Brinsley Headstocks rebuild set to complete by April 2026
It follows a six month delay to plans
Last updated 6th Jul 2025
Historic Brinsley Headstocks will be rebuilt by April next year but some have raised concerns about vandalism on the site.
Broxtowe Borough Council officials announced the planned reopening today (July 4) in a meeting discussing the wider project’s timeline.
The headstocks were part of Brinsley Colliery which opened in 1842 and closed in 1934, although shafts at the site remained open until 1970 for access to other pits.
The huge timber structure was built in 1872.
After the site was fully closed in 1970, it was reclaimed as a nature and picnic area, with the wooden headstocks acting as a landmark.
They were dismantled in December 2023 over safety concerns, and the council later approved a full oak replacement of the structure in July 2024 after overwhelming public support.
Now, today’s meeting heard the wider Brinsley Headstocks project – including a new wildflower meadow and remembrance orchard for miners who lost their lives at the pit – is more than half completed, with a projected opening date of April 18, 2026 for the headstocks.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service today, council leader, Milan Radulovic (Brox Alliance), said: “There are some more works needed to be completed, but substantially all the groundworks are in place.
“Now it’s going out to procurement and tender for laying the foundations and the base. The construction, which is made out of green oak, once that’s completed we’ll be looking for assembly towards the early beginning of next year.”
The April deadline reflects a six-month delay to the original project’s goal, with the leader previously aiming for the full project to be completed by October 2025.
The delay was caused by the discovery of two old mining shafts back in October 2024 from a ground investigation partly using old maps.
One of the mining tunnels is underneath the remembrance orchard area and while it was inaccessible, there were concerns the ground above could be unstable.
Cllr Radulovic, speaking about the six-month delay, said: “I think now we’ve got a better solution in that it’s safer, we’ve uncovered any potential snags in the future.
“It will be a tourist attraction not just for this area, but for the wider area and will have international significance.”
There are concerns over potential vandalism on the site after two trees in the remembrance orchard were stolen earlier this year.
The council has also unveiled a memorial bench for the 33 people known to have lost their lives at the pit, along with a plaque of their names. It was built using timber from the original headstocks.
Kennith Hamilton, Chair of Friends of Brinsley Headstocks, the voluntary community group maintaining the site, said vandalism of the new bench is his “biggest worry”.
He said: “It’s such a beautiful bench, it’s such a good thing for the miners that passed away or got killed at the pit. If anyone vandalises it they should be ashamed of themselves.”
Cllr Radulovic said: “What we are preparing to do is to put in mobile CCTV if we do have any occurrence of vandalism or inappropriate behaviour on that site.
“We expect people to treat it with respect and dignity… they would be betraying the previous generations that, that is a memorial for, and I expect people that do will be treated accordingly.
Around £74,000 has so far been spent on the wider project.