Keresley colliery history book

Coventry colliery coventry, west midlands, uk mines on. Coventry colliery was a coal mine located in the village of keresley, close to the town of bedworth, england. In 1963 ncb coal products opened a pilot plant south of the colliery for the production of homefire briquettes. Keresley lies within the bablake and it is bounded by the woodlands, whoberley, sherbourne, radford and holbrook wards. Pictures from the past of miners at the former coventry colliery in keresley. P another well known coal owner wyken and alexandra collieries quickly adding craven colliery to their portfolio from september 19. The two pit wheels were sold to businessman andrew ambrose who kept them on land near sutton stop.

The shafts were deepended by 109 metres 358 ft in the 1950s. Keresley is a village split down the middle by the miners strike. Miners moved to this pit after the closure of the wyken, but it too became exhausted by 1919. A mine was sunk in 1911, known as coventry colliery, and the village of new keresley was built to house the men seeking employment there. History of keresley, in coventry and warwickshire map and. I am intending to add a canal system into the layout, one of the dioramas will be a coal mine complex my question is how was the bulk coal loaded into the narrowboats from the mines pictures or drawings would be a great help so i can scratch build. The pit mined its last coal in 1996, and today a business park and country park occupy the site. Neighbouring villages include corley, corley moor, ash green and brownshill green. Mar 18, 2006 in 1911 the population of keresley was still only 689. North of england institute of mining and mechanical.

Keresley newland high school public group facebook. A number of more modern pits were opened up through this well explored northern and eastern area during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as developments at new locations. For centuries keresley was a village of two halves, keresley green to the north and keresley heath to the south. During planning and building the surface infrastructure for the new colliery, employment of 3,000 mineworkers was expected at completion. At that time coundon had a population of less than 100. Meanwhile in 1919 a railway branch line was built to serve keresley colliery. The former hamlet and civil parish of keresley lay about 2. Miners and trade unionists gather at tower green to march to westminster, where they. Robert russell, managing director of the company cut the first sod for the no 1 shaft of coventry colliery in the first week of april 1912. In 1911 the population of keresley was still only 689. The book closes with a full copy of the warsop vale1946 electoral roll. Information on the binley and earnsford grange areas of coventry.

In 1925 a redundant wooden sinkers hut was given to be used as a home for the mission. James, who was amazed to see this super photo on the internet, thinks that the backdrop is keresley colliery park, which is at the bottom of thompson road off. Two shops bought in keresley village for new church. Some of the pictures here are from this book, but i will add new material and updates as they are received. As a result of the colliery a new settlement grew up by the colliery at keresley newland. Coundon was also a very small village in the middle ages. Workers and their families at coventry and warwickshires collieries were caught up in a 12month battle. The dispute is credited with resulting in the closure of the pit. The shafts were then used for pumping purposes and man riding. Markham main colliery was a coal mine in armthorpe, on the eastern edge of doncaster.

Wounds still run deep and memories remain raw in keresley over the events of 30 years ago, when the whole community was caught up in the national miners strike. The ley suffix is shared by many villages in the country, and means a clearing in the woods. Are you concerned about a planning matter maybe we can help. The land is bounded to the north by a road and to the east by agricultural land. Despite the difficulties of accessing the coal, mining has had a more or less continuous history in the coventry area since the late sixteenth century. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Feb 25, 2017 in its heyday coventry colliery was producing a million tonnes of coal a year and employing more than 1,000 miners. It could be seen, and was a landmark, from the nearby m18. History of lamesley gateshead history, felling history.

Keresley end go back at the turn of the century, keresley was a truly rural area of quiet beauty, with a few farmhouses dotted here and there, until rich seams of coal were discovered underground. A look back at coventry colliery coventrylive coventry telegraph. Kellingley colliery could close within 18 months, with the loss of around 700 jobs. Information, photographs and plans for keresley coal mine on the mine exploration web site uk. Volume 8, the city of coventry and borough of warwick. Then in 1911 shafts were sunk by a coal mining company near keresley.

In 1925 a redundant wooden sinkers hut was given to be used as a home for the mission church of the parish of. Keresley was not mentioned in the domesday book 1086. Timeline of st thomas the parish of keresley with coundon. Collycroft colliery brickworks stood derelict for years after closure, although i do not. Lamesley welcome to the lamesley page which brings you a little of the history and a news item from 1857 as well as a link to the history of ravensworth castle covered elsewhere st. Because of updated methods and machinery, only about 2,000 men were employed there at any one time. For most of its history, keresley was a combination of two further villages. History of lamesley gateshead history, felling history, low. A timeline of keresley an encyclopedia of world history.

Instead, keresley first appears in writing in the mid 12th century. Im more than happy, however, to be able to correct this due to hearing from james dimbleby, who seems to recall being the little drummer in the front row at this commonwealth party, which most probably occurred in 1949 to celebrate the creation of the modern commonwealth, and which. Keresley had become a pit village when colliery workings began in 1908. Coventry colliery closed in 1991, only to reopen briefly again between 1994 and 1996. Keresley green was the most northerly and first to exist, but it was keresley heath to the south which was developed the most with the building of schools and the church of st. Miners and their wives from keresley colliery, coventry, demonstrate in the vicinity of the tower of london. A brickworks using shale from the colliery was built in 1879. The first two shafts in 1925 were sunk to 690 metres 2,260 ft. It could be argued that coal mining is coventrys oldest continuous industry, though the difficulty is one of definition of geographical area. Coventry colliery was a coal mine located in the village of keresley, close to the town of. These notes have been edited and brought up to date for this website by the current vicar, mr norris.

Coventry colliery the first warwickshire coal company ltd was registered in 1901 by the proprietors of the wyken collieries who owned three small collieries to the north of coventry. Ive found a few of my old school friends but id love to hear from anyone else i was at school with. Maff ministryof agriculture fisberics and food agricultural land classification coventry colliery, keresley agricultural land gr 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 ade 1 1. The warwickshire coal company acquired land at leighton farm, keresley, around the turn of the century, and sinkers drilling bore holes discovered an abundance of coal.

The etymology of the word keresley suggests that it is saxon in origin, meaning that the name could originate from the 7th century, although the village was not cited in the domesday book of 1086. History of brandon colliery 18561960 moran, laurie on. Keresley 30 years on from the national miners strike. Hi my name was julie pittam i went to keresley newland school from 19791984. This means that keresley was clearing in the forest of. Mar 03, 2009 the miners strike of 1984 was one of the most hard fought industrial disputes ever seen. This free content was digitised by double rekeying. A hamlet of some 55 houses, called the concrete cottages, was built nearby for the workers. Exploration at keresley started in 1911 but it took them six years to reach the warwickshire thick coal at 720 feet depth. Housing was built for miners at keresley newland and keresley end along with a. The coventry colliery was very productive and in 1928 the warwickshire coal company had almost open wagons on hire and significant contracts to supply slack to electricity generation stations in birmingham and coventry and by 1939 coventry colliery was producing 1,000,000 tons of coal per year.

The history of exhall colliery is complicated with workings in pits whose workings were absorbed into the later colliery back into the 18th century. Mar 08, 2014 even the coventry colliery social club the venue for union meetings and endofshift drinking sessions has been flattened and the golden eagle pub, keresleys only other watering hole. A branch railway from foleshill to the coventry colliery crosses the northeast. Uk coal had first proposed its extension by three years, alongside a similar extension to the life of thoresby colliery in nottinghamshire, which closed in july 2015, but business minister matthew hancock argued that the. A new book is now available on the history of this group of bedworth collieries. The miners strike of 1984 was one of the most hard fought industrial disputes ever seen. The mapperley colliery company poster is from a programme for the royal agricultural show, the final time it was held in derby, 1933, on what is now ascot drive industrial estate. After privatization of the national coal board in the 1990s the mine was taken over by rjb mining later uk coal as uk coal thoresby ltd. Keresley shares much of its history with coundon, as it did its church, but the past 150 years have created some rather peculiar internal changes of their own. It is about half a mile north of keresley, a suburb of coventry, and being near to the former keresley colliery, it was where many coal miners lived. Reids handy colliery guide and directory for the counties of northumberland, durham, yorkshire, cumberland and westmorland. Coventry colliery, keresley agricultural land gr 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 ade 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 quality area ha excellent nil very good 12.

The colliery ceased underground operations for good in 1991. Kellingley colliery closed on 18 december 2015, marking the end of deep mining in the united kingdom. Let the coventry society know your binley and earnsford grange news and share your memories of binley. The church of the ascension, keresley, was demolished in december 1994, after the building became unsafe two years before keresley colliery finally closed. Members of the warsop vale local history society and other warsop vale veterans provided other contributions included in the book. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Coventry and keresley colliery sports and social club. The chapelry includes also coundon hamlet in holy trinity parish. Nuneaton and bedworth history local and family history.

That is an interested snippet of information, but i would query that road lorries from keresley colliery unloaded by the gas works as they had an extensive frontage there, and no obvious road access, unless the warwickshire coal company ncb had permission by coventry corporation to do so. The binley area of coventry is a large mostly residential area of coventry with some interesting history and heritage. It is about half a mile north of keresley, a suburb of coventry, and being near to the former. The colliery s main shafts are just outside the northeast boundary of keresley on newland house farm in exhall, but the buildings, the branch railway, and other workings have straddled the boundary on to part of. However, it did get mentioned in the domesday book. The first shafts were sunk in 1911 with mining starting in earnest in 1917. Photographs of keresley coal mine on the mining history web site uk. Get premium, high resolution news photos at getty images. Bbc coventry and warwickshire history remembering the. History of keresley, in coventry and warwickshire map. The original colliery wyken colliery had been served by the oxford canal, but a short standard gauge mineral branch was constructed to the lnwr coventry to. Closed in 1991, the site today has been redeveloped as a distribution park, owned by prologis. Andrews church is the most distinctive landmark in the lamesley village area. In its heyday coventry colliery was producing a million tonnes of coal a year and employing more than 1,000 miners.

Ltd leased a large area around bentley, from sir william cooke, in order to sink shafts. Id previously assumed that this photo was taken in 1953 for queen elizabeths coronation. Hi recently retired and am finally able to create a n gauge model train layout which is still in the planning and fact finding stage. Young boys were employed in warwickshire coalfields in the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally published by victoria county history, london, 1969. Keresley community church opens, an ecumenical church shared by anglicans and methodists. Nov 22, 2008 coventry colliery is in the village of keresley on the outskirts of the city of coventry. Keresley end is a village in warwickshire, england. It wasnt always just the one village though, originally keresley was two villages, keresley green, the first to exist, and keresley heath and they remained so until 1974 when they became one. In britain coal mines were nationalised in 1947 and in the 1950s miners from other areas south wales, scotland and northeast england came to work in keresley colliery.