• Industry & Business Home
• The Ironworks
• The Mining Industry
• The Textile Industry
• Discovery Of Oil At Pye Bridge
• Shops & Retail Outlets
• Lists of Local Businesses
• Featured Articles

Three pits were sunk by Butterley Iron & Steel Co on land between Golden Valley and Ironville which have a connected history.

1843 – Coddy Mine. Cloddy Mine was situated on the lower side of what was Hollyhurst Terrace, Riddings. It consisted of two shafts, known as Top Cloddy (officially named Butterley Park No. 7) and Bottom Cloddy (officially named Butterley Park No, 8). The shaft known as Bottom Cloddy lay near the railway line between Golden Valley and Codnor Park. They mined coal from the Clod Seam, from which the shafts take their name. Top Cloddy was the upcast shaft and Bottom Cloddy was the down cast shaft. They also mined ironstone seams.

A newspaper report in an issue of the Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald of 27 June 1863 reports of a serious accident at Cloddy Mine. It states in the article that the mine is owned by James Oakes & Co. This could simply be an error, or there could be some partnership between the two companies with regard to this mine.

Cloddy Mine merged with the New Main Colliery (see below).

1851 – Exhibition Mine. The Exhibition Mine was sunk in 1851 and was named after the Great Exhibition held at Crystal Palace in the same year. It was officially named Butterley Park No. 9 and mined the Kilburn Seam at a depth of 300 yards. For its time, this was a deep shaft. This mine was not very successful and was abandoned in 1871, although it was kept open and used as a ventilation shaft for the New Main Colliery, before finally closing in 1881.

New Main Colliery. This mine was an amalgamation of the Cloddy and Exhibition Pits. An edition of the “Midland and Northern Coal & Iron Trades Gazette” published on 9 March 1881 records that New Main Nos. 7 & 8 and Exhibition No. 9 were situated at Codnor Park. The Nos. 7 & 8 refers to the Top and Bottom Cloddy Pits, and this listing confirms they were working in the early part of 1881.

New Main closed in 1884, effectively ending mine working in all three pits.