Research Projects
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 6) - Post war years
by Dru Trenholm
Post war years
The village was heavily dependant on the pit for employment – there was no real alternative employment in the area to mining and its associated industries. Jobs in the service industries were few, and the spending capacity was limited. Blackhall’s reserves of good, easily accessible coal and short communications by road and rail resulting in cheaper transport and maintenance costs, gave it a small but significant advantage over the older collieries in the area.
After the war, 1947 brought in the Nationalisation of Coal Mining and in 1952, gas was laid to the pit and to the village in 1953/54. In 1957, a new library was opened in Hesleden Road and the new modern school was built in 1965, also in Hesleden Road, later to be the new Comprehensive School, now Yohden Hall Nursing Home.
The 1960’s and 1970’s brought increasing competition from oil, natural gas and nuclear fuel. For the first time, doubts about viability of Blackhall, Horden and Easington collieries surviving began to enter the minds of the local workforce. Coal and coke imports were increasing and locally drawn coal was uncompetitive in price and quality. This, together with an overall reduction in demand for household coal and coke, led to a rapid decline in fortune of the colliery from 1978 onwards. In 1981, Blackhall ceased production, and the long-standing bond between pit and village life came to an abrupt end. When Blackhall Colliery closed 732 men were transferred to other collieries and 586 accepted redundancy either to find other employment elsewhere in the area, or to seek employment in areas further a field to eke out an existence on Social Security.
In 1986 Blackhall colliery was finally closed and demolished. The land and the large deposits of dumped colliery waste have been processed and transformed into landscape industrial plots for lease to light industry which will relieve in a small way the unemployment problems.
This is part of a series of projects, others are listed below:
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 1) - Early history
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 2) - Industrialisation
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 3) - Sinking of the shaft
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 4) - Housing and employment
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 5) - The village
Blackhall Colliery and Village (Part 7) - Full circle
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© 2003 Trenholm, Dru
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