Markham Colliery

Markham Colliery
Copyright © Darren Haywood and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Markham colliery was designed as two separate collieries working in different seams, each colliery had a separate staff and workforce. In 1882 the Staveley company leased 5,000 acres of coal reserves and by 1885 Markham number one colliery was in full production. Another colliery was sunk shortly afterwards in 1886 into the Deep Softs or Clay Cross Softs seam at a depth of 1,512 feet from the surface, this colliery was to be called Markham number two.

By 5th July 1937 the Top Hard was worked out and the High Hazels and the Top Waterloo seams were abandoned. On the 21st January 1937 an explosion in the number two unit, east district of Number One colliery Blackshale seam, resulted in the loss of nine lives. The explosion was caused by an accumulation of gas ignited by a flame which escaped from a poorly fitting lid in a flameproof enclosure on a coal cutting machine.

On the 10th May 1938 at the Number One colliery, another explosion after a tub train accident damaged a power cable, seventy nine lives lost and thirty eight injured.

On the 30th July 1973, the man riding cage in number three shaft at Number Two colliery went free fall into the pit bottom, after the brake failed on the winding drum. This resulted in the loss of eighteen lives and a further twelve severely injured men.

The colliery closed in 1994.