Kiveton Park Colliery

[[File:Kiveton Pit.jpg|thumb]] {{Short description|Former coal mine in South Yorkshire, England}} {{Use British English|date=May 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox mine | name = Kiveton Park Colliery | image = File:40001 Kiveton Park Colliery.jpg | width = | caption = 40001 Kiveton Park Colliery | pushpin_map = South Yorkshire | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption= | pushpin_image = | pushpin_label = | pushpin_label_position = | coordinates = {{coord|53|20|21|N|1|15|48|W|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:GB}} | place = | subdivision_type = | state/province = | country = England | products = Coal<br>[[Coke (fuel)|Coke]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Durham Mining Museum - Kiveton Park Coal Co. Ltd.|url=http://www.dmm.org.uk/company/k1003.htm|website=www.dmm.org.uk|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref> | amount =  | financial year = | type = | greatest depth = | opening year = {{Start date|1866}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Sheffield Coalfield - Northern Mine Research Society|url=https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/yorkshire-coalfield/sheffield/|website=nrms.org.uk|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref> | closing year = {{End date|1994}} | owner = | official website =  | acquisition year = | module =  }} '''Kiveton Park Colliery''' was a coal mine in the village of [[Kiveton Park]], near [[Rotherham]], [[South Yorkshire]], England.

== History ==

Until 1845, Kiveton was a rural village, where the main work was in agriculture. In that year, a railway line was built through the district, which connected [[Sheffield]] with [[Worksop]], [[Retford]], and [[Grimsby]].

This line became part of the [[Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway]]. It provided a significant freight transport connection. Within 20 years of the railway's opening, coal was being mined at many locations along the line and transported and sold to merchants in the Manchester area and in the port of Grimsby.

In 1864, Carrington and Company leased rights to mine coal in the area around Kiveton. Sinking began on 6 June 1866 and the [[Barnsley seam]] was reached on 5 December 1867, just over {{convert|400|yd|m}} below the surface.

In 1873, the Kiveton Park Colliery Company was founded, replacing the prior trading name and operation. Initially, gas was obtained from the Beighton Gas Company, but in the 1870s the company began to make their own. This lasted until 1956, when it started to draw a supply from the grid.

A new mining shaft was sunk in 1886, to reach the [[Thorncliffe seam]]. It reached its target at a depth of almost {{convert|700|yd|m}}. This coal was used for coking purposes and coke ovens were built adjacent to the colliery. The seam, because of a band of dirt at its centre, was an uneconomic proposition and abandoned after 10 years.

Another shaft was sunk adjacent to that serving the Barnsley seam and connected to it. For ventilation purposes this shaft was taken down to the [[Silkstone seam]] at over {{convert|700|yd|m}}. Passing through the [[High Hazels seam]] at just over {{convert|300|yd|m}} this was opened up in 1900 because of its very good quality house coal. The small coal mined was used for manufacturing purposes. Until 1929, all coal was mined by hand, but in the years to 1940, the mining was mechanised.

In 1928, an amalgamation took place between Kiveton Park and Sherwood Collieries and in 1944 they were taken over by the [[United Steel Companies]]. The mining industry was nationalised in 1947.

The Barnsley seam was worked out in 1970, after just over 100 years of providing coal from its reserves. The colliery was closed in 1994.<ref>{{PastScape |num=888316 |desc=Kiveton Park Colliery |access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref>

Both the colliery offices and the pithead baths were [[grade II listed]] in October 1986. The offices date from 1875 and their listing makes note of their unusual survival in the [[South Yorkshire Coalfield]].<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Kiveton Park Colliery Offices|num=1286364|grade=II|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{NHLE|desc=Bath-House at Kiveton Park Colliery|num=1151908|grade=II|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref> The pithead baths, despite being a listed structure, was demolished in late 2013.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gallimore|first1=Hayley|title=Kiveton: Last look inside pithead baths|url=https://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/kiveton-last-look-inside-pithead-baths-1-5956711|access-date=2 May 2018|work=Worksop Guardian|date=15 August 2013|archive-date=2 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502213048/https://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/kiveton-last-look-inside-pithead-baths-1-5956711|url-status=dead}}</ref> Much of the former site to the south of the colliery offices was remediated and landscaped before opening as the Kiveton Community Woodland.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kiveton Community Woodland|url=https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englandsouthyorkshirenoforestkivetoncommunitywoodland|website=www.forestry.gov.uk|access-date=2 May 2018|archive-date=2 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502211149/https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englandsouthyorkshirenoforestkivetoncommunitywoodland|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kiveton Community Woodland - The Land Trust|url=https://thelandtrust.org.uk/space/kiveton-community-woodland/?doing_wp_cron=1525260409.0960710048675537109375|website=thelandtrust.org.uk|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref>

==Fatal incidents==

In November 1882, an underground explosion killed four men.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Elliott|first1=Brian|title=South Yorkshire Mining Disasters - Volume One; the Nineteenth Century|date=2006|publisher=Wharncliffe Books|location=Barnsley|isbn=1-903425-64-6|page=146}}</ref>

In June 1941, an explosion at the mine killed at least two miners. A fracture in a lamp was believed to have ignited a pocket of gas and caused the explosion in the Barnsley Seam. Five men were burned, two of whom died at the scene.<ref>{{cite web|title=COLLIERY EXPLOSION, KIVETON PARK. (Hansard, 26 June 1941)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1941/jun/26/colliery-explosion-kiveton-park|website=api.parliament.uk|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref>

==Links to notable people==

John Dennis, great-grandfather of comedian [[Hugh Dennis]], was a miner at Kiveton Park Colliery.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Hugh Dennis |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mmlx5 |series=Who Do You Think You Are? |series-link=Who Do You Think You Are? (UK TV series) |network=BBC |date=12 September 2012 |series-no=9 |number=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/tv-series/episodes/hugh-dennis |title=Hugh Dennis on Who Do You Think You Are?: Everything you need to know |website=www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com |access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref>

Walter Cecil Castledine, father of theatre director [[Annie Castledine]] and grandfather of writer and academic [[Helen Morales]], was an electrical engineer at Kiveton Park Colliery.

== References == {{reflist}}

''East of Sheffield'' by Roger Milnes. "Forward" - The journal of the Great Central Railway Society, No.16, July 1984. {{ISSN|0141-4488}} (This article also uses unpublished material researched for "East of Sheffield" from various sources including members of the Kiveton and Wales Local History Group).

Official Company Handbook of the United Steel Companies.

[[Category:1994 disestablishments in England]] [[Category:Coal mines in Rotherham]] [[Category:Coal mines in South Yorkshire]] [[Category:Underground mines in England]] [[Category:1864 establishments in England]] [[Category:Companies established in 1864]] [[Category:Energy companies established in 1864]] [[Category:Companies disestablished in 1994]] [[Category:Wales, South Yorkshire]]