The Pit Tip Kirkby
Mountain Biking over the pit tip Kirkby
A lovely little up and down mountain bike trail over the old Kirkby ‘Summit’ Pit Tip. This is part of the series from a new loop called 'Pig Hill' due to the climb halfway round.
This part of the route starts at the mini roundabout on Lindrick Road, about half a mile from the centre of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, and goes up and over the hill to Penny Emma Way. A short sharp climb with an equally short sharp descent.
Pit tips, sometimes termed ‘dirt hills’ or ‘dot hills’ (locally in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire) are today, typically designated as nature conservation areas, as is the one at Kirkby. These features give the impression that Nottinghamshire is naturally hilly. The landscaped tip at Teversal is so tall that it stands as the highest point in the county and is also popular with cyclists and walkers. However, only a few years ago, the local landscape was characterised by sprawling grey mountains made from pit ‘slurry’. Tipping methods in the past involved dumping waste from pit-tubs onto a single location which created conical tips. The Kirkby Colliery was no exception, and they were often referred to as the ‘Pyramids of Kirkby’. Luckily nowadays it can be used by us bikers.
What about a bit of history with help from an article published on the mining heritage website.
The Kirkby ‘Summit’ Colliery closed over fifty years ago, the last production shifts being on 12th July 1968. The colliery was sunk by the Butterley Company in 1888 – 1890, with a third shaft being sunk to the Blackshale seam in 1912. Locally the colliery was known as Summit, being situated at the highest point of the railway from Pinxton to Mansfield. The Lowmoor pit was run as a separate colliery until it was merged with Kirkby Summit in 1939.
The closure sent shock waves through the local region as the colliery had been planned to be a Super Pit with an annual output of 1.5 million tons of coal for the then new Trent Valley Power Stations. A considerable amount of capital had been spent on the colliery (£4 million), linking it up underground with Langton and Brookhill Collieries at Pinxton, an additional surface drift was driven and a brand new Coal Preparation Plant installed. All production was planned to surface at Kirkby which was adjacent to the railway sidings and Kirkby-in-Ashfield loco sheds. It was planned to become one of the biggest producing collieries in Europe.
However, the colliery was hit by a double whammy; firstly, it started experiencing geological problems and this was followed by the loss of a planning application for a new pit tip and slurry pond extension near to Sutton Junction and closure followed. Output for the last full financial year was 1,088, 264 tons of coal with a manpower of 2,258 men. It was one of the biggest collieries in the Nottinghamshire Coalfield.
It was one of a number of colliery closures in 1968 that affected the East Midlands Coalfield, turning many miners into ‘industrial gypsies’. 1968 was destined to become the worst ever year for colliery closures in Britain, the Labour Government closing an average of one colliery a week nationally! Along with the Bestwood Colliery closure the year before, the Summit closure was to leave a lasting legacy of mistrust of the NCB and to a certain extent, the Labour Party, in the Ashfield region.
So, even though it’s a small section of riding, the area of this trail is reaped in industrial history. In fact, many of my rides go up and over, or around old pit tips.
Have a look at all the sections of the Pig Hill loop, one of my go to rides in the summer.
Mountain Biking Blidworth Waye
Mountain Biking Through Newstead Abbey
