Subscribe to my you tube channel for 227+ more coal mine tributes and counting. On March 19 1987, Newstead colliery was closed after 113 years of providing employment to generations of miners in the area.
Newstead Colliery’s history began in 1874 when two 13 ft diameter shafts were sunk by the Newstead Colliery Company, close to Newstead Abbey, once the home of Lord Byron.
The ‘old village’ was built in 1875 to house miners and their families and a year later the first coal was produced. At nationalisation, Newstead had an annual output of 476,000 tonnes which was produced by 1,300 men, at an output per manshift of 1.47 tonnes.
Newstead benefitted from the development of new mining techniques. In 1957, at the age of 84 years, the pit was first recorded as topping national productivity averages. Two years later the 1,280 Newstead men produced more than a million tons of coal in a year for the first time ever - an achievement repeated a further 15 times up to 1976.All coal production came from two faces in the High Hazels seam.
However, geological conditions worsened and in 1986 the Tupton seam was abandoned due to severe problems on faces and roadways.
The mine sadly closed in March 1987,
