Fig 1: Brinsley wooden tandem headstocks in 2017. Photo Credit – David Amos

Brinsley Headstocks: Restoring a cultural asset

Work began in October 2024 on transforming the Brinsley Headstocks site near Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. Plans for the industrial heritage, literary and wildlife site include a memorial orchard, a wildlife pond, new interpretation boards and the restoration of the wooden tandem headstocks. The latter were dismantled by Broxtowe Borough Council in December 2023 on safety grounds following a failed safety inspection earlier in the year. 

Fig 2: DH Lawrence Society event at Brinsley Headstocks in 2015.  Photo Credit – David Amos

Following a public outcry about the removal of the headstocks, a public consultation process was conducted and a decision to restore a full replica oak model incorporating the original headstocks wheels was taken by Broxtowe Borough Councillors in July 2024.

Video clip about Brinsley Headstocks since 1970 (5 mins, 05 secs)

Tandem headstocks were unique structures which were common in the Midlands coalfields in the early to mid 19th century. The Brinsley headstocks were on site until 1970 when they became surplus to National Coal Board (NCB) requirements. They were moved to what was then the National Mining Museum at Lound Hall near Retford and following its closure in 1989 they were returned to the Brinsley Colliery site in 1991 as part of the local heritage. In recent years the site has been overseen by the Friends of Brinsley Headstocks in conjunction with Broxtowe Borough Council http://brinsleyheadstocks.org/

Fig 3: Launch of the Brinsley Headstocks digital trail in September 2022. Photo Credit – David Amos

In 2022 Mine2Minds Education created a digital trail at the Brinsley headstocks site which incorporates its industrial heritage, literary and wildlife links. The idea of the digital trails is to get on-line information whilst visiting local heritage sites. https://mytrail.co.uk/location-brinsley-circular/

Fig 4: Vine Cottage and Brinsley Headstocks in the 1960’s. Photo Credit – unknown

Fig 5: Vine cottage at Brinsley in 2014. Photo Credit – David Amos

Nearby Vine Cottage was the setting for DH Lawrence’s short story, ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’, which was based on the mining fatality of his uncle, James Lawrence, who was killed by a ‘fall of roof’ at Brinsley Colliery on 24th February 1880. The story was dramatized as ‘The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd’ in one of D.H. Lawrence’s coalmining plays.

Fig 6: Poster for a 2015 ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ Day organised by the D.H. Lawrence Society at the now defunct Durban House Heritage Centre, Eastwood.

Fig 7: Arthur Lawrence who worked as a Butty (Mining Contractor) at Brinsley Colliery.

Fig 8: ‘Arthur Lawrence and the Butty System’, Journal of D.H. Lawrence Studies, Vol. 6, No.3, 2023.

D H Lawrence’s father, Arthur Lawrence worked at Brinsley Colliery mainly as a Butty (Mining Contractor) from the 1870’s to c1912. The Butty system was a sub contract system in which the Butty employed a small team of colliers to extract the coal on contract (piece rates). An article by the author, ‘Arthur Lawrence and the Butty System’, was published in the Journal of DH Lawrence Studies, Volume 6, No.3, 2023.

Fig.9: Miners Memorial Orchard at the Brinsley Headstocks site – October 2025.

Brinsley Headstocks site and Miners Memorial Orchard – October 2025

A new miners memorial bench and orchard was unveiled at the Brinsley Headstocks site on 10th July 2025. Thirty-three fruit trees have been planted to commemorate the thirty-three miners killed at Brinsley Colliery during its working life.

Fig 10: Miners Memorial bench at the Brinsley Headstocks miners memorial orchard.

Fig 11: Miners Memorial Orchard information board. 

Fig 12: Shaft tops (not the original ones) at Brinsley Headstocks in October 2025. 

Fig 13: Brinsley Headstocks in 2021. 

Fig 14: Brinsley Headstocks site in October 2025.