Summerley Colliery Coke Ovens

Abstract

In the late nineteenth century there were over a thousand beehive coke ovens operating in Derbyshire, many of these concentrated in a small area between Dronfield and Chesterfield in the north east of the county. The best surviving examples are in the double range of 48 ovens on the former Summerley Colliery site. This is a scheduled monument, and is probably the largest intact range of beehive coke ovens in the UK, but the structure is deteriorating and extensive remedial action will be required for it to be preserved. The Industrial Archaeology Section of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society have carried out a survey which it is hoped will prompt the formulation of a plan for the future conservation of the site.