The village has changed greatly since the above was written, indeed it is rapidly becoming the size of a small town. Although a distance still separates Clowne and Whitwell, the distance between Barlborough and Clowne has now been reduced to a few hundred yards.
It’s character has changed,from being a largely farming area prior to the Industrial Revolution,to a major centre of the coal industry after it, and now since the demise of the coal industry it has again diversified into other sectors, the largest being education as Clowne is the main campus for the North East Derbyshire College.
In 1821 the population stood at 616, by 1831 this had risen to 637, a conservative estimate of today would be in the region of 7000 inhabitants.The first big influx of people came around 1877, when Southgate Colliery, whose shaft had been sunk two years earlier in 1875 began production.At its peak, it employed around 400 men, turning 600 tons of coal a day.The pit closed in 1929, when water from nearbye mines flooded the workings. A Gas Works ,which supplied the local area,was built close by.Such was the output from this and surrounding pits,that although only a village Clowne boasted two separate railway stations, one for LNER, and one which ran the Midland Line. Sadly both these have now gone,though the site of the old line can still be followed, though now it has become the Linear Park |
![[History]](http://us.yimg.com/i/ligans/cb/smtdih.gif)
![[Trivia]](http://us.yimg.com/i/ligans/cb/smtriv.gif)
