Former Hamm hard coal colliery and last mine in Hamm, now being redeveloped as CreativRevier Heinrich Robert, with the listed Hammerkopfturm over Schacht Robert, old porch building, Mannschaftskaue, and machine houses preserved within a new mixed-use quar
Zeche Heinrich-Robert was a hard coal colliery in the Hamm districts of Herringen and Pelkum, the last producing coal mine in Hamm and later the core of the Verbundbergwerk Ost. Its origins lie in Mutungsbohrungen by Heinrich Grimberg from 1874, who found Fettkohle in the area. After obtaining state concessions in 1894–99 he sold eight fields of 18 km² to the Lorraine ironworks group Les petits fils de François de Wendel & Cie in 1900 for extraction of coking coal for their steelworks.
The de Wendel brothers Henri and Robert consolidated the fields as the Grubenfeld De Wendel. Shaft sinking of Schacht I (named Heinrich after Henri de Wendel) began on 8 August 1901; the Carboniferous was reached in 1902 at 562 m. The first coal, from the Flöz Katharina at 603 m depth, was raised in 1904 for internal use; regular production commenced in 1906.
A coke works was erected in 1908 and the colliery railway connecting to the Hamm–Osterfeld line was established at the same time. Under various ownerships — including German wartime administration 1914–18, return to de Wendel ownership, and ultimately Ruhrkohle AG from 1968 — the colliery grew to become one of the largest in Hamm, forming the Verbundbergwerk Ost in 1998 with Haus Aden and Monopol. This finally closed on 30 September 2010.
Several buildings on the former main installation — including the Hammerkopfturm over Schacht Robert, the Alte Pforte, the Mannschaftskaue, and the Fördermaschinenhäuser — were listed as Baudenkmale in April 2019. The site is being redeveloped as the CreativRevier Heinrich Robert. The 31-metre headframe over Schacht Heinrich (Schacht I) was demolished in May–June 2025.
The history of Zeche Heinrich-Robert begins in 1874 when Heinrich Grimberg undertook the first Mutungsbohrungen in the area of the villages of Herringen and Pelkum and struck Fettkohle. Grimberg applied for and received concessions from the Prussian state for some of the Grubenfelder between 1894 and 1899. In 1900 he sold seven fields designated Prinz Schönaich and one field named Robert Hundhausen I — a total of eight fields with 18 km² — to the Lorraine ironworks group Les petits fils de François de Wendel & Cie from Lothringen.
The company was owned by the brothers Henri and Robert de Wendel, who consolidated the fields into the single Grubenfeld De Wendel with the intention of extracting Fettkohle for their own steelworks in Lothringen — a grade of coal not available from the Saar coalfield. Shaft sinking of Schacht I — named Heinrich after Henri de Wendel — began on 8 August 1901. The Carboniferous was reached in Schacht Heinrich in 1902 at 562 m depth; by 1903 a depth of 759 m was reached and the first level was established at 662 m.
In 1903 the construction of the surface buildings began. By 1904 the first coal was raised, from the Flöz Katharina at 603 m depth; this initial production was used entirely to meet the mine's own internal needs. Schacht Robert reached 870 m by 1908.
In 1905 the colliery already had 406 workers producing 3,511 tonnes. Regular commercial production began in 1906 with 606 workers and 31,084 tonnes. In 1908 the coke works was erected and the colliery railway connecting the installation to the Bahnstrecke Hamm–Osterfeld was opened, enabling coal and coke exports to the Lorraine ironworks to begin immediately.
In 1910 1,735 workers were producing 375,141 tonnes. In 1914 the identical headframe to that over Schacht Heinrich was erected over Schacht Robert. During the First World War the German state placed the mine under Zwangsverwaltung because the de Wendel owners were French nationals; after the war it was returned to them.
In 1922 sinking of a third shaft, named Franz, began approximately 2 km from the main installation to open the northern field; the shaft was never completed as an independent production point. In 1925 a canal harbour on the Datteln-Hamm-Kanal was completed, enabling coal loading by water from 1925. In 1926 a firedamp explosion killed 11 workers; a further explosion in 1927 killed 4, and a final one in 1951 killed 17.
In 1955 the ventilation shaft Robert was converted to a Hammerkopfgerüst — the distinctive structure that survives today and is listed as a Baudenkmal. Simultaneously, production at Schacht Robert was converted from Gestell- (cage) to Skipförderung (skip). From 1930 a second ventilation shaft, Schacht Humbert, was sunk; it entered service after various interruptions only in 1951 but was closed as early as 2001 and backfilled.
In 1968 the mine passed from the de Wendel family's ownership to the Ruhrkohle AG within the general reorganisation of German coal mining. In 1981 a joint Werksdirektion with the closed Zeche Königsborn was established; the Schacht 4 of Königsborn was taken over but not used for production. In 1998 the colliery was merged with the Bergwerke Haus Aden and Monopol in Bergkamen to form the Verbundbergwerk Ost.
Simultaneously several shafts from the incorporated collieries that were no longer needed were backfilled. The continued workings used only those shafts serving water management and ventilation. The Verbundbergwerk Ost closed on 30 September 2010, making it the last coal mine in Hamm.
The Schächte Heinrich and Robert were backfilled in August 2013. The headframe over Schacht Franz was demolished by explosion on 19 December 2003 despite its acknowledged heritage value. The site of Schacht Franz carries only a Protegohaube over the 2002-backfilled shaft.
A Denkmalschutz procedure was concluded in April 2019 for a group of central buildings on the former Heinrich-Robert installation: the Hammerkopfturm (Schacht Robert), the Alte Pforte (former works council building with arcade), the Neue Verwaltung with forecourt park, the Mannschaftskaue, the Magazin, the Lampenstube, the former Maschinenzentrale, and the Fördermaschinenhäuser. From 2017 a CreativRevier Heinrich Robert GmbH was established by the city of Hamm, RAG Montanimmobilien, and the Prisma-Gruppe; the site is being developed for creative industries, services, housing, and leisure. The Rahmenplan was adopted on 17 March 2020.
The 31-metre headframe over Schacht Heinrich (Schacht I) was intended for demolition from 2023; demolition began in the last week of May 2025 and the frame was fully dismantled by mid-June 2025.