The High Holborn woods at the bottom of Alfreton road Codnor are planted on the old pit hills created by High Holborn Colliery, also known as Butterley Park No. 5 pit.
In the early 1970s the pit shaft still existed and before it was capped with concrete, it was possible to climb up the protective stonewall and see down the shaft, which still contained the wooden guide rails for the cages.

Fig.1 This Map from 1901 shows the Butterley No.5 Colliery (High Holborn)
and mineral railway, which is now the embankment at the back of Codnor
Industrial Estate. Also note the position of the old cottages and also the
miner’s path leading up the pit hill. The same path still exists today.

In 1972 the Ripley & Heanor News interviewed 87-year-old Tom Langton who was thought to be the only man still living who had worked down High Holborn pit.
He started work at High Holborn pit when he was 15 years old. He described the coal has being hand-got using the stall method. His only light came from candles provided by the “Candle Martin” who lived on Heanor Road.
The pit had three seams worked by a total of fifty men and boys, a soft coal seam at 150 yards; the hard coal seam was a further 18 yards deeper and also an Iron stone seam that was worked by JimWhysall.
He remembers before the men would go down the pit in the morning, they would watch for the wagon train coming past the forty Horse pit along the embankment, and count the number of wagons. Sometimes there were only two wagons to fill, so they knew they only had to work a quarter of a shift, four wagons would mean half a shift and eight or nine a full shift would be required.
Each wagon would hold ten tons of coal so the High Holborn pit was capable of producing approximately eighty tons of coal per day.
Tom recalls that three days a week after his usual day shift of 6am to 3pm, he would return to work at 9pm with another lad, Alf Lamb, and empty water into barrels, which were then taken by trucks and emptied into a sump in the pit bottom and channelled through culverts to the pumping shaft at Butterley park. His shift would finish at 2am when he would go home and grab a couple of hours sleep before returning to work the next day.
The pit gaffer at the time was Tom Brown who lived on Heanor Road. Tom Langtons uncle, William Langton lived in one of the three cottages in front of the pit.

Fig.2 This picture of High Holborn cottages was probably taken in the
1970s, not long before they were demolished.
Displayed Courtesy of the wood Collection,
http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/

William was the engine-wright for the company, but was unfortunately killed whilst repairing the old beam engine at Butterley Park.
Williams’s son Joseph Langton sold pianos, His adverts would appear in the Ripley & Heanor News giving his address as High Holborn Codnor.
The pit was closed in 1909 due to flooding; it was not possible to rescue any of the ponies still down the pit.

Fig.3 This picture shows miners picking coal from the High Holborn pit
banks during the miner’s strike of 1911 – 1912.
Displayed Courtesy of the wood Collection,
http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/

Information for this page was obtained from the following sources.

The Heritage of Codnor & Loscoe, by Fred S Thorpe 1990

A History of Mining in the Heanor Area, Heanor & District Local History Society publication 1993

Life in Old Heanor, Heanor & District Local History Society publication 1983

Ripley & Heanor News, January 21st 1972