferred to the control of the National Coal Board as a result of the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947 and placed in the East Midlands Division Area No. 1. There was a small training centre was provided for miners, but only lasted for a few years between 1952 and 1955, until a larger training centre was opened at Grassmoor, which centralised all training in the area. Other onsite facilities included a coal preparation plant and pithead baths (the latter opening in 1954), which stayed open following the wind up of the colliery itself in September 1968, to cover workers in the process of being transferred over the Arkwright Colliery. The rest of the underground workings of Holmewood Colliery were merged with Williamthorpe Colliery.
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