Daw Mill - The Mine

The Mine

Daw Mill mined a five-metre thick section of the Warwickshire Coalfield (known as the Warwickshire Thick) in the north of the county. It was owned and operated by UK Coal and in 2008 employed 680 people.

The two shafts that served Daw Mill were first sunk between 1956 and 1959, and 1969 and 1971 respectively. The mine was a natural extension of the former collieries Kingsbury Colliery and Dexter Colliery, both of which have also closed. In 1983 an inclined tunnel linking underground workings with the surface was completed. This drift mining enabled Daw Mill to increase its production capacity as it removed the often time consuming process of winding coal up the shafts.

Daw Mill was the last surviving mine in a county that once had 20 operating collieries. In 2008 it excavated 3.25 million tons of coal, beating a 13-year-old record for annual output at a British coal mine set at Selby in North Yorkshire.