Silverwood Colliery

Silverwood Colliery was owned by Dalton Main Collieries Ltd., and was originally called Dalton Main. It was renamed after the local woodland where it was situated, between Thrybergh and Ravenfield, in Yorkshire, England, although it could easily have been called Gulling Wood.

History

Dalton Main Collieries Limited became a public company which was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 1899. The purpose of the company was to buy out the business of Roundwood Colliery, purchase land at Silverwood, between Thrybergh and Ravenfield, and sink a new deep colliery there. These installations were to be connected to a boat staithe on the River Don by a railway. The first shaft commenced sinking in 1900 and coal was being worked by 1904.

The railway, from Roundwood Colliery, also owned by Dalton Main Collieries, became known as John Brown's Private Railway after the company which became sole owners of the Dalton Main Collieries from 1909. There was also a line which ran from Silverwood, round past Ravenfield, and down to join the existing line just north of Anston.

Paddy Mail Crash 3 February 1966

Shortly after 6 a.m. on 3 February 1966, the day shift men had gone down the pit to board the "Paddy mail". It was normal practice for the ‘man-rider’ to be followed by a second train which carried equipment. On this day the second train suddenly ran out of control and gaining speed caught up with the ‘man-riding’ train hitting this hard in the rear. Ten men lost their lives and a further 29 miners were injured.

The accident featured in the local and national press, much of the coverage giving prominence to Sister Adshead, a member of the Silverwood medical team who, working with members of the Rotherham Mines Rescue team, tended the injured as they were brought from the wreckage. The unusual feature of a woman coming out from the pit brought headlines like "The Angel with the dirty face".

The accident happened some one and a half miles from the pit bottom in the Braithwell return roadway. The locomotives and the vehicles were removed to the underground workshops for testing, a full brake test being undertaken. The brakes proved to be in full working order.

In the report on the accident by the Mines Inspectorate the main point main was that a train carrying materials must not follow a man riding train. The rules on underground train operation were re-written.

Closure and Redevelopment

The colliery closed in 1992 with remaining reserves being worked from nearby Maltby Main Colliery. A large coal washing and reclamation project continued.

The area around Woodlaithes Farm, on the edge of the colliery tip, has since been developed as an up-market housing estate known as Woodlaithes Village which has its own “village pond”.

Reclamation work finished in 2006, with the Forrestry Commission planting tree saplings in 2007. The coal tip has been grassed completely and the once dangerous slurry lake turned into a freshwater nature reserve.

External links

*http://johndoxey.100freemb.com/Silverwood/index.htm
* [http://www.oldravenfield.org.uk/rebuild/oldvillage.asp Old ravenfield village historical pictures]