Headstocks and Powerhouse at the site of the former Clipstone Colliery

Materials. The powerhouse building is built of brick, concrete and structural steelwork . The headstocks are formed from rolled steel beams.

Plan The headstocks and powerhouse complex is an asymmetrical linear design comprised of two tall steel-framed headstocks flanking a central brick powerhouse. At the base of each headstocks is a heapstead building, also of brick. The complex was designed to operate two shafts, the No. 1 Service Shaft to the north for colliery staff and the lowering of materials, and No.2 Winding Shaft to the south, designed to raise the coal skips.

Exterior The headstock structures are the most prominent components of the site, and each is comprised of a latticework tower of steel plate and girder construction, clasped by an inclined A-shaped steel frame which rises from the side of the central powerhouse building. The upper part of each of the headstocks incorporates twin headgear sheaves - twenty-four foot diameter spoked wheels - mounted in an 'under and over' arrangement to support the winding rope. The brick structures located below and between the headstocks are functionally-detailed Modernist designs, the stepped powerhouse building with extensive areas of glazing to its upper level. The two outer heapstead or pit bank buildings enclosed the shaft heads and the surface car circuits which were linked to underground coal and dirt conveyors. When the site was first listed in April 2000, the colliery was still operational, and the component structures - buildings and headstocks - were structurally complete. Since that time they have suffered from extensive vandalism and structural deterioration.

Interior The building was designed to house large items of machinery and the electrical equipment needed to power them. The front section of the powerhouse contains two Koepe winding engines, each powered by two direct coupled electric motors linked to motor generator sets to convert the public AC supply to DC. Adjacent to each winder is a control cabin from which the winding in both shafts could be monitored. The generator sets and switch gear are located on two levels in the rear section of the powerhouse. On each side of the power house are pit bank buildings located above the shafts, into which the winding ropes extend via the headstocks. The shafts are now sealed, but much of the associated equipment including the rails on which the colliery cars ran, and the turntables which allowed them to be manoeuvred, remain in situ. Both parts of the powerhouse are equipped with travelling cranes and running beams carried on lattice metal piers which facilitated the installation and maintenance of the winders and generators.

When the site was first listed in April 2000, the machinery, fittings and fixtures housed within the building were in operational condition. Since that time they have suffered from extensive vandalism and theft, which has resulted in high levels of damage and delapidation throughout the interiors.