Fishburn Pit Wheel

Between 1910 and 1973 coal mining here was a major industry, Fishburn Colliery employees peaking at over 1,500 in the 1950s. Fishburn coking plant was built in 1954 alongside the colliery to produce high grade coke for industry and a coke for the domestic market called Sunbrite as well as other by-products from the coking process such as town gas which was supplied directly to the nearby Winterton Hospital and to the national grid. After much doubt about its future and attempts by the then MP Tony Blair to save it, the plant was eventually closed in 1986 with the loss of 250 jobs. Nothing remains of the former ovens and the site has been reclaimed as a nature reserve.