| Administrative History | The Barber family seem to have started to become involved as coal masters c.1700, joining later in the 18th century in partnership with the Fletcher family to exploit mines at Greasley, Nuthall. Strelley and Bilborough. It was in 1790 that the Walker family seem to have gone into partnership with the Barbers, when they set up new leasing agreeements and intiated interest in canal building to improve the sale and tranport of their coal they produced. After concentrating initially on pits using the Top Hard Seam, it moved into coal seams further underground in the Deep Soft and Deep Hard Seams, with collieries sunk at Eastwood and Cotmanhay. It is claimed to have been the first colliery company to use the first Watt ‘condensing winding engine’ in the district in 1838 at the Underwood Colliery. The company contributed to the building of a private railway which was used to serve their collieries. This connection between mining and railway meant the company became part of the group who wished to set up the Midland Railway Company to transport coal to Leicester and further afield.
By 1872 the company now operated a network of collieries comprising Eastwood, Cotmanhay, Hill Top, Watnall, New Watnall, Beggarlee, Underwood, High Park, Moorgreen and Brinsley. In the early 20th century the depletion of the profitable Top Hard Seam coal meant that the company needed to expand its colliery base. A pit was sunk at Bentley near Doncaster in Yorkshire in 1905, and in 1917 the company took control of Harworth Colliery in Nottinghamshire. A new limited company was established on 3 Apr 1918 when the certtificate of incoproration and memorandum of articles of association were registered. In 1947 all the company' collieries were transferred into the control of the National Coal Board; the collieries comprised Brinsley, High Park, Moorgreen, Selston, Watnall, Bentley and Harworth. The company itself was formally liquidated on 27 Apr 1954.
The Barber Walker and Company's activities were primarily based at Eastwood in Nottinghamshire, just on the other side of the border with Derbyshire, although they did also take on colliery interests in Yorkshire at the start of the 20th century. It is not believed at any time that the company had collieries in Derbyshire itself. |