The pits and the pendulum of history
SOUTH YORKSHIRE saw a number collieries sunk to the east of Barnsley in the latter half of the 19th century. They continued to follow the Barnsley seam and were sunk to meet the demand for coal that would help keep pace with industrial development, and the needs of shipping and railways.
In 1851, the output from South Yorkshire collieries was an estimated 3, 375,000 tons and the number employed was around 11,750. By the turn of the century, the output was 16,100,00, with 55,000 employed and numbers continued to grow for the next 30 years.
The South Kirkby colliery was begun by the Rosedale & Ferry Hill Iron Co of Middlesbrough during the early 1870s. Tenders for the erection of 25 cottages and managers’ houses were invited in February 1875. A month later, further tenders were invited for the construction of workshops stables, and offices.
While sinking operations progressed two curious incidents were reported. During June 1875 there was outrage in South Kirkby when a large tombstone valued at £20 was taken from the local churchyard and sold by the sexton for 5s to the agent at the colliery. The agent, it was said, had ‘‘worked up’’ the tombstone as a stone table in a new house being built. The second incident concerned one of the contractors named Sharpe who was involved in the sinking of the pit. He took a box of dynamite cartridges into a cabin at the pit shaft and placed nine of them on a stove ‘‘to dry’’, the remainder being in the box on the floor of the cabin. Within a few minutes they exploded, the shock being felt for nearly a mile from the pit. The cabin was blown to pieces, the roof sent 40 feet into the air while Sharpe escaped with a severe shaking and singed hair.
The perils of sinking were brought into sharp focus in November 1877 when one of the most serious incidents in South Yorkshire – in connection with the sinking of any colliery – occurred at South Kirkby colliery. One of the shafts had been sunk to a depth of around 400 yards, and while some stone and other debris was being hoisted to the surface in a bucket a rope snapped, spilling the contents.
Around nine men, chiefly sinkers, were at work in the pit bottom. Four were killed and several others seriously injured.
The Barnsley bed or seam of coal was found on August 1, 1878 and was said to be ‘‘of an excellent quality’’. The depth of the pit was 635 yards, and the coal seam was proved to be between seven and eight feet thick.
Just before Christmas 1878 further progress was being made at South Kirkby colliery which, when opened out, The Yorkshire Post reported, ‘‘would be the deepest pit in the Yorkshire coalfield’’. Engines had been put down, capable of drawing a large quantity of coal, and arrangements had been made for the pit to connect with the Great Northern Railway and the new Swinton & Knottingley line which was nearing completion.
The Rosedale Co, one of the largest and best known ironworks and iron stone, coal mining companies in the north of England, spent more than £76,000 at South Kirkby but by early 1879 was in financial difficulties. A notice from the liquidators of the company appeared in the press in early May 1879 stating they were prepared to negotiate the sale by private contract of the South Kirkby colliery.
John Shaw of Darrington Hall and of Featherstone Main colliery was revealed as the principal purchaser of the pit in August 1881. In the following year, the pit, after lying dormant since the early part of 1879, was expected to be re-opened by a limited company – South Kirkby Colliery
Company (Limited) with a capital of £100,000 in £100 shares. The minerals leased comprised some 1,700 acres; the coal mined was from both the Barnsley and Haigh Moor seams. The Barnsley seam was regarded as the most important seam in South Yorkshire
Coal output at South Kirkby and the rest of South Yorkshire collieries continued to climb during the first few decades of the 20th century. By 1924, the output was 30,931, 671 and the workforce numbered 122,582. During the intervening years, however, coal was being upstaged by oil, and a diminishing overseas market did not help.
Among all the problems for coal in the 1930s, tragedy still dogged the industry and South Kirkby was an unfortunate victim on August 23, 1935. Ten miners were killed in a blast at the pit and there were some heroic rescue attempts by a number of other men, some of whom were not equipped with special apparatus. This was recognised when Edward Medals were presented to South Kirkby miners Norman Baster, George Beaman and James Pollitt, by King Edward at Buckingham Palace on July 15, 1936.
Significant legislation affected the mining industry before and after the Second World War. The 1938 Coal Act transferred ownership of coal deposits to the state while compensating landowners.
The Labour Government’s 1946 Coal industry Nationalisation Act shifted the coal industry into state
A group of pickets at South Kirkby Colliery during the 1984-85 miners’ strike. The pit closed on March 25, 1988.
ownership with considerable payments paid to colliery owners. The industry’s organisation came under the National Coal Board (NCB).
South Kirkby colliery, which had been privately owned since the early 1880s, became a part of the NCB in January 1, 1947. Many of the 958 inherited collieries
needed immediate attention if production and output were to increase. Under the NCB, South Kirkby underwent a £2m reconstruction scheme in the 1950s, began working additional coal seams (the Haigh Moor seam was washed out and the Barnsley Seam nearing exhaustion).
In addition to the opening of two new coal seams, skip winding was to be introduced, electrification installed, railway sidings reconstructed and new preparation plants built. South Kirkby officially merged with Hemsworth colliery in 1967.
A new drift – Riddings Drift – was established at South Kirkby in 1969 though it operated independently for a period. A major development in 1974 was the creation at South Kirkby of a central coal preparation plant to deal with coal from Ferrymoor/ Riddings Drift, Kinsley Drift and South Kirkby.
After the 1984-1985 strike, it was claimed the pit was losing money and put under review. South Kirkby colliery closed on March 25, 1988.
had many covered events at the colliery in the late 19th century, and into the following one. Photographs survive of events in the years before and after the pit’s closure. They feature pit ponies underground, pickets outside the colliery, a visit by NUM leader Arthur Scargill, miners celebrating winning 1m tons of coal – earning the colliery the nickname ‘‘Big SK’’.
A photographer was present on November 27, 2005 to capture South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council members unveiling a sculpture by Graham Ibbeson in Stockingate, South Kirkby. It is dedicated to the memory of all the miners of South Kirkby and Frickley collieries who lost their lives at work.
■ Further reading: Alan Hill The South Yorkshire Coalfield A History and Development (2001)
The cabin was blown to pieces, while the contractor escaped with a severe shaking.