Coal Mining, Whittonstall

There is a long history of coal mining around Whittonstall. There are remains of bell pits around the area, indicating small scale coal mining in the 17th century or earlier[1]. (Bell pits referr to the shape of the excavation; a narrow vertical shaft was sunk down to the coal or iron ore seam, which was then opened out into a small chamber. Typically, little supporting timber was used, so once the roof became unsafe, the pit was abandoned and another shaft sunk nearby). Whittonstall Colliery operated from the c.1820s to the mid-19th century (but little information on this).[2] Whittonstall Drift Mine operated from 1907 to 1966; in 1921 there were 401 people employed at the mine (322 working below ground, 79 on the surface)[3] In the 1910's the drift mine was owned by Consett Iron Co., Ltd. There were railway links between the mines owned by Consett Iron Co., Ltd. This was a narrow gauge electric railway (German shareholders favoured electric traction, as with the Harton Electric Railway, which had similar, but larger locomotives). However, post nationalisation of the coal industry, the railway here was converted from electric to cable haulage.[4] Opencast mining was undertaken in the 1970s (the earthwork remains of the manorial site of Whittonstall Hall were scheduled in 1968 to give legal protection to the heritage site, but was removed from the Schedule in 1970 for the coal mining to take place).[5] In the early 2010s there were proposals by UK Coal to mine 2 million tonnes of coal over a seven-year period at Whittonstall. There was widespread public opposition to the proposed opencast mining, led by Whittonstall Action Group. UK Coal withdrew the proposal in June 2014.[6]