Former Hamm hard coal colliery whose three listed 32-metre Deutsches Strebengerüst headframes over Schächte I, II, and V — among the oldest surviving of their type — stand in the care of the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege alongside a sociocultural venue
Zeche Radbod was a hard coal colliery in the Hamm district of Bockum-Hövel, operating from 1905 to 1990. Prospecting by the Bohrgesellschaft Trier began in 1899, and in 1904 the fields Bockum 1 and Hövel 1 were granted to the Internationale Bohrgesellschaft at Erkelenz and consolidated as the Steinkohlenbergwerk Trier III. Shaft sinking of Schacht I began on 13 March 1905; the first level was reached at 717 m in September, and coal production commenced in 1906.
A firedamp and coal-dust explosion on 12 November 1908, the worst disaster then recorded in German coal mining, killed 348 workers on the night shift and forced the flooding of the mine. After dewatering, production resumed in 1910. In 1920 the colliery passed to the Köln-Neuessener Bergwerksverein; from 1930 it was part of the Hoesch AG group, and from 1969 part of the Ruhrkohle AG.
Peak output of 1.3 million tonnes was achieved in 1989. The last coal was raised on 31 January 1990. The three Deutsches Strebengerüst headframes of the Bauart Klönne over Schächte I, II, and V — each 32 metres tall — were listed as Baudenkmale and passed to the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur in 1997.
They were entered into the Denkmalliste der Stadt Hamm on 20 June 2000 as monument no. 255. The former colliery has been redeveloped as the Gewerbegebiet Radbod, with the Kulturrevier Radbod sociocultural venue in the main entrance building.
The history of Zeche Radbod begins in 1899 with the formation of the Bohrgesellschaft Trier, which undertook exploratory boreholes north of the Lippe in the area of the communities of Bockum and Hövel. On 8 March 1900 the Markscheider Wacholder entered a Mutung for the Bohrloch Bockum 1 on the future colliery site. The fields Bockum 1 and Hövel 1 were not granted until 1904, when they were transferred to the Internationale Bohrgesellschaft in Erkelenz and consolidated as the Steinkohlenbergwerk Trier III, worked by a company of the same name.
The unusual name Radbod — which replaced the original Trier III designation as the operational colliery name, though Trier III remained the formal Zechenname in official records until 1946 — is conventionally attributed to either the Frisian prince Radbod (679–719) or, more plausibly, to the Archbishop Radbod of Trier (883–915), with the choice of name attributed to the first Generaldirektor, who came from East Frisia. Shaft sinking of Schacht I on the colliery site began on 13 March 1905 with a crew of twelve; the first level was reached at 717 m in September 1905, and Schacht II followed in the same year to the same depth. The second level was established at 772 m and the third at 844 m.
Three additional fields were applied for and granted in 1905 to secure the operation. Coal winding began in 1906. The two Deutsches Strebengerüste headframes of the Bauart Klönne over Schächte I and II were erected over the shafts in the development phase; both headframes are 32 metres tall and are considered among the oldest surviving examples of their construction type in Westphalia.
By 1907 the installation had been substantially developed and the surface buildings constructed. On 12 November 1908 a firedamp and coal-dust explosion, triggered either by a defective safety lamp or an underground blast in a seam, devastated the third level. Of approximately 420 men on the night shift, 348 died.
The explosion, which was the worst coal-mining disaster recorded in Germany to that date, was followed by mine fires that forced the colliery management to flood the mine to 200 m above the first level. Dewatering (Sümpfen) began on 17 December 1908 and was completed on 25 February 1910; regular production resumed shortly thereafter. The disaster prompted a political debate about workers' protection measures and safety regulations; one direct consequence was the nationwide replacement of benzine safety lamps with electric safety lamps, introduced first at Zeche Radbod.
A memorial was erected on the Ehrenfriedhof in Hamm-Hövel. In 1920 the colliery passed to the Köln-Neuessener Bergwerksverein, which under Generaldirektor Fritz Winkhaus brought the financially struggling operation into a more stable condition. In 1930 the Köln-Neuessener Bergwerksverein merged with the Eisen- und Stahlwerk Hoesch, forming the Hoesch-Köln Neuessen AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, which from 1938 operated as the Hoesch Aktiengesellschaft.
After the Second World War the Hoesch AG was subject to Allied Entflechtung measures; from 1952 the colliery belonged to the new Altenessener Bergwerks AG and from 1956 returned to the Hoesch group. In 1949 the Winkhausschacht (Schacht V), sunk from 1907 and named after the Generaldirektor Winkhaus, began development as the new main Förderschacht to replace Schächte I and II. In 1951 the production of the fifth level was transferred from Schacht II to the deeper Winkhaus shaft; in 1955 the production of Schacht I similarly transferred to Schacht V. From July 1956 all production was wound over the Winkhausschacht.
Schacht III, east of the main installation, was sunk after the 1908 disaster and abandoned and backfilled in 1960. The Deutsches Strebengerüst headframe over Schacht V was erected at the time of its development; it matches the construction type of the frames over I and II. In 1969 the colliery passed to the Ruhrkohle AG.
Between 1981 and 1982 coal reserves appeared close to exhaustion, but the energy crisis led to planning for a Nordwanderung into the Donarfeld. The deepest underground refrigeration plant then installed in Germany was inserted into the fourth-level filling station in connection with this plan, though it was relocated above ground in 1985 to improve ventilation. After approvals from the Bezirksregierung Arnsberg and Bergamt Hamm on 20 June 1986, Schächte VI and VII were sunk in the Donarfeld near Herbern.
An underground connection between Schächte II and VI was completed in 1988. The highest annual output in the colliery's history — 1.3 million tonnes — was reached in 1989, the year of the Wende. On 31 January 1990 the last loaded wagon crossed the colliery site and the mine was closed, with a workforce of about 1,700 transferred to the neighbouring Bergwerke Heinrich Robert, Monopol, and Westfalen.
Schächte I and II were backfilled in 1990; Schacht V in 2012; Schacht VI in 2013. Schacht VII had been gestundet at 55 m in 1992 and backfilled. The monument ensemble — headframes and machine houses of Schächte I, II, and V — passed to the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur in 1997, which is why they were not demolished like the rest of the surface installations.
The two machine houses of Schächte I and II containing the twin tandem winding engines were sold to a private investor in April 2022 and are to be commercially refurbished. Three years after the Stiftung acquisition, on 20 June 2000, the Doppelschachtanlage was entered into the Denkmalliste der Stadt Hamm as monument no. 255. The headframes require careful maintenance: structural engineers have assessed and stabilised the steel lattice frames, removing the brick infill of the shaft halls as no longer required for structural integrity, with the bricks stored pending any future requirement.
At Schacht 5 a Methangas recovery installation operated by the Herner Stadtwerke's successor uses underground methane. A Stele erected in 2023 by the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege in cooperation with the Geschichtskreis Zeche Radbod commemorates the forced labourers employed at the colliery between 1939 and 1945, as the 6th station on the Weg des Erinnerns und Lernens.