CRESWELL COLLIERY FC AND ACCRINGTON STANLEY

CRESWELL COLLIERY FC GROUND AND VILLAGE

10 DECEMBER 2022 --- THE AFTERNOON OF

WELCOME TO CRESWELL HOME OF CRESWELL COLLIERY FC

On a cold day after a consistently frosty week with most non league games called off I finally roused myself to try to take in the romanticism of a former non league ground as a requirement for the football meal of a Saturday afternoon.  Although the trip to Creswell on the eastern edge of Derbyshire and a search for their former ground, The Huts, also spelt The Hutts, may not have the pull of Cathkin Park Glasgow, Partk Ave Bradford or even Peel Park Accrington [which features later] this one still adds intrigue to me.

The journey from base would start with a mile walk to pick up the 49 Hulleys service in North Wingfield on their Clay Cross to Clowne service with the intention to alight just short of the town centre for a walk to nearby Creswell around a couple of miles away.  Departing around 40 minutes later on the Ringer estate the greeting of sharp sleet was not what I wanted any way needless to say while walking the old freight route this did disappear and disastrously for my plans of returning in a couple of hours so did the footpath.  I could not find a route out and made the decision to retrace my steps and take up the Clowne Greenway the converted rail track bed for the former line between Clowne and our intended target.  By this stage I was on the phone looking at all options to get back in some sort of reasonable time and with that in hand I could got back onto focussing on the job in hand.

Arriving into Creswell the signage of the track way which now fell into a new build estate was very poor and I ended up trying to short cut a few cul de sacs and failing.  Finally finding my way out I made my way along Portland Avenue, a name that crops up all over the town as the pit investor and owner was the Duke Of Portland.

Coming out onto the villages main street Elmton Road you were greeted by the Black Diamond public house I guess a reference to the coal that made this village famous.  Indeed the village is under the control of Elmton and Creswell Parish Council and the former is just a small hamlet but in the pit development days Creswell did not exist and when deliveries arrived they were left at Creswell's Farm and the name stuck for what became a fast expanding settlement.

So having arrived at the west end of the village, the opposite end to its most famous attraction Creswell Crags, an immediate crossing over the road to run adjacent to The Model Village of which more later.  The footpath was pretty well marked out and took us past the newly developing housing estate which will gradually take up much of the former pit site, indeed with houses advancing this was my main concern about trying to capture anything of 'The Huts', so named apparently by the Nissen Huts that the teams changed in.

THE HUTS WITH FORMER PIT [NOW DEMOLISHED] TO THE LEFT

Walking the first section of the freight line I had to turn around on earlier within a few hundred yards the rise of the embankment gave a view of where the ground was.  The current satellite image shows a grassed and overgrown area with people having walked across it at varying angles and there is some suggestion of the stand having some visibility in its base.  There are very few pictures of the former ground on line, there are a few but they need well searching out and even less of any team pictures of the colliery fc side even though there are many of other sides including Creswell Wednesdays.

Moving along the full length of the pitch I returned to a footpath that would have run behind the village end goal, thankfully I had spotted a chap walking is dog and decided that would be worth the effort and it turned out that way with no fencing up and open spaces in hedges there was a chance to enter the hallowed turf, although there wasnt much of that left now.  Within a few months the whole site will probably be gone with an earth scraper already taking of the top layer to reveal a lower level of hard coal type topping out.

SLIGHT VIEWING OF STAND BASE THAT CONTINUES WITH TREES GOWING OUT OF IT NOW

The interest though was an area in front of the embankment that had a few minor saplings and grass that had not been touched.  Within this section was a brick base area throughout it and this was exposed at one end with a definite continuation right through upon investigation.  I believe this was the base of the stand although and or the furniture of the former Creswell Colliery Fc ground The Huts.

I had one last look before I made my way off the 'pitch' and reminisced of days gone by.

Like many pit villages the whole collection of sports clubs and local facilities sprung up around and because of the colliery and Creswell appeared no different with cricket another main feature.

The pit was first envisaged in 1894 and operated under private ownership until nationalisation in 1947 and for the 48/49 season the football club that bore its name entered The Chesterfield Senior League.  After the initial season they went on to have nearly twenty years in The Central Alliance, the club then made there way around a few other leagues before finding a footing in The Midland Counties League from 78/79 before its development into Northern Counties East League football in 1982/83.  Just one season was to be enjoyed before drifting away into The Mansfield District League and then their last season in 1985/86 The Sutton and Skegby League.  But its those early days that produced the clubs biggest game a first round F A Cup fixture.

TREES TO RIGHT FEATURING THE STAND BASE WITH PITCH STRAIGHT AHEAD

That date 20 November 1954 saw them make the trip to play Accrington Stanley, even though they had been drawn at home, at their former home the fascinating Peel Park, a ground which survives to this day as a recreational ground and park, obviously minus its stands that soon became derelict after Stanley dissolved.  Interestingly Peel Park saw its record attendance in the weekdays before the visit of Creswell, at local derby a friendly against Blackburn Rovers on 15 November attracted 17, 634 through the turnstiles.  Again some of the stats from the Colliery sides big day are not readily available we do know the the Creswell Colliery Brass Band made the trip up to Lancashire with the supporters but although the side scored a goal sadly Stanley scored seven and the their cup run was over against the division 3 north side.

The one thing that does seem to have been produced and I guess these will be a big rarity was a programme priced at three pence and produced by Shuttleworths of Accrington it was reminiscent of its time with front page adverts J and N Hopwood seller of fancy goods with the chance of joining their club and Melbo Bar offering snacks drinks [hot and cold] and a variety of sandwiches.  All this was 7 days a week until 10pm and on Melbourne Street opposite the Manchester bus stop.  I wonder how many still exist and if any are loft stored in Creswell.

A WINTERS DAY ON THE MODEL

Exiting around what was the former pit and its yard to basically find away back out onto Colliery Lane there was time to think of the former pit villages glorious pasts.  Looking at the finish of the football side that would have combined with the year long miners strike and whether that had any effect on the ending of the club you can only guess it would not of course help when the pit finally closed in 1991.  

The pit suffered one of the worst mining disasters in the country on 26 September 1950 when eighty men lost their lives when an fire at 3.45am on a conveyor belt trapped many men who died of carbon monoxide poisoning.  Fifty one miners did escape the disaster but it remained so dangerous that initially after 47 bodies recovered on the day of the accident it but it took until 27 March 1951 to recover 27 more with the final half a dozen not being returned to their loves ones until 11 August 1951 nearly a year later.  

Leaving via Colliery Lane the cricket ground is on the left but sadly no village side plays here now, it is used by Clowne Town CC as a 3rds and 4ths ground, there is also the development of a small leisure centre due to open in 2023 to replace the now One Stop shop which developed the old 'baths', on Duke Street.

The Model Village was set up for the miners and is a large doubled lined octagonal  formation best seen from above if you want to have a look, its recently received an investment to upgrade and offers fantastic green space within its inner area.  Of course it was adjacent to the pit with allotments offering some separation from the collieries boundary.  First construction appeared one year after the pit started up and is made up of 280 houses, there was a stylish village institute between the Model and the pit and apparently even had a tram line to take coal from the pit to the miner houses the line also doubled up by taking away the 'night soil' from the ashpit lavatories.  

CRESWELL EVENTS CENTRE

Hopefully you will stop with me for a little tour of the sights of this fascinating village and its buildings never mind its history.  Moving eastwards down Elmton Road the smart war memorial is very well kept.  On the left hand side is the bulk of shops from The Coop to the local chippy and a tremendous local project The Limestone offering much help and advice to the local community alongside its café.  Back to the opposite side of the road is The Creswell Events Centre, the former drill hall, with its wonderful clock tower, again gifted by the Duke of Portland and kept functioning by the miners levy.  Once this disappeared of course it was the Parish Council who had to step in and coordinate a major renovation.

THE STATION HOTEL WITH THE STATION BEHIND IT

The railway line that served neighbouring villages and the larger towns of Worksop and Mansfield alongside the city of Nottingham was re opened in stages between 1993 and 1998 after closing to passenger traffic in the 1964, finally arriving in Creswell in 98.  Passing through the underpass type cutting under the rail line which above carries trains southwards from The Robin Hood Line station we approach Duke Street and a quick walk along the road sees the former leisure centre and bath now re developed as a retail outlet, but a nice touch in leaving the display stones a top the much reduced former building.

ROBIN HOOD LINE GOES OVER ELMTON ROAD WITH CRESWELL STATION TO THE RIGHT

Down now to the Sheffield Road a main carriageway that delivers and takes away a lot of the village traffic and just before arrive at the junction the Portland Buildings, that name again, offer more retail outlets and the former post Office adjacent to these still offers up its name in stone.  With the parish church also in this area we finally arrive at the road junction and the pretty former school is now restored into appartments.

FORMER LESUIRE CENTRE AND BATHS

Before taking a look at the station there is a chance to take the large former cinema and now bingo hall this art deco style building is one of the 'stars' of the village and was built by the 'Roger's' family hence its name then and still now 'Regor', the reverse of the family name.

The station has two sepearate platforms and today we took in the major one which contains a fair approach road and small car park with services leaving here to Nottingham bound trains.

PORTLAND BUILDINGS

Making the way back through the eastern part of the main street and taking in the sites once more there was time to admire the large Railway Hotel no bigger sign of the importance in its day of the construction of the lines and its relationship with the village and its pit.  It would appear today to be converted into flats.

FORMER REGORS CINEMA NOW REGORS BINGO HALL

Before rejoining the Clowne Greenway to walk the route back for the return journey of this trip I wanted to make one special visit which would take me along Skinner Street to the cemetery to pay my respects and take a look at the memorial to those 80 miners who lost their life just going to work in 1950 on that night shift that would see so many families lose their husbands, brothers and uncles.  There are many harrowing stories including of a wife having breakfast ready for husband having not heard of the disaster to a wife who had lost her previous husband in a previous accident at the pit to a family losing three members.

FORMER VILLAGE SCHOOL

The memorial is very well appointed with a plaque explaining its dedications with on two sides the names and ages of those that perished.  There is a new plaque at its base which explains its recent re siting and just a few footsteps away is a wonderful board telling of the accident plus pictures and mini biographies of the men lost.

A fine touch and a sad reminder of the past of this wonderful village but one that it was a privilege to spend a few minutes remembering these men.

ELMTON AND CRESWELL SIGNAL BOX NORTH OF THE STATION, WORKSOP TO THE RIGHT AND THE FORMER CLOWNE LINE JUST TO THE RIGHT OF THE BOX

Time with 3pm and loss of light fast arriving to make the trip back to Clowne and the 4.15pm Stagecoach 53 Sheffield to Mansfield service was taken for the ten minute journey to Bolsover.  After fifty minute wander around the town on a bitterly cold night that was now added to by fulsome snow showers the final 49 back towards Clay Cross was climbed aboard.  With a departure again just short of its final destination the pavements were offering up free slides as the ice became more challenging on the return mile or so back to base from what had been a superb visit to Creswell a village and community that has fought and battled through so much adversity recently to come out stronger.  It is though such a shame that so little seems to have been recorded certainly in photographic terms of Creswell Colliery Fc but I guess that was a sign of the times when nobody was snapping away taking photographs unlike our current era.

CRESWELL COLLIERY 1950 MEMORIAL