Mining Regions in England

Coal mining is believed to have taken place in the Leicestershire and the South Derbyshire coalfields since Roman times and in the Warwickshire coalfield since the thirteenth century. This area of coal mining expanded during the eighteenth century as the new canal networks gave access to markets as far away as London. The last colliery to remain open was that at Asfordby in Leicestershire which closed in the 1990s. The coal extracted from these areas was mainly used as household and industrial fuel.

British Coal, the nationalised industry, often used the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire coalfield pits as a testing ground for new machinery and techniques. Much work was done developing longwall retreat mining, which recently accounted for most of the coal mined in the United Kingdom.