I’d last visited Clipstone Colliery in March 2009, not long after the site had been cleared, leaving just the magnificent grade 2 listed headstocks and power house standing alone in a recently graded field. In fact there were still piles of rubble round the back and the fence had not been erected around the buildings. I didn’t find a way in but just admired the place from the outside.

At the time, the future was very much in doubt with the local councillor wanting them demolished but nothing happened until 2020 when a local businessman bought them and they are now used as an events venue – indeed on this most recent visit a car meet was in full swing with hundreds of modified hot hatches arriving and parking up in what is now a large grass field. This made getting another side on picture for my typology all but impossible but on the other hand I did get to go inside this time.

The headstocks were the some of the few Koepe type built in the U.K. and are the tallest in the world. They were given a grade 2 listing in 2000, not long before the colliery closed in 2003, and are probably what saved them from the fate of all the other Nottinghamshire coal mines that closed this century.

They’re visually impressive – you can’t help but think ‘wow’ when you see them as unlike some mines they are not hidden away behind trees or down a lane, no they’re right next to the road, and as they’re 63 metres / 206feet high (the tallest in the world, apparently) they can be seen from a few miles away. As you drive through the village of Clipstone they tower over the landscape.

This is one of those places that you really need to stand further away to photograph as they’re so big, but that wasn’t really viable on the day, fortunately I was able to go inside for a look this time……..