Mining Records Office

Mining Records Service Brochure (PDF format )
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The Mining Records Office is sited at the Coal Authority headquarters in Mansfield. Within the Mining Records Office the Authority currently holds three main sets of records, these being –        

• Coal Abandonment Plans
• The Coal Holdings Register and associated records
• Licence Register

1. Coal Abandonment Plans

The Mining Records office houses the collection of coal abandonment plans, covering both opencast and deep mining operations, which depict areas of coal extraction and the point of entry into the same. These plans, which are held under an agreement with the Health & Safety Executive, have been required to be deposited since 1872, the collection numbering in excess of 100,000 plans. All plans have been microfilmed, and whilst copying of the original plans is prohibited, due to possible damage to the plans, prints can be supplied from the microfilms as per current charges, a quotation for which can be supplied upon request. The plans, which vary greatly in scale and size, are held in controlled conditions with regard to humidity and temperature and are protected by a flood gas protection system.

2. Coal Holdings Register

The Coal Holdings Register dealt with the transfer in ownership of coal prior to the Nationalisation of the Coal Industry on the 1 January 1947. In conjunction with the Registers, the collection includes twenty-six and a half thousand former Coal Commission claim files that contain the relevant plans and Mining Leases, to supplement the Register entry.

Land Registry Practice Guide 65 – Registration of Mines and Minerals , issued March 2006.

3. Licence Register

The Licence Register contains information on all current granted licences together with any applications for the same received by the Coal Authority. In the case of a granted licence the entry consists of the relevant extracts of the licence together with a plan/s depicting the area of the same

Inspection of Records

All the above records, which cover England, Scotland and Wales, can be viewed at the Mining Records Office, any day Monday to Friday, between the hours of 09.00 and 12:00 and 13:30 to 16:30 (13:00 to 16:00 Fridays), subject to the making of a prior appointment.

Telephone number 01623 637 233, Fax number 01623 629100.

The inspection of coal abandonment plans is free of charge subject to a maximum visit of half a day per working week. Visits in excess of half a day per working week will be subject to a room hire charge of £50 plus VAT, per half day of visit.

Visits to view the Coal Holdings Register and the Licence Register are subject also to a charge of £50 plus VAT, per half day visit.

Postal Requests

If it is inconvenient to visit the office, then searches of the relevant records can be undertaken subject to the current charges. At the present time the remit is to respond to such requests within five working days. It should be noted that the appropriate search fee should be forwarded with any such request.

Prime Geological Data

With effect from 10 September the former British Coal Prime Geological Data has been transferred to the custodianship of the British Geological Survey (BGS) at their Keyworth headquarters.

Contact at BGS is Rod Bowie on 0115 936 3106.

All visits and copying requests will be subject to the advertised BGS charges in operation at the time.As per the arrangements with the Coal Authority, any data falling within a current Licence area is deemed to be held under ‘confidential’ cover to the Licensee, and thus not available for inspection by a third party.