Meden Vale is a small former coal mining

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

originally known as Welbeck Colliery Village prior to renaming in the late 1960s. It is situated close to the small town of

Market Warsop Warsop is a town and civil parish in the Mansfield district, Nottinghamshire, England, on the outskirts of the remnants of Sherwood Forest.OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000): At the 2001 census it had a population of 12,365, reducin ...

, in north

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, England, off the main A60

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

road, and lies within

Mansfield District Council Mansfield District is a local government district in Nottinghamshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Mansfield. The district is bounded by the districts of Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood and Gedling, as well as the Derbyshire distr ...

administrative area and Mansfield Parliamentary constituency, represented since 2017 by Ben Bradley of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. It is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Warsop Warsop is a town and civil parish in the Mansfield district, Nottinghamshire, England, on the outskirts of the remnants of Sherwood Forest.OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000): At the 2001 census it had a population of 12,365, reducin ...

. There is a small collection of shops, Post Office, a garage and the Three Lions

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. The

River Meden The River Meden is a river in Nottinghamshire, England. Its source lies just north of Huthwaite, near the Derbyshire border, and from there it flows north east through Pleasley and Warsop before merging temporarily with the River Maun near Bo ...

flows through the village alongside the main road. The village has a rugby union side which plays in the RFU Midlands 5 East (North) division.

Former colliery

The economy was based mainly on Welbeck Colliery, which started up when two shafts were sunk between 1912 and 1915. It was determined by owner

UK Coal UK Coal Production Ltd, formerly UK Coal plc, was the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The company was based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The successor company that con ...

for closure in 2007 due to limited reserves, with the last coal produced 11 May 2010. Most of the working-age employees from the 410 total transferred to other collieries operated by UK Coal, including

Daw Mill Daw Mill was a coal mine located near the village of Arley, near Nuneaton, in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine was Britain's biggest coal producer. It closed in 2013 following a major fire. It was the last remaining colliery in the We ...

near

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, a daily round-trip of for some. When closed it was one of the last remaining deep mine collieries to operate in England, and at its peak employed 1,400 men and produced 1.5 million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s of coal yearly. The headstocks were demolished by explosives in April 2011.

Explosion

Two security guards were badly injured in an explosion confined to a surface

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and ...

at the Colliery site on Saturday 31 December 2011.

References

External links

Meden Vale RugbyMarket Warsop Community pageWelbeck Colliery History page
Villages in Nottinghamshire Mansfield District {{Nottinghamshire-geo-stub