Oakwellgate Colliery

Oakwellgate Colliery lay between Oakwellgate Lane and Easton Place, a venture of Thomas Easton, who designed Frairs Goose Pumping Engine (HER 1012). The colliery was won on 29 May 1842 and the bells of St. Mary were rung to celebrate. It had a short life. The Low Main Seam was abandoned in 1858 and shortly afterwards there was an inrush of water which could not be overcome by the pumping machinery then available, so the workings were permanently closed. Warehouses, later Carr's confectionary works were built over the shaft. During the fuel shortage of 1919 proposals were made to open the shaft, but without result.