| Entry Type | Corporate |
| Corporate Name | Ollerton Colliery |
| Parent Body | Butterlery Company (1915-1947) |
| National Coal Board, later British Coal (1947-1995) |
| Place | Ollerton, Nottinghamshire |
| Epithet | coal mine |
| Dates | 1915-1995 |
| History | Experimental borehole testing in the area took place between 1915 and 1921, when it was decided to tap into a demanding market during WW1. These boreholes were sunk with the hopes of a large collaborative colliery being built in the area. It was planned that the Butterley Company, Stanton Ironworks Company, and the New Hucknall Colliery Company, would work together to run this large pit. The plans never materialised after the Butterley Company brought out Stanton’s half of the land lease.
Sinking for Ollerton started in 1923 and was finished in 1926 during the General Strike. Men employed in the sinking were mainly Irishmen, which started a long tradition of attracting workers from all over. During its early expansion, miners from the North East and Scotland moved here when mines in their local area began to close. By the time of the miners’ strike in 1984, nearly half of the workers were Polish.
The village of Ollerton was built in the early 1920s to correspond with the sinking of the pit. Henry Eustace Mitton, an agent for the Butterley Company, oversaw a lot of the planning.
During WW2 the Home Guard had an ammunition store and training hut in the pit yard. Some railway sidings were also requisitioned for a U. S. Army Depot in Boughton.
During the lifetime of the colliery, it was known as a place to experiment with new mechanisms and generating electricity. It mechanised the coal face in the 1950s. It worked the Top Hard, Piper, Clowne, High Hazel, Waterloo, Low Main, Three Quarter, Deep Hard and Deep Soft coal seams.
There was an onsite ambulance station and nearby brickworks, which were all connected to the colliery.
The site stopped producing coal in 1994, and was officially closed in 1995. |
| Key Events | 1915-1921: Experimental borehole tests undertaken
1923-1926: First sunk; Building of related pit village
1926: Coal first produced
1947: Nationalisation
1994; Production ceased
1995: Closed |
| Authorised Form of Name | Ollerton, Nottinghamshire; Ollerton Colliery; 1915-1995; coal mine |
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