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Thorne Colliery is a formerly proposed ‘super-pit’, situated within the metropolitan borough of Doncaster, which itself is situated within South Yorkshire and as such this Colliery was a part of the South Yorkshire Coalfield. The Colliery was fraught with problems for the majority of its existence with shaft water, war time crises and maintenance trouble being the key issues. Throughout the lifespan of this pit the number of years it produced coal of any significant proportion is noticeably disproportional when considering just how long there was activity at this site. Coal at this pit was produced between the years of 1925-1956.

Thorne Colliery - geograph.org.uk - 448655

Background

Thorne Colliery is situated upon the Thorne Moors 16km north-east of Doncaster , next to the historical mining village of Moorends, itself directly adjacent to Thorne. The first experimental borings at the site began as far back as 1902 and steadily continued until 1908 . A borehole was sunk in 1904 by the Thorne Borehole Syndicate and was proven in 1908 when the Barnsley Bed was hit at a depth of 916 yards, which was roughly 9ft thick . The Thorne Borehole Syndicate consisted of local businessmen and the sinking of Thorne pit became a viable proposition now that mineral content had been successfully discovered. In June 1909 the undertaking of the sinking of Thorne pit had been undertaken by the well-known firm of Pease & Partners of Darlington. Pease and Partners stated that work would commence as soon as possible once a temporary railway connection had been constructed. Pease and Partners reported a forecast that the Colliery would produce 6,000 tons of coal per day to the surface, or rather 1½ million tons per annum, and that the estimated cost of this endeavour would be £500,000 spread over a period of ten years. The official sinking operation started shortly after this, however the beginnings of issues which would loom over the Colliery for the entirety of its existence would soon become apparent. In June 1910, work had to be suspended until powerful electric pumps were introduced to the shafts to deal with an inflow of water and the following month work was inundated. Sinking eventually resumed again but there were considerable difficulties in the sinking process, which was highlighted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company in June 1911, however it was said that ‘there was no reason why we should not meet with success’. Again however there was another problem and in 1912 sinking operations were suspended once more, and it was announced that operations would only be resumed if royalty owners agreed to reduced payments. This issue meant only a few men were employed on the site at this time and sinking was again prolonged. At the end of 1913 it was reported that freezing operations at the site had commenced throughout the year, and that it would take a further eighteen months to complete, with coal being expected to be produced after a further three years. In June 1914, it was announced that the future of Thorne Colliery was practically safe. The outbreak of War however inevitably had a profound effect on the proceedings at Thorne Colliery and in August once war had been declared the German workers responsible for the freezing operations were arrested and taken to York Castle. They were then released the next day and returned to Thorne whereby they were registered, allowing work to once again commence. A week later these workers were re-arrested once again, but four German workers were present at the mine in November. By the following June however ‘sinking operations were suspended for the duration of the War’.

Shaft Disaster and the Beginning of Production

Work finally began once more at the Colliery in 1919, and it was reported six months later that water had practically stopped and the resulting work was up to standard. However the issues when sinking the pit prior to the Annual General Meeting of 1920 resulted in more delays and at this meeting the proprietors were informed it would take another three to four years to finish sinking operations. However after another four years arduous work coal was eventually reached in August 1924, sixteen years after the first borehole - at a depth of 921½ yards and was worked from January 1925 . The sinking of the second pit shaft was then completed the following year and was claimed to be the deepest pit in South Yorkshire. On the 15th March 1926 however, shortly before the completion of shaft number 2 disaster struck the Colliery when 6 men sadly fell to their death when the Capstan engine controlling the scaffolding upon which they were working upon malfunctioned. It was described in local papers with headlines such as ‘Mysterious Mishap’ , as was the nature of the incident, with much speculation as to how such a tragedy occurred. It was not the first tragic loss of life at the pit but was to be ultimately the most costly. In fact this incident was the largest loss of life in a mining environment that year as stated in the sixth annual report of the secretary for mines for the year 1926 . The six men who tragically lost their lives are as follows ; Edmund Thorley, aged 33 - 1st Chargeman sinker, John Hansbury, ages 34 - 2nd Chargeman sinker, John William Barkley, age 51 - Sinker, Charles H. Walton, aged 33 - Sinker, Ernest Clark, aged 26 - Sinker and finally John A. Reed, aged 21 - Sinker. Immediately after the accident occurred the agent, Mr. Hoyle, proceeded to descend into the shaft to the estimated 11ft water-level whereby nothing could be seen. There was some minimal markings to the shaft walls below where the platform had fell and little damage apart from some girders which had been dislodged at the High Hazel presumably by the tumbling scaffolding ropes. Recovery operations took place and the water remaining at the bottom of the shaft was removed, some of the wreckage at the bottom of the shaft had to be removed by using oxyacetylene burners before the bodies were finally recovered. The first body was initially recovered on Wednesday 17th March, 1926 and the last on Friday 19th March, 1926 and by Thursday 25th March, 1926 the shaft bottom was fully cleared .

As reported by the local newspaper (found in The Colliery Guardian on the 15th March 1926 ) the six men who were tragically killed were finishing work on the second shaft when their portable platform below ground collapsed. The Capstan engine which malfunctioned, ultimately causing the deaths of the men upon the platform was powered by a two cylinder engine. The Capstan was running in an extremely low gear and moved markedly slowly when contrasted with the speed of the engine powering it. Attached to each drum however on the Capstan engine were pawls or ratchets which should have prevented the Capstan engine slipping suddenly in the opposite direction when the scaffolding was raised. Thus with such countermeasures in place there was immediate concern over how such an event could have occurred. However once inspected everything was found to be in order before the accident. The coroner in summarising the accident stated that there was no suspicion of defect in the metal. Then the jury verdict of accidental death was offered, and there was no evidence to prove mechanical failure or human aberration. The given verdict had been largely influenced by a special report made regarding this accident by Mr H.M. Hudspeth, H.M. Divisional inspection for the Yorkshire division of mines. The conclusion he personally produced was that the engine driver accidentally put his level into the position for lowering scaffold while the capstan drums were held by the restraining pawls. It was his recommendation that pawls should not be used on worm driven capstan engines.

Shortly following this tragic accident Thorne pit began to produce coal at a substantial rate and finally the end objective of Thorne becoming the proposed lucrative pit seemed all but secured. There were also proposals by Messrs Pease and Partners around this time to develop a railway from the pit to Swinefleet, situated upon the River Ouse similar to earlier proposals of 1908-10 and 1913 plans of the L&YR Company. However, naturally there were significant objections from railway companies operating within this area and the bill proposed to the House of Lords was withdrawn by the promoters on 8th May 1927. After production had begun in both shafts there was a period of time whereby Thorne was for a time one of the most successful pits in South Yorkshire and productions ran relatively smoothly through the 30’s and 40’s but the shaft water issue was constantly a nuisance. Another issue which affected the pit during this brief period of production was the history of strained labour which was said to have adversely affected profitability and productivity, how in such an industry these kinds of labour issues were commonplace. Labour issues however were the least of the managements worries when concerning the continued production of coal at the site as water ingress in shaft number 2 would halt production, and unbeknownst to all at the time would ultimately end all notable production/work at Thorne Colliery.

Continued Issues and Ceasing of Production

Following this period of moderately successful production incidents would transpire that would eventually cause a total ceasing of production at the site. Before the pit ultimately halted production for good however the coal industry was nationalised and Thorne Colliery became part of the National Coal Board (NCB) on the 1st January 1947, known as ‘Vesting Day’. This nationalisation had initially sparked significant popular appeal in Thorne (amongst other locations nationally) with proposals such as the five day week being key to boosting its popularity however ultimately the goodwill dampened somewhat in the area. Thorne colliery itself however ultimately produced coal in a nationalised state for only nine years however thus it was only a brief period of time in the Colliery’s dogged history. The reason for such a short period of operation after the pits completion was again the pivotal issue of shaft water. In 1956 the pit was ‘temporarily closed’ due to flooding and faults, the pit was kept care and maintenance order regardless. Following this incident a small number of miners were made redundant on a voluntary basis and other workers were simply redeployed elsewhere. Initial forecasts were optimistic regarding the reopening of the pit however a series of setbacks hastily quelled such optimism. The Doncaster Examiner reported on the 31st July 1958 that ‘excess flood waters have again battered through tons of concrete, causing the worst setback since the pit was closed two years ago’ , again shaft water manifesting itself caused severe setbacks regarding the pit. It was this issue of shaft water that workers have been trying to solve ever since. The early forecasts following such a setback were again still optimistic and the National Coal Board predicted that ‘coal would be turned at Thorne within three or four months of next year’. Suffice to say this was not the case and in 1962 it was predicted again when Thorne would reopen, that prediction being 1964 at the earliest. By November of that year it was reported that waterproofing would be completed by next June but the immediate prospect of Thorne Colliery reopening was still false. The Thorne Gazette noted on the 29th September 1966 that ‘the pit has been closed for ten years’, a pit with projected production rate of over 1 million tons per annum, and without a major accident. Thorne Colliery continued for many years following in a state of limbo, with millions of pounds of money being invested to repair the damage and ensure it would reopen however this was proven to be an unrealised dream in reality.

Later Developments and Ultimate Demise

During the 1980’s the efforts to reopen the pit were revitalised and plans were unveiled by the NCB for a £180 million redevelopment of the site. However it must be said that this was a period when coalfield strikes raged throughout the nation, thus this may not have been at the forefront of many individuals minds but it did offer some hope that the pit would finally be reopened. New headgear was erected at Thorne during this time and dominated the local landscape, along with new winding systems but the sharp decline in coal prices once again caused another effort to reopen the pit to fail. There were some later attempts to again somehow establish production at this site up until 2002 when it was decided that the establishment of the pit was uneconomical. Thorne Colliery sat upon massive reserves of coal untapped, which remain there to this very day and finally in 2004 the pumps at the site were turned of and on the 18th August of that year the headgear was demolished. The news of this saddened many members of the community and many watched at the site the day of the demolition. Thorne Colliery was ultimately closed and any lingering prospects of revival proceeded to disappear also. The sad reality of Thorne Colliery is that it never could attain its potential production estimates and was never the envisioned super-pit, but was in fact a site of unfortunate catastrophe.

One of a few reminders of the Colliery today is Thorne Colliery F.C..