Yorkshire Main Colliery was a coal mine situated within the village of

Edlington Edlington is a town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, lying to the south west of Doncaster and Warmsworth. It has a population of 8,276. The original parish town of Edlington is now known as ''Old Edlington ...

, south west of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

, England.

History

The colliery was created by the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, which bought land in Edlington and leased the right to exploit the coal reserves under this and adjoining land from the Battie-Wrightson of Cusworth estate in several transactions in 1909 and 1910. William Wrightson of Cusworth had acquired the Edlington estate in 1803 from the Molesworth family, which had owned it since the late seventeenth century. Two shafts were sunk in 1909 and 1910. The new colliery, originally known as "Edlington Main" had a name change in September 1911 and became "Yorkshire Main". It reached the

Barnsley seam The coal seams worked in the South Yorkshire Coalfield lie mainly in the middle coal measures within what is now formally referred to as the Pennine Coal Measures Group. These are a series of mudstones, shales, sandstones, and coal seams laid ...

at a depth of 905 yards in July 1911, however this was on a fault. The main seam was relocated in October 1912. The Colliery first produced a million tons of coal in 1923 and in 1939 it achieved a record output of 1,138,512 tons. In 1937, the pit became part of the Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd company, and was nationalised into the National Coal Board in 1947. Extraction of the Dunsil seam, about 18 yards lower, began in the 1950s. In the 1970s work started on a new seam, the ''Swallow Wood Seam'', with and area of about . Plans had also been made to open up the

Parkgate seam The coal seams worked in the South Yorkshire Coalfield lie mainly in the middle coal measures within what is now formally referred to as the Pennine Coal Measures Group. These are a series of mudstones, shales, sandstones, and coal seam ...

, but these were later abandoned. In 1984, the mine was recorded as making a profit of £4.5 million, however, the mine was closed in 1985. In 1987, the headstock winding tower, which cost £6 million, was demolished. The colliery had a war memorial sited at the main entrance to commemorate those who worked at Yorkshire Main who died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The memorial was moved into the village of

in the 1970s. In 2018, part of the surface of the old colliery was granted approval for the building of 375 homes.

References

External links

*
Image of the coal mine from 1925
{{Coal mining in Yorkshire Coal mines in Doncaster Coal mines in South Yorkshire Underground mines in England

History

See also

References

External links