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Dodworth Colliery was situated just to the North of the village of Dodworth in the Barnsley Coalfield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Lat 53° 32’ 47” N, Long 1° 31’ 48”

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Originally known as Church Lane Colliery, two 12 ft-diameter, brick lined shafts were sunk by Messers Charlesworth in 1850 to a depth of 205 yards to access the Silkstone Seam (4ft 10ins thick). One shaft (named the Silkstone) was an upcast shaft and the other a downcast and coal drawing shaft. The shafts were sold to the Old Silkstone & Dodworth Coal Company which was founded in 1862. Close to the Silkstone shaft, was another downcast and coal drawing shaft (sinking date unknown) called the Flockton Shaft. This was a 10ft brick lined shaft sunk to access the Flockton Seam at a depth of 77 yards. This shaft was deepened in 1910 to a depth of 120 yards to access the Parkgate seam. In 1872 - 73, another 12ft-diameter, brick lined shaft, close to the railway sidings was sunk to a depth of 120 yards to access the Parkgate Seam.

A brick works was established to make bricks for lining the shafts. The clay was brought out of the shafts and was said to be an excellent quality fire clay.

In 1879, the colliery closed and remained idle until 1899 when it was re-opened by the newly formed Old Silkstone Collieries Ltd.

In April 1907, a disastrous surface fire at 2.a.m destroyed much of the surface plant including three headgears. Fortunately the men working underground were safely rescued. New surface plant and headgears were erected and within 2 months, the first of the new headgears was operational.

Various shaft deepenings took place and in 1927 the Whinmoor Seam (3ft 11ins thick) was reached.

The Flockton Seam was worked until 1943. The abandonment date of the Parkgate seam is unknown but by the end of the colliery reconstruction scheme in 1962, two of the four shafts (which can be seen in early photographs) appear to have been filled in and the headgears dismantled.

Nationalisation

Ownership of the colliery passed from Old Silkstone Collieries Ltd to the National Coal Board (NCB) in 1947 and Church Lane Colliery became known as Dodworth Colliery

In 1950 a decision was taken to reconstruct the colliery. The reconstruction began in 1953 and was completed by 1962. During this time, long rope haulages were eliminated and a new drift was driven to surface all the coal from the Silkstone and Whinmoor seams by conveyor belting. A new coal preparation plant was built as was pit head baths and a medical centre. Other welfare facilities such as football, cricket fields, tennis courts and bowling greens were provided which still exist in the village today. In the year from March 1982 to March 1983, Dodworth Colliery produced 637,000 tonnes of coal.

Effects of railway closures

In the early 1980’s coal was hauled from the colliery in HAA hopper wagons, usually by a class 45 diesel electric locomotive to the freight sidings at Penistone for onward movement to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station in Merseyside by electric traction over the Woodhead Line. On closure of the Woodhead line in July 1981, coal was hauled via Barnsley, usually by double headed class 37s or a single class 56 diesel electrics to Wath Marshalling Yard.

The West Side Complex and Closure

Dodworth Colliery was encompassed in the West Side Complex Project (1979-1984) and was scheduled for closure before the 1984-1985 miners strike. The West Side Project was to combine the workings of 9 different collieries - Dodworth, Redbrook, North Gawber, Woolley, Park Mill, Calder Drift, Bullcliffe Wood, Caphouse and Denby Grange by driving underground connections. The total coal output was to be surfaced via a new surface drift at the West Side Coal Preperation Plant at Woolley Colliery. In 1982, a new manriding shaft was sunk at Redbrook. The coal reserves mined by Dodworth were to be mined by the newly re-opened Redbrook Colliery but Redbrook did not survive for very long, closing in December 1987. The effect of the miner’s strike was to delay the closure of Dodworth. Sources seem to differ on the date of closure, this can probably be attributed to the miner’s strike and the complex nature of the underground interconnections. January 1985 seems to be the official closure date but underground and surface activity continued well into June 1985. The colliery was demolished in late 1987 and the site cleared.

Men Employed

Year Surface Underground

1910 173 1375 1927 166 1060 1945 296 1065 1972 1396 1984 1239

Satellite Pits

Dodworth Colliery was connected underground to a number of Satellite pits including Rob Royd, Strafford and Redbrook Collieries. Throughout its history Dodworth and Higham Colliery (about 1 mile to the north of the pit) were symbiotically linked to each other, sharing services such as pumping, ventilation, man riding and transport facilities. Like Dodworth, Higham Colliery was also sunk by Messers Charlesworth and was later owned by Old Silkstone Collieries Ltd. For many years coal from Rob Royd Colliery was wound to the surface at Dodworth Colliery. During the 1953 – 62 reconstruction scheme, an overland conveyor belt was constructed to transport coal output from Higham and Redbrook from the Higham Colliery surface drift to the coal preparation plant at Dodworth.

Coking Plant

In 1912, Dodworth Colliery Coking Plant and coal by-products plant (origionally known as Barugh New Works of Old Silkstone Collieries Ltd) were erected at Claycliffe Road at Barugh. This plant closed in 1958.

Notable Accidents

No notable accidents were recorded at Dodworth but on 15th February 1860, 13 men and boys were killed in an explosion at Higham due to the ignition of firedamp caused by a naked candle.

Disputes

Dodworth Colliery had a reputation locally for its history of union militancy. Over the years, many isolated strikes broke out at Dodworth on a regular basis.

During the 1874 strike at Church Lane, the Barnsley Illustrated Weekly reported that Dodworth Miners went mad when a party of 20-30 men alighted the train at nearby Dodworth Railway Station and were seen by lookouts being led to the colliery by the mining engineer Mr Hickinson. The Dodworh miners concluded that the party were the “new hands” or the “blacksheep” as they were termed then. The situation was further aggravated when the new men attracted the attention of local females. Disorder was narrowly averted when it transpired that the party was the Lancashire Colliery Managers Association who were on a visit to collieries in the area.

In the book PITS 2 it is reported that Jack Woffenden (died 1989), was a committed socialist idealist and was the Dodworth NUM branch president for some 24 years (dates unknown). He was known as the hardman of Dodworth and some said that he not only ran the NUM branch but the pit itself. Very few men crossed him, a few hated him but most of the men had a healthy respect for him. After Nationalisation, Jack was apparently glad to see the back of the private mine owners but accused the new NCB management of being “college boys”.

On the 19 September 1983 the colliery was on strike for the 5th time in a month. A popular miner was sacked for striking a deputy and a dispute developed to the point of bringing the entire Barnsley Coalfield to a standstill. Even NUM union officials were heckled and booed when they tried to persuade the Dodworth miners to go back to work. No miner ever crossed the picket line in this or the following year long 1984/85 miners strike.

Dodworth Colliery site today.

The neighboring Fall Bank Industrial Estate was extended onto the former Dodworth Colliery site during the early 1990s and Japanese firm Koyo Bearings was the first of many business to take up residence on the site. In 2006, the Dodworth bypass was constructed through the former railway sidings and colliery site. The graded and grassed over colliery spoil heap which dominates the local skyline together with some foundations and rusting steel wire cables along the route of the overland conveyor belt from Higham Colliery are the only surviving remnants of the colliery as of January 2011.

References

Coal in Barnsley Area, 1973, National Coal Board Coal in Barnsley Area, 1984, National Coal Board A History of Dodworth Mine Plan for Coal, Proposed Major Projects, Barnsley Area, January 1983, National Coal Board. The South Yorkshire Coalfield, A History and Development, Alan Hill, 2002 Tempus Publishing Ltd. South Yorkshire Pits, Warwick Taylor, 2001, Warncliffe Books Pits & Pitmen of Barnsley, Brian Elliott, 2001, Warncliffe Books A Nostalgic look at the building of Dodworth Colliery’s coking plant, Barnsley Chronicle, 5 January 1990 Pits, A pictorial record of mining in barnsley, John Threlkeld, 1987, Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd Pits 2, A pictorial record of mining in barnsley, John Trelkeld, 1989, Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd Sections of Strata of the Yorkshire Coalfield, W.H. Wilcockson, University of Sheffield, 1950, West Yorkshire Printing Co Ltd.

External links

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