Methane vent pipe near Arkwright Town, Derbyshire

The mining village of Arkwright Town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, experienced serious methane emissions from the ground following closure of the Arkwright Colliery drift mine in 1988. As a result, the entire community was moved into brand new properties, constructed some 200 - 600 metres away. The original village was then demolished and obliterated as part of an opencast coal mining operation in the 1990s designed to remove the old deep mine workings and associated strata which were the source of the methane emissions.

This methane vent pipe is one of a pair at this location situated on the restoration backfill of the Arkwright opencast coal mine in order to safely control residual methane emissions from the backfill and surrounding strata.