Kellingley Colliery: History behind the Yorkshire coal mine that closed 10 years ago marking the end of deep-pit coal mining in Britain

Kellingley Colliery, known as the ‘Big K’, was a deep coal mine and was owned and operated by UK Coal.

Despite there being a higher number of people opposed to the 1984 miners’ strike than in most other pits in Yorkshire, miners took part in a strike there.

It was closed in December 2015.

History of Kellingley Colliery

During an exploration of boreholes that were sunk in the 1950s, it was discovered that there were up to seven operational seams of coal at Kellingley.

Two shafts began to sink in 1960.

A borehole is a deep and narrow hole that is made in the ground, particularly to detect water or oil.

These holes were drilled at sub-zero temperatures to freeze the ground down to around 200 metres. The shafts were ultimately sunk to a depth of around 800 metres.

A thin cement mixture was pumped through the holes and when the concrete set, most of the water leaking into the shafts was stopped. The ground around the upper part of the shafts was rooted.

The colliery started production in April 1965 and during the planning and building process of the surface infrastructure for the new colliery, 3,000 mineworkers were due to be employed at its completion.

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Due to the updated methods and machinery, only around 2,000 men were employed at any one time. Many of the miners moved from Scotland to work at the colliery, as they had lost their jobs at Scottish pits that closed in the 1960s.

The coal mine received £7.2 million from the Coal Investment Aid Scheme in 2004.

Two miners died in accidents between 2008 and 2009 and there was a methane explosion underground in November 2010. A roof collapse in 2011 led to the death of a miner and another who was injured.

Following the closure of the colliery in 2015, 17 people were listed on the memorial to those who died during the operation of the mine.