Contract for bricklaying at Ollerton

The village of New Ollerton was built by the Butterley Company in the early 1920s to correspond with the sinking of the pit in 1923. The pit was finally finished in 1926, during the 1926 General Strike, a nine day strike to try and prevent wage reductions across various transport and heavy industry sectors. The pit remained one of the largest in the area until its closure in 1994.

The village itself was the first built by the Butterley Company specifically for a colliery. Their previous collieries all had existing village, but were extended to provide more housing for their workers. Henry Eustace Mitton, an agent for the Butterley Company, oversaw a lot of the planning.

Clay was another resource that was found during the process of mining for coal. The Butterley Company took advantage of this resource and often located brickworks close to their collieries to supply bricks for the housing they provided. Ollerton was an example of this and can be seen in this contract, which states the Butterley Company will provide the bricks for the housing project.