A visit to the derelict Coalite site in Bolsover, Derbyshire. Bit of history about Coalite The Coalite Company The forerunner of the Coalite company was formed with the building of a production unit at Barugh near Barnsley. In the 1920s two more plants at Doncaster and London were opened. In April 1937, the main manufacturing plant at Buttermilk Lane, Bolsover was opened by Prince George, Duke of Kent. At the time it was the largest one of its type in the world. In 1939, another works was opened in South Wales. In the 1950s older plants were closed and production was concentrated at the expanded Bolsover plant. The coal oil and liquor from all these plants was processed at the central refinery at the Bolsover plant. The ovens continued producing Coalite until the Bolsover works closed down in 2004. Carbonisation process[ Coal delivered by rail, first from the nearby Bolsover colliery, and later from other sources, was heated in eight large air sealed ovens called "batteries". Volatile constituents were driven off and condensed into coal oil and a watery fraction called ammoniacal liquor. Coal gas was used to heat the ovens and also burned in the works boilers and furnaces. Any excess was flared off. The coal oil and liquor were piped over the road to the chemical works section where they were processed into various fractions and industrial chemicals. The residual Coalite solid fuel was cooled, then sorted into various grades based on size and stockpiled for distribution by road transport. (info from Wikipedia) Printed in the Derbyshire Times July 2019 The total number of homes to be built on huge former mining Derbyshire site will now be ZERO because HS2 will cut straight through it.

• published: 10 Sep 2020
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