Swadlincote

Jump to: navigation, search

Swadlincote is the main ‘town’ in South Derbyshire, with a population of around 30,000. The town also includes the settlements of Church Gresley and Newhall.

It can trace its history back to the Domesday Book of 1086 where it is described as Siuardingescotes, a small manor which was part of the parish of Church Gresley.

The name "Swadlincote" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Swartlings Cotta's", Swartling being an Anglo-Saxon man’s name and Cotta's meaning cottages. The residents of Swadlincote often shorten its name to 'Swad'.

It was once a coalmining area. The earliest written reference to the town's mineral deposits is found in a document dated 1294. But it was not until the late 18th century that coalmining and clay extraction took place on a large scale. This was due to the demand for coal and clay during the Industrial Revolution.

Over the next century a number of collieries, brickworks and potteries sprang up, including Sharpe’s Pottery in 1821 where the world’s first rim-flushing toilet was made, Bretby Art Pottery, and T G Green Pottery, famous for the highly collectable Cornish Ware Range.

The main pits were Granville Colliery sunk in 1823, followed by Church Gresley (1829), Stanton (1854), Bretby (1855), Gresley Wood (1856), Cadley Hill (1861), Netherseal (1872), and Coton Park & Linton Colliery (1875). Bretby Art Pottery and T.G. Green Pottery famous for the highly collectable Cornish Ware Range.

As the industry grew, the skyline became dominated by chimneys and kilns. At one time it was possible to see up to 70 chimneys from almost anywhere in the town without turning your head.

When the coal industry was nationalised on January 1, 1947 with the formation of the National Coal Board, there were 11 collieries on the South Derbyshire Coalfield, eight of them in Derbyshire and three in Leicestershire. More than 6,600 men were employed in the mines and production averaged 2.7 million tons a year. Output peaked in 1964/65 at 3.7 million tons.

Production declined from the late 1960s by which time Swadlincote was suffering from a shortage of stable building land and had become scarred by colliery spoil heaps, and clay holes.

Cadley Hill in 1987, a year before it closed

By 1982 there was only one colliery remaining in South Derbyshire, Cadley Hill. Nevertheless, it was still a major employer in the area, with a workforce of 3,500 men and averaged production of two million tons of coal each year. It was one of the last NCB collieries to use steam power. The closure of Cadley Hill on March 25, 1988, marked the end of deep coal mining in South Derbyshire. Opencast mining took place on the site until 1997.

Today the town lies at the heart of the National Forest. Among its attractions are Swadlincote Ski Slope, Sharpe’s Pottery, Conkers and Gresley Rovers football club.

Click on the link below to hear Monica Hudson describing her earliest memories of Swadlincote and the smog that used to hang over the town from its industries.

East Midlands Oral History Archive

[edit]

External links

www.south-derbys.gov.uk

www.swad.com

Pages linking here

[edit]

FEEDBACK

Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.

If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'

Other tags that are relevant to Swadlincote

Help us to improve You&Yesterday by adding more tags to this article. Simply edit this page, find this area and add the words in a list separated by commas next to the *.

To find out more about tagging please click here.

County: Derbyshire

Return to You_and_Yesterday

Retrieved from "http://www.youandyesterday.co.uk/articles/Swadlincote"

You can edit or add to this article.