History of the BGS Mine Plans Search
Background to maps held by the British Geological Survey
Mining has occurred in Great Britain since approximately 2700 BCE. A diverse range of minerals has been extracted by underground mining, from industrial minerals such as limestone to precious metals like gold. Plans, sections and shaft information exist, recording many of these workings. However, with the exception of coal mining, there has been no coordinated effort to catalogue and create a national database of these records. A variety of collections, catalogues and indexes exist in disparate public and private hands but individually, these cover only parts of the total holding (thought to be in excess of 40 000 documents).
Background to the Mining Remediation Authority’s Abandoned Mines Catalogue
Coal mining has long shaped the landscape of Great Britain with extensive underground extraction of coal and associated minerals taking place across England, Scotland, and Wales. Over this long history, thousands of mine plans were created – ranging from early, minimal sketches to detailed, standardised surveys – to record the location of workings, shafts, roadways, and geological features. These documents form an essential record of what lies beneath the ground.
Legal requirements to produce and deposit coal mine abandonment plans began in the 19th century and were strengthened through successive mining regulation and legislation. As a result, a substantial national archive of coal-related plans was amassed, later inherited and safeguarded by the Mining Remediation Authority (formerly the Coal Authority), and providing the most comprehensive and coherent dataset of underground working records available in Great Britain. Today the collection contains over 120,500 scanned plans representing centuries of coal mining activity, each varying in style, completeness, and accuracy depending on the era, surveying practices, and purpose for which it was created.
As well as being historical documents, such plans remain pertinent today in supporting safer land development, environmental management, academic research, and a deeper understanding of Britain’s industrial past.
A comprehensive guide to understanding coal mine plans and orientating them has been produced and made available here.
Legislation
Prior to 1840, there was no requirement for mining plans to be prepared and it was not until 1850 that the Inspection of Coal Mines Act 1850 required a coal mine owner to keep a plan at each mine.
In 1872, the Coal Mines Regulation Act and the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act made the deposition of plans of abandoned mines with the Secretary of State a statutory requirement. Non-coal mines were not required to deposit plans if there had been less than 12 men employed below ground and this relaxation was perpetuated in all subsequent legislation until 1993. All that was required to be shown on these plans were the boundaries of the mine workings up to the time of abandonment. There was no requirement for orientation with the surface, depth of workings or section extracted information to be shown.