Fig 1: Pye Hill Colliery sunset 1985 – Photo Credit – SLHP
Salistune Sunset: The end of deep coalmining in a Nottinghamshire parish.
Deep coalmining in the parish of Selston, Nottinghamshire, came to an end forty years ago on 9th August 1985 when the Pye Hill complex closed. The complex was a 1968 merger of Selston Colliery, Underwood, and nearby Pye Hill colliery at Jacksdale, with the Underwood end being for production purposes i.e. access to the coalfaces and developments, and Pye Hill where the coal surfaced for preparation and dispatching to Trent Valley power stations by rail.
The name Selston was derived from the Old Saxon word, Salistune, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Selston parish is situated eleven miles north-west of the city of Nottingham, in the Ashfield region and borders the county of Derbyshire.
Fig 2: 1739 updated map (1805) showing vested coal mining interests on the exposed coalfield of the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire borders. Photo Credit: The Nottinghamshire coalfield 1881-1981
The Pye Hill complex was the last deep coal mining on the old exposed coalfield on the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire borders. Locally, the exposed coalfield is referred to as the ‘outcrop’ and the earliest records of coal mining there date from the early fourteenth century at Cossall near Ilkeston. The Carthusian Order of monks at nearby Beauvale Priory had a vested interest in coal mining until the dissolution of the Monasteries. The whole area around Underwood and Jacksdale is littered with old coal workings.
Figure 3: Sketch of Selston Colliery (Underwood) by Alan Gill. Photo Credit – Selstonia Living Heritage Project
Selston Colliery – Underwood (1875-1985)
Selston Colliery (Underwood) was originally an 1875 upgrading of an older shaft by the Barber Walker Co as a coal winding shaft to the Deep Soft seam with a new winding engine being installed in 1880. It merged with nearby Brinsley Colliery, with the Selston shaft being the downcast and Brinsley’s twin shafts the upcast. In the novel ‘Sons and Lovers’ by DH Lawrence, Selston was referred to as Selby Colliery. Arthur Lawrence, father of the controversial Eastwood author, D.H. Lawrence, was employed as a Butty (Mining Contractor) at Brinsley Colliery.
Fig 4: Selston Colliery at Underwood in 1963. Photo Credit – David Amos collection
NCB Days at Selston Colliery (Underwood).
At nationalisation in 1947, the colliery became part of the National Coal Board (NCB) East Midlands Division No. 5 Area. In the reorganisation of 1967 it was located into the newly formed NCB South Nottinghamshire Area and soon after was renamed Pye Hill No.1 Colliery as part of the Pye Hill complex, becoming the administrative base for the complex.
Figure 5: Pye Hill No.2 Colliery in 1946 just prior to nationalisation. Photo Credit – SLHP archive
Pye Hill Colliery (1874 – 1985).
Pye Hill Colliery was an 1874 sinking by James Oakes Ltd of Riddings, right on the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border. Technically, it was a development of three individual older pits sunk by different mining companies. Originally called ‘New Silkstone’, it was renamed Pye Hill Colliery in 1894. The nearby coal mining community of Jacksdale grew around the colliery, the older coal mining of Westwood was nearby. In 1892 James Oakes developed New Selston Colliery which was known locally as ‘The Bull Pit’ after the Bull and Butcher public house which was situated near to it. New Selston Colliery closed in 1956 when it was merged with Pye Hill Colliery.
Figure 6: Construction of the Pye Hill Surface Drift 1966-67. Photo Credit – D. Amos collection
NCB Days at Pye Hill
Like Selston (Underwood) Colliery, Pye Hill went into the NCB East Midlands Division No. 5 Area at nationalisation. Within a few years, the separate collieries of Pye Hill, New Selston and Selston (Underwood) along with nearby Moorgreen at Eastwood, began to be streamlined both in terms of mining and coal surfacing arrangements. In 1967 a 789 metre surface drift was completed at Pye Hill as part of the arrangements for the Pye Hill Complex (Fig 6). In the late 1960’s the remaining reserves in the Blackshale seam were redistributed between the Pye Hill complex and Moorgreen. Pye Hill colliery was renamed Pye Hill No.2 and became responsible for the Surface Drift, Coal Preparation Plant and dispatching of coal by rail and lorry.
Fig 7: Pye Hill No. 2 Colliery in the last week of production in early August 1985. Photo by David Amos
The Pye Hill Complex was regarded as being one of the most productive and efficient collieries in the Britain. In the 1970’s it led the way with many new mining innovations including chainless haulage on the coal face by using a tooth rack instead of a haulage chain. A mini face only 45m long with only one access gate was pioneered in 1983.
Fig 3: Sussex constabulary police vans at Pye Hill Colliery – March 1984. Photo Credit – SLHP archive
The 1984-85 miners strike at Pye Hill
A great irony during the 1984-85 miners strike was that the name of Pye Hill No.1 NUM Branch, a colliery which was due to close, instigated the legal action which resulted in the strike being declared unofficial in the Nottingham Area NUM. Colin Clarke, NUM Branch Delegate at Pye Hill No. 1 Branch, initiated the legal action and was later involved in setting up the Notts and National Working Miners Committees with John Liptrott from Sherwood NUM branch. In the Nottingham NUM Area Strike Ballot on 15th / 16th March 1984, the combined Pye Hill NUM branches voted 648 (82%) to 139 (18%) against striking.
Fig 9: Miners come off the cage at Pye Hill No.1 on the final day of production – 9th August 1985. Photo Credit – SLHP Archive
End of an Era: Closure of the Pye Hill Complex – August 1985.
Coal production finished on 9th August 1985 with the last coal being produced from the Blackshale seam. Originally called the Silkstone seam, it had been mined continuously at Pye Hill since 1894. The Piper seam was worked from 1979 until June 1985. Pye Hill No. 1 miner, Don Hankin, said “It’s been a sad day, I felt I was saying goodbye to an old friend”.
Closure had been agreed between the NCB South Nottinghamshire Area and the Nottingham Area of the NUM in June 1983 and from that time a steady rundown of the manpower occurred with men over 50 taking advantage of the enhanced redundancy terms under the Redundant Mineworkers Pension Scheme (RMPS) and younger miners under 50 transferring to other Nottinghamshire collieries so older miners there could take advantage of voluntary redundancy terms.
Fig 10: Last coalface at the Pye Hill complex – August 1985.
End of Deep Coal Mining on the exposed coalfield
The Pye Hill Complex was the last deep coal mining in the former NCB East Midlands No.5 Area, originally made up of twenty-one production collieries at ‘Vesting Day’, eleven in Derbyshire and ten in Nottinghamshire. Following the closure of Ormonde Colliery in 1970, the last Derbyshire colliery in the region, only Moorgreen and the Pye Hill Complex remained. It was an ‘end of an era’ for a region where deep coalmining went back several centuries to medieval times.
Fig 11: Pye Hill commemorative pit plate – Photo Credit: SLHP archive
A Commemorative Pit Plate, a Closure Booklet, and a Dedication Service
From the post 1984-85 strike period through to the early 1990’s, commemorative pit plates were popular, particularly as collieries rapidly closed throughout British coalfields. One was produced for the Pye Hill complex following its closure (Fig. 11).
Fig 12: Pye Hill closure booklet. Source – D.Amos collection
Additionally, to commemorate the closure of the Pye Hill complex, a special booklet was produced by the NCB South Nottinghamshire Area giving a potted history of the joint collieries. Free copies were distributed to the workforce as a memento. The booklet paid tribute to the local miners:
‘Although the closure of any colliery is always a sad event, this booklet is intended as a tribute to the local miner’s achievements and to those who stayed behind after a lifetime at the pit’.
Fig 13: Unveiling of the Underwood mining memorial at St Michaels Church in September 1985. Photo Credit – David Amos collection.
A ‘dedication service’ to mark the end of deep coal mining in the parish of Selston was held at St Michaels and Angels Church, Underwood, on 28th September 1985 at which a new mining memorial was unveiled (Fig 13). Special guests were Albert Wheeler, Director of the recently formed NCB Nottinghamshire Area, a merger of the NCB North and South Nottinghamshire Area’s, Jim Hewitson (Industrial Relations Officer – NCB Nottinghamshire Area) and the Rt. Rev R. Darby (Bishop of Southwell).
Fig 14: Smotherfly Opencast coalmine in the 1990’s- Photo Credit: SLHP archive.
Smotherfly Opencast
Although deep coal mining ended on the old exposed coalfield, opencast mining known locally as ‘outcropping’, continued in the Erewash Valley on the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire border. The Pye Hill colliery site, along with the adjacent sites of the closed Oakes Pipe Yard and Kempston’s Acid Works, were all outcropped in the 1990’s leaving no traces of the former industrial sites. The opencast site was called Smotherfly and worked from 1993 to 1998. (Fig. 14).
Fig 15: Underwood Mining Memorial – Photo Credit David Amos
Pye Hill Mining Memorials
Underwood Mining Memorial
The memorial for Pye Hill No. 1 colliery is situated in the church yard of St Michaels and All Angels Church at Underwood and was unveiled in 1985 (Fig 15).
Fig 16: Pye Hill Colliery mining memorial at Jacksdale August 2020 – Photo David Amos
Pye Hill Colliery mining memorial
The coalmining heritage of the Pye Hill area is represented by a replica half headstock wheel (Fig 16) situated in the former coal mining village of Jacksdale, near to the site of the war memorial whose soldier was reinstated in a special community event in 2009.
Fig 17: Colliery workshops and the clock at Pye Hill No.2 colliery after closure. Photo Credit – SLHP archive
The Pye Hill Clock
The Pye Hill clock was made by John Smiths and Sons of Derby and was situated on top of the Central Workshops (later the Colliery Stores building) at Pye Hill Colliery from 1902 to closure in 1985. At the time of closure it was in a sad state of repair but had an amazing journey which eventually saw it restored and brought back to working order, but not locally!
Initially the clock went to the Lound Hall Mining Museum near Retford, Nottinghamshire, which at the time was planned to be the National Coal Mining Museum for England. When this closed in 1989, the clock was transferred to the Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum in Staffordshire. However, the move to Chatterley Whitfield was to be short lived as the museum ran into financial difficulties in 1993 and the clock, along with other mining artefacts, were auctioned off in April 1994 to accrue funds to pay off debts which the museum had incurred.
Fig 18: The preserved Pye Hill clock at Chatterley Whitfield mining museum (left) and the Whieldon Road Industrial Estate, Stoke on Trent (right). Photo Credit – SLHP Archive
Luckily, John Key, a Stoke-on-Trent business-man, brought it and set about getting it installed as a monument to coal miners past and present. In 1995 it was erected on a new brick plinth just off the Whieldon Road industrial site at Stoke-on-Trent with an official unveiling ceremony taking place on 12th December 1995.
Fig 19: Pye Hill miners in 1985. Photo Credit – SLHP Archive
Pye Hill – Coal Ghosts
In Orphean chambers underground,
No picks and shovels now resound,
Twisted girders, memorial shrines
Cenotaphs of Draconian Times
The Miners, swarthy, loyal men,
Now walk the field, remembering when,
The work was hard and friendship good,
But coal demanded flesh and blood.
From ‘Death of a Pit’
By Maurice Holmes – Pye Hill Colliery.
Blog by David Amos
Heritage Resources Officer
Mine2Minds Education
Posted 26th July 2025
References.
Griffin, A, R, The Nottinghamshire Coalfield 1881-1981: A Century of Progress, (1981).
Insall, P, Changing Times: A History of the Pye Hill Clock, (1996).
NCB South Nottinghamshire Area, Pye Hill Colliery 1874 to 1985, (1985).
Nottingham Area NUM minutes, 1983.
Pitmen say farewell to a ‘dear old friend’, Notts Free Press, 16th August 1985
Pye Hill closes after 110 years, R.Bradley, www.healeyhero.co.uk 1985. Page 9.
Selstonia Living History Project archive, Various notes, photographs and documents on the history of coal mining in Selston Parish.
Wain, David, Unpublished notes, documents and oral testimony on the history of Pye Hill Colliery.
Whitelock, G.C.H. 250 Years in Coal: A History of the Barber Walker Co and Ltd, (1956).
Workers Education Association, Selston Branch, Some Aspects of Selston’s Mining, (1988).
Workers Education Association, Selston Branch, Selston: A History and Date Book, (1993).