Monument record MDR6978 - Cadley Hill Colliery (site of), Swadlincote

Cadleyhill Colliery is shown on the OS map of 1888, adjacent to and with a short railway/tramway link (not named) to the Burton and Swadlincote Branch Railway. (1) A small steam winding engine was recorded in 1971 working a shaft, but it may originally have been a haulage engine. Its construction date was thought to be c. 1900. The number of this type of engine was in decline, and the Cadley Hill Colliery example was considered to be suitable for preservation. As another engine on the site had recently been cut up, there was concern for the future of this one. (2) The colliery is [1995] now being operated under licence from British Coal Opencast. Virtually all the buildings have been demolished. (3) The survival of the winding engine is not known. Cadley Hill Colliery was established in 1861 and continued to grow over the course of the 19th century. Even after the decline in production in the 1960s, Cadley Hill continued to be a significant employer, with 3500 men at work and an average production of two million tons of coal in the early 1980s. However, it was closed down in March 1988, marking the end of deep coal mining iin the District of South Derbyshire. Its site was then opencast, with surface coal extraction finally ceasing in 1997, after which it was then developed as 'Tetron Point'. (4)