South Yorkshire Coalfield
The South Yorkshire Coalfield is so named from its position within Yorkshire. It covers most of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and a small part of North Yorkshire. The exposed coalfield outcrops in the Pennine foothills and dips under Permian rocks in the east. Its most famous coal seam is the Barnsley Bed. Coal has been mined from shallow seams and outcrops since medieval times and possibly earlier.
Geography and geology
The coalfield stretches from Halifax in the north west, to the north of Bradford and Leeds in the north east, Huddersfield and Sheffield in the west, and Doncaster in the east. The major towns of Wakefield, Barnsley and Rotherham are within its boundaries.[1] It is part of the larger Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield. Its western boundary is defined by the outcropping of coal seams in the foothills of the Pennines and in the east by the descent of the coal-bearing strata under overlying rocks as they approach the North Sea. Since the creation of the county of South Yorkshire in 1974, the name can be misleading as the coalfield stretches beyond the Wakefield district and other parts of West Yorkshire as far as Keighley and Kellingley Colliery and the Selby Coalfield are in North Yorkshire. It is separate from the Ingleton Coalfield in North Yorkshire, and a small number of mines around Todmorden are part of the Lancashire Coalfield.[2]
The coal bearing rock strata or coal measures that make up the coalfield outcrop in the foothills of the Pennines and dip gently downwards from west to east. This area is known as the exposed coalfield. The coal measures are carboniferous rocks laid down between 290 and 354 million years ago. West and east of Doncaster the coal measures are overlain by younger rocks, permian limestone,[3] where the area is referred to as the concealed coal field.[4]
The northernmost extent of the South Yorkshire Coalfield is marked by the change of its richest and highest grade coal seam, the Barnsley Seam or Bed, to a thin seam of inferior coal which occurs to the north of Barnsley.[4] The southern limit was marked by the Barnsley Bed losing its coking qualities.[5]
The structure of the coal field is not significantly affected by
Coal type and seams
The coal found in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was a
The most famous seam in the South Yorkshire Coalfield was the
Other famous seams include the
History of the development of the coalfield
Pre-19th century
There is evidence of coal mining in the field as far back
The first area of the coalfield to gain access to improved transportation was the southern edge when the
The 19th century
The coal trade in the early 19th century suffered several periods of
During this period the coalfield suffered a series of fatal explosions as the available mine ventilation techniques were unable to safely deal with large quantity of methane or firedamp produced by the Barnsley seam in the deeper and larger mines being sunk. The contemporary colliery ventilation techniques were often poorly applied and even in collieries where the ventilation was well engineered the technique had a significant flaw. The flow of air was controlled by 'traps' or doors opened and closed by children when the tubs of coal passed. The children, being children, did not always close the doors when they should, resulting in explosives gases building up in the working parts of the colliery often with fatal consequences.
Some notable explosions are detailed further in the article.
The latter half of the 19th century was marked by further expansion eastwards. The opening of these collieries was possible as improved understanding of the geology of the coalfield allowed
Early 20th century
At the turn of the 20th century many of the collieries on the exposed coalfield had exhausted the Barnsley seam in their royalty and rather than abandon their investment and experienced workforces many owners sank deeper shafts to exploit the seams that lay beneath the exhausted Barnsley seam such as the Parkgate and Swallow wood seams. Some examples of this include Cortonwood, Manvers Main and Elsecar Main At this time the first collieries on the concealed coalfield were opened such as Bentley & Brodsworth Main. These new collieries suffered many problems during the sinking of their shafts through wet sandstone and quicksand. It was during 1929 as these deeper pits sunk in the early years of the 20th century came into full production that the South Yorkshire Coalfield produced its record amount of coal 33.5 m tons, 13% of Britain's coal output that year.
The early part of the century was marked by increasing competition in foreign markets for the coal and as a result some mines were amalgamated to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. Outside the coalfield technology changes also reduced the size of markets as ships moved increasingly to oil as their primary fuel source, and train routes were electrified. Despite the amalgamations the industry was still seen as inefficient and to promote more efficient development of what was still a vital resource the Government in 1938 nationalised the coal reserves. During the
Postwar
The British coal mining industry was
Post-privatisation
Post
Labour relations
There has been conflict between the mine owners and the miners for more than 200 years. A strike by miners in 1792 for higher wages at the Duke of Norfolk's collieries near Sheffield is an early example.[13]
During the 19th century a variety of unions or associations such as the Mining Association of Great Britain & Ireland, the
The 20th century brought further strikes in 1912,
Following nationalisation in 1947 working conditions improved but pay fell behind national averages. Successful strikes in the early 1970s resulted in wage improvements but as the market for UK coal declined and collieries closed, tension between the miners and the government increased and in 1984 a large scale
Mining disasters
The South Yorkshire Coalfield has suffered some the worst mining disasters in Great Britain and the largest disaster in terms of fatalities in England. Some notable disasters either for their effect outside the region or scale:
- Huskar Pit Disaster: The pit flooded during a rainstorm in 1838 and 26 children were drowned. The disaster led to the 1842 commission on the employment of children and women in mines which resulted in banning female and child labour underground.
- Warren Vale Colliery: A firedamp explosion caused by naked flame in 1851 resulted in the death of 52 miners. At the inquest the coroner insisted on an increase in the number of mines inspectors in the district.
- Lower Elsecar Colliery: A firedamp explosion in 1852 resulted in the death of 12 miners. In response to the explosion, Benjamin Biram the collieries mining engineer fitted the first underground fan to improve ventilation.
- The Oaks explosion: A series of firedamp and coal dust explosions resulted in the death of 361 men and boys on 12 December 1866. It was the worst colliery disaster in the United Kingdom until the Senghenydd colliery disasterin South Wales in 1913 and is to date the worst in England.
- Lofthouse Colliery disaster in 1973: Water from the abandoned Low Laithes Colliery (near Ossett) broke through the coal face into Lofthouse Colliery, killing seven miners.
See also
References
- JSTOR 40565032.
- ^ Northern Mine Research Society – Mines of coal and other stratified minerals in Yorkshire from 1854 Archived 14 March 2014 at archive.today
- ^ BGS, Barnsley, p. 1
- ^ a b Hill, South Yorkshire Coalfield, p. 14
- ^ a b Hill, South Yorkshire Coalfield, p. 22
- ^ Hill, South Yorkshire Coalfield, p. 20
- ^ Hill, South Yorkshire Coalfield, p. 21
- ^ BGS, Barnsley, p. 17
- ^ BGS, Barnsley, p. 55
- ^ Hill, South Yorkshire Coalfield, pp. 22–23
- ^ Clayton, Elsecar Newcomen engine, p. 1
- ^ Hill, South Yorkshire Coalfield, p. 16
- ^ a b c "History of the NUM: 1 - Towards a national union". National Union of Mineworkers. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- ^ "History of the NUM: 2 - Baptism by fire". National Union of Mineworkers. Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- ^ "History of the NUM: 3 - Fighting for Principles". National Union of Mineworkers. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- ^ "History of the NUM: 4 - The Lock-out of 1921". National Union of Mineworkers. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- ^ "History of the NUM: 5 - The general strike". National Union of Mineworkers. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
Sources
- Clayton, A.K. (1962). "The Newcomen-Type Engine at Elsecar, West Riding". .
- Hill, Alan (2001). The South Yorkshire Coalfield: A History and Development. Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1747-9.
- Taylor, Warwick (2001). South Yorkshire Pits. Wharncliffe Books. ISBN 9781871647846.
- ISBN 0-11-880583-5.