Grade II* listed Italianate winding engine house with original Victorian headgear, the sole surviving in situ twin cylinder vertical steam winding engine in England, within Bestwood Country Park.
Bestwood Colliery was sunk from 1872 by the Lancaster family, under a lease from the 10th Duke of St Albans, on the northern edge of what is now Nottingham. The colliery worked the Top Hard and other seams of the Nottinghamshire coalfield, reaching depths of up to 555 metres. It became the first coal mine in the world to produce one million tons of saleable coal in a single year, a record achieved at significant human cost.
The Italianate winding engine house, constructed in 1873–1874 in brick and concrete to an ornate design unusual for a colliery, housed a vertical twin cylinder, non-condensing steam winding engine supplied in 1875 by the Worsley Mesnes Company of Wigan. The original wrought iron latticework headstocks, later encased in concrete, remain in situ. Mining ceased in 1967 when the colliery was merged with nearby Linby; final closure followed in 1971.
The winding engine house and headstocks are a Grade II* listed building and a Scheduled Monument. Restored with Heritage Lottery Fund support and reopened as a public attraction in 1995, the site now forms part of Bestwood Country Park and offers free tours of the restored engine house.
The site of Bestwood Colliery lies within the historic Bestwood Park, a former royal hunting ground on the northern edge of the City of Nottingham. The park had passed from the Crown to the Dukes of St Albans via a grant from King Charles II to Nell Gwynn, and the mineral rights remained with the Dukes of St Albans into the nineteenth century.
In 1872 John Lancaster, a mining entrepreneur from Scotland, commenced sinking the colliery under a lease from the 10th Duke of St Albans. The Lancaster family gave their name to the enterprise, which traded as the Bestwood Coal and Iron Company. The construction of the engine house began in 1873. The building was completed in 1874 and is notable for its Italianate design, an ornate style unusual for a colliery building, constructed in brick and concrete; the building represents an early use of structural concrete, employed both externally in the moulded plinth and rusticated basement and internally for the engine bed and winding drum supports. The winding engine was supplied in 1875 by the Worsley Mesnes Company of Wigan. It is a vertical twin cylinder, non-condensing steam engine with a cast iron drum of approximately 6 metres in diameter on the second floor; ropes from the drum pass through holes in the west wall and over the latticed ironwork headgear to the shaft. The original wrought iron latticework headstocks were later encased in concrete. The engine is the only surviving in situ twin cylinder vertical steam winding engine in England.
Steam winding used engines with 36-inch diameter cylinders. The ventilation fan was steam-driven, employing an engine reportedly recovered from the Royal Sovereign steamship on the bed of the Mediterranean Sea. To house the workforce drawn to the new colliery, the Lancaster family constructed sixty-four houses, an institute, offices, a school, and an ironworks in the surrounding village.
Bestwood was consistently profitable and workers earned good wages. The colliery became the first coal mine in the world to produce one million tons of saleable coal in a single year, a record achieved at the cost of more than a hundred lives, commemorated by a plaque in the engine house. Household, manufacturing, and steam coal were produced. At its height the colliery employed up to 2,000 men.
By the 1930s the Top Hard workings had extended so far from the shaft that a second shaft was sunk at Calverton for ventilation and to convey men to their work; this shaft was completed and operational in 1939. The importance of the colliery made it a target for Zeppelin bombing raids during the 1914–18 war. In 1934 the 11th Duke of St Albans died and in 1939 the estate was sold.
After a drift was constructed from Bestwood to the High Main seam in 1946, efficiency improved. The Lancaster Drift, as it became known, became operational in 1951, taking the form of a sloping tunnel descending at 1 in 4 to the High Main seam; it was extended to the Main Bright seam in 1959. In the colliery's later years all coal was brought to the surface via the Lancaster Drift, with the shafts retained only as a standby and for moving men and materials. The colliery was nationalised in 1947 under the National Coal Board. By the late 1960s, Bestwood was beset with geological problems and was considered a difficult and dirty pit to work. In 1967 coal extraction ceased when the colliery was merged with nearby Linby Colliery; final closure of all mining activity on the site followed in 1971. By the time of closure the deepest shaft reached the 2nd Piper seam at a maximum depth of 555 metres. The steam boilers, last in use in the late 1960s, were decommissioned on closure.
Following closure the colliery was allowed to fall into disrepair. The 1947 national coal board ownership and later the site's landscaping was carried out by Nottinghamshire County Council. In 1973 Bestwood Lodge and the surrounding parkland were handed over to Gedling Borough Council and the two councils created Bestwood Country Park as a public open space. The former colliery spoil heaps were re-landscaped as part of the country park.
The winding engine house and headstocks were designated a Grade II* listed building and the engine house was separately scheduled as an Ancient Monument. The restoration of the winding engine house was supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant obtained in 2008, and restoration of the engine house and adjacent Dynamo House was completed in 2009 by GF Tomlinson Ltd over a contract of 51 weeks. The works included brick and stone replacement, internal lime plastering, restoration of moulded lime render skirting, replacement of cast iron gutters, restoration of decorative brickwork, and restoration of the steel headstocks. Since 1998 an electrohydraulic system has powered the winding engine wheel. The site was opened as a public attraction and is operated on a volunteer basis, with free guided tours offered on Saturday mornings. The Dynamo House Community Café is managed by Women's Institute volunteers on the same site.
