COAL MINING on BEELEY MOOR
Beeley moor coal pits are mentioned in a farmer’s diary written 1864-66 by William Hodkin of Beeley and transcribed by his great grandson is an interesting social history document including some interesting references to the Beeley Moor coal pits. William Hodkin seems to have been exploring the possibility of coal on Beeley Moor as the following unedited diary entries revealed –
1864
April 18th. ‘Went to Bakewell Market…. John Smith took ½ ton of coal to the Beeley Moor coal pit, looked after cattle ….’Tuesday April 19th. ‘Put 8 goslings to their Mother. Went on Beeley Moor went down in the Coal Pit came home and gardened a little then ….’
Thursday 24th April. ‘Choping for the cows and horses in the morning, went to the coal pit before noon ….’
Wednesday 1st June. ‘A very sharp frost last night …. Went to the coal pit at night went down to the bottom ….’
Saturday 4th June. ‘Jillett buld by our own bull…..Went up to the coal pit went down into the pit and brought a lump of coal home with me. …..’
Friday 10th. ‘Cuting thistles in the mains and looked at the sheep and went onto the moor to the coal pit went down the pit and found the chink so that the water can run off. After dinner …..’
Monday 27th. ‘Went to Bakewell Market paid into the Sheffield and Rotherham Bank 2£ 10s. for the shares that I hold in the Beeley main colliery, Paid Mr Else of …..’
Thursday 13th September. ‘John went to Boythorpe for coal for ourselves 1 ton 17cwt. I went to Chatsworth with Mr Mayhew and a few more to meet Mr Cottingham to consult about the coal on Beeley Moor what steps should be taken, whe agree to test the mines by Boring, the Duke agrees to pay half the expens if no coal can be found.’
Then there is almost a year before another entry relating to the coal pit.
1865
Thursday 17th August. ‘Cuting oats in the common piece till 11 o’clock then raked the ground that was cut. I went to the coal pit with Mr Mayhey and Mr Fearn and others to see if it was likely to find any coal but no likelyhood of coal a very showery day.’
There is reference in Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology A Gazetteer of Sites Part IV to an “infilled shaft and disturbed ground on a section of Beeley Moor may be the remains of a small coal pit” at SK285686.
On the ground there is little to see.
John Barnatt surveyed the area for Chatsworth Estate which showed there were old coal mines that worked the Baslow Seam mostly lying on lower ground South of SK285686 above the walled green lane and centred on SK 284684.
The main Beeley Colliery has 21-23 shafts/upcast mounds (none open) and a further 10 small opencast pits.
John Barnatt also provided the follwing information –
1. The rights to mine coal on Beeley Moor were sold in 1559-60 – these workings (if they took place shortly after this date) may well be at the pits noted above, as these are the only known coal workings in Beeley Parish.
2. In 1725 an article agreement was drawn up between the Duke of Devonshire and George Savile re recent disputes over coal mining in the Lordship of Beeley – while no exact site is mentioned, the existence of this agreement suggests that Beeley Colliery was active at around this date. In contrast, the surviving detailed Chatsworth estate accounts from 1747, when the Dukes acquired Beeley Lordship, to the 1770s have no rental income from a colliery at Beeley and therefore it is unlikely that it was in work in this period.
3. The colliery is noted by Farey in 1811 as no longer producing coal but still worked for ganister. The coal working he refers to probably took place from the 1770s onwards in the period for which no estate accounts survive, given that it was noted in 1835 that local people remembered the colliery in work about 70 years previously (i. e. 1765 – but memories were presumably a little hazy).
4. Archives in Chatsworth House include an assessment of the colliery in 1835. It was noted that ‘slight working’ had been undertaken 21-22 years ago by a Mr Bell (i. e. 1813-14 – perhaps that for ganister noted by Farey). In 1835 further trial workings/explorations were undertaken, including the sinking of at least one shaft. Economic workable reserves were not found.
5. In 1886 another written assessment was made – noting ‘ a few years since a company was formed to work this coal’ and that they sank a shaft. Again economic workable reserves were not found. I has previously assumed that noted prior working took place in the 1870s/early 1880s – but the diary entries you have found raise the possibility that this took place in the 1860s. However, another possibility is that this was yet another episode of working that was forgotten about by 1886, perhaps at the trial shaft that started this enquiry. A note of caution also perhaps needs to be raised, in that there are further small-scale coal workings on the moors above centred at SK 288706 (Baslow parish) and ganister pits at SK 209689 (Brampton parish). While these technically lie on different moors – did the diary writer recognise this as a relevant distinction? Does the reference to ‘Beeley main colliery’ suggest Hodkin’s pit was elsewhere or alternatively at the ‘main colliery’?
Why they took coal to the pit in 1864 is a mystery – it is highly unlikely there was a steam engine here – nothing is noted in the known accounts and there is no trace identified on the ground. It seems likely that the workings were too small in scale to warrant an expensive engine – at the two deepest shafts (i.e. those furthest from outcrop with larger hillocks), there is archaeological evidence for a horse-drawn gin engine in one case and a possible example at the other.
The area of Beeley Moor you give a map reference for is one I surveyed by John Barnatt for Chatsworth Estate which showed there were old coal mines that worked the Baslow Seam, but these mostly lie on lower ground south of the reference given, above the walled green lane – centred SK 284684. An isolated possible shaft lies a little west of the reference you give – adjacent to the wall running to the moor top. As you say there is no coal here – the shaft mound is small and it is unlikely that it went to the Baslow Seam at depth – presumably it was an aborted trial (by someone who didn’t understand the geology?). The main Beeley Colliery has 21-23 shafts/upcast mounds (none open) and a further 10 small opencast pits. I have previously traced the following history:
1. The rights to mine coal on Beeley Moor were sold in 1559-60 – these workings (if they took place shortly after this date) may well be at the pits noted above, as these are the only known coal workings in Beeley Parish.
2. In 1725 an article agreement was drawn up between the Duke of Devonshire and George Savile re recent disputes over coal mining in the Lordship of Beeley – while no exact site is mentioned, the existence of this agreement suggests that Beeley Colliery was active at around this date. In contrast, the surviving detailed Chatsworth estate accounts from 1747, when the Dukes acquired Beeley Lordship, to the 1770s have no rental income from a colliery at Beeley and therefore it is unlikely that it was in work in this period.
3. The colliery is noted by Farey in 1811 as no longer producing coal but still worked for ganister. The coal working he refers to probably took place from the 1770s onwards in the period for which no estate accounts survive, given that it was noted in 1835 that local people remembered the colliery in work about 70 years previously (i. e. 1765 – but memories were presumably a little hazy).
4. Archives in Chatsworth House include an assessment of the colliery in 1835. It was noted that ‘slight working’ had been undertaken 21-22 years ago by a Mr Bell (i. e. 1813-14 – perhaps that for ganister noted by Farey). In 1835 further trial workings/explorations were undertaken, including the sinking of at least one shaft. Economic workable reserves were not found.
5. In 1886 another written assessment was made – noting ‘ a few years since a company was formed to work this coal’ and that they sank a shaft. Again economic workable reserves were not found. I has previously assumed that noted prior working took place in the 1870s/early 1880s – but the diary entries you have found raise the possibility that this took place in the 1860s. However, another possibility is that this was yet another episode of working that was forgotten about by 1886, perhaps at the trial shaft that started this enquiry. A note of caution also perhaps needs to be raised, in that there are further small-scale coal workings on the moors above centred at SK 288706 (Baslow parish) and ganister pits at SK 209689 (Brampton parish). While these technically lie on different moors – did the diary writer recognise this as a relevant distinction? Does the reference to ‘Beeley main colliery’ suggest Hodkin’s pit was elsewhere or alternatively at the ‘main colliery’?
Why they took coal to the pit in 1864 is a mystery – it is highly unlikely there was a steam engine here – nothing is noted in the known accounts and there is no trace identified on the ground. It seems likely that the workings were too small in scale to warrant an expensive engine – at the two deepest shafts (i.e. those furthest from outcrop with larger hillocks), there is archaeological evidence for a horse-drawn gin engine in one case and a possible example at the other.
References
1. Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology Part IV Derbyshire Dales. ISBN 0 9511368 2 8.
2. A Victorian Farmer’s Diary. William Hodkin’s Diary 1864-66. Edited by T A Burdekin. ISBN 0 903463 72 5.
