Selby Coalfield

All coal was brought to the surface and treated at Gascoigne Wood before being distributed by rail.

The mines were acquired by RJB Mining in 1997 after the privatisation of the coal industry; loss of financial subsidy, geological problems, and low UK coal prices made the pits unprofitable by the 21st century.

[1][2][3] Exploratory drilling in the Selby area had taken place in the 1960s, and detailed exploration was carried out in the early 1970s, showing that a northern extension of the 'Barnsley Seam' was present and between 1.9 and 3.25 m thick, resulting in an estimate of 600 million tonnes of coal in the seam, with total estimated coal reserves of 2,000 million tonnes.

A geological report "Coal reserves in the Selby Area" was published 1972, and planning permission sought for a mine in 1974, which was given in 1976 after opposition, including concerns about flooding of low-lying land due to subsidence; extraction was limited to the Barnsley seam, though other seams existed.

[8][9] Shafts for the pits were first sunk in the late 1970s, and in 1983 the Wistow Mine began production.

[17][24] In 2009 the North Selby Mine was proposed as a renewable energy site, using waste as a feedstock for electricity generation.

The initially proposed energy generation methods of incineration and gasification were dropped in 2011 with the plan had been modified to include a larger facility for anaerobic digestion, as well as using in vessel composting of organic waste.

[25] The plan was dropped and a new application was put forward to redevelop the land as leisure accommodation.

Download coordinates as: 2: The Selby Coalfield straddled the border of North and West Yorkshire