Designing a Pit Village

Coal deposits are common in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The Butterley Company, a coal and iron company, needed to find new sources of coal to replace dwindling reserves. In the early 1900s, the company chose Ollerton in Central Nottinghamshire as a new colliery site.

Ollerton was a small village before work began to build a colliery and housing in 1920.  It was not unusual for coal companies to build housing for their workers, but it was unusual to build and design on such a scale.

Henry Eustace Mitton, agent and later General Manager for the Butterley Company, was a renowned expert in the coal industry, writing many publications on the development of collieries. He was key to designing the village and colliery at Ollerton.

Before any houses could be built, it was necessary to organise electricity, water, gas, and telephone supplies. At the time, it was unusual for working-class housing to be provided with such amenities.

This colourful plan shows the houses had an inside toilet and bathroom with running water. These were facilities that few working-class families would have had at the time.

Pit officials were classed as lower management and, because of their status, were given larger housing  with more bedrooms. There are remnants of the officials' housing on the main road through Ollerton where the road once had a row of ten such houses. Only five now remain.

Colliery companies often provided amenities as well as housing. In Ollerton these included a doctor's clinic, Miners Welfare Institute, cinema, school, and sports ground. These were situated close to one another on the far side of the village.

Miners' Welfare Institutes were a common sight in pit villages. They were places where miners could socialise, attend special events and evening classes. The grounds at the Ollerton Institute also included a sports ground. The Institute and grounds were demolished in 2011.

The Butterley Company employed a doctor who lived and worked in the village, and provided free services to employees. Plans to build a small hospital in partnership with other local colliery companies never materialised due to high running costs.

More than 800 houses were eventually built at Ollerton. The Butterley Company intended it to be a model village, used as an example for other colliery companies of how best to provide for their workers. The colliery later had a diverse workforce from around the UK and abroad.