The rise and fall of Kellingley Colliery near Knottingley

The sprawling Kellingley Colliery was the last deep mine in the UK when it closed after 50 years of operation in 2015.

The pit, which straddled the boundary of Knottingley and Selby, North Yorkshire, opened in 1965 after years of exploratory digging and construction.

During the planning phase, 3,000 workers were expected to be employed at the mine but due to updates to mining methods and machinery, only around 2,000 men were employed at its peak.

Known affectionately as the ‘Big K’, the pit was once Europe’s largest deep coal mine and sat on tens of millions of tonnes of reserves.

The mine’s two main shafts were almost 800m deep, with one used to move men and materials and the other to move coal, at a rate of up to 900 tonnes an hour.

The coal mined at Kellingley was primarily supplied to Drax power station in Selby – the UK’s biggest coal-fired power station that generated around 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity at the time of the mine’s closure.

It also supplied Ferrybridge power station around three miles away and produced coal to be used inside homes.

Like other mines, Kellingley was plagued with issues after the industry was nationalised in January 1947 and the creation of the National Coal Board.

On a good day the pit produced 350,000 tonnes of coal but in 1986, Kellingley achieved a record 404,000 tonnes in a single shift but overall production fell sharply from 128 million tonnes in 1981 to 17.8 million tonnes in 2009, six years before its closure.

The miners took part in the 1984 miners’ strike organised by Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against the National Coal Board, although there was a higher number of opposition to the strike at Kellingley than in most other Yorkshire pits.

In June 1984, a 55-year-old miner was killed after a collision with a lorry and two others died in industrial accidents in the following year.

These three men are among a total of 17 people who lost their lives during the operation of the mine and are honoured in a memorial statue, which was unveiled in September 2010.

The mine closed its doors for the last time in December 2015, marking the end of deep mining in the UK.

With the closure of Kellingley, 450 miners were made redundant with a severance pay of twelve weeks’ worth of wages.

The last shift at the mine was on Friday, December 18 2015, before the shafts of the colliery were emptied of cables and ropes and filled with concrete and demolition of surface buildings.

Shaun McLoughlin, the mine manager told Wakefield Express at the time: "I would like to thank my colleagues for all their hard work and determination at this difficult time.

"Like them, I thought that I would see out my career here but it is not to be.

"This is a very sad day for everyone connected with the mine but I am proud that we have done the job safely and professionally."

On the day, one miner simply told the Express: "Done".

For then 50-year-old locomotive driver Paul Hine, the closure of the pit marked the end of his family’s three generation association with mining.

Mr Hine worked in the industry for 34 years, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

He started at Woolley Colliery before moving to Kellingley 28 years ago.

Mr Hine said to the Express at the time: "It's been an emotional day for all of us, shaking hands with colleagues and friends that we will probably never see again.

"I never thought I would see this day in my working career. I knew one day it would end but I didn't think I'd see it.

"If the government announced that they wouldn't be burning coal any more, I think we could take it better.

"But knowing they will be burning imported coal just down the road for up to 10 years is a real kick in the teeth."

Chris Kitchen, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), told media it was a "sad day" for the country as well as the industry.

"I am sure people will argue not burning coal is better for the environment, but as far as I am concerned this is another vindictive act."

Miners from the pit joined a march in Knottingley on the following Saturday to mark the closure.

The land was sold for redevelopment in 2016 to Harworth Group and the first work at the site began last year when the company sold 3.04 acres of land to CRT Property Developments Ltd, a subsidiary of THe Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

It was announced this week that development firms Henderson Park and Cole Waterson are set to bring an eye-watering 1.1 million sq. ft. state-of-the-art warehouse, Konect 62, to the area, which will employ up to 2,000 people when phase one is completed, and double the number when the next phase is completed.

Christopher Kuhbier, managing director at Henderson Park, said: “This strategically located site is optimally placed to deliver much needed capacity into the critically undersupplied Yorkshire industrial market.

“We are confident that the sustainability and technical specifications of the scheme we are developing will appeal to the highest quality logistics operators as well as traditional industrial occupiers, who are increasingly energy conscious.

“We are excited to get the project underway and deliver what we believe will be an exemplary regeneration of a major brownfield site.”