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    • Upper Key Stage 2 2026-27

    The Industrial Revolution and Marvellous Miners

    Knowledge Organiser for Years 5 and 6, Autumn Term (Even Year) 2026-27

    Our key questionHow did the Industrial Revolution transform mining, and what impact did it have on the local area (Worksop) and on Britain's place in the world?

    Between about 1750 and 1900 Britain changed from a country of farms and villages into the world's first industrial nation. Coal powered that change. This term we find out how coal was mined, how steam power and new laws transformed the lives of miners, how coal helped Britain build and run a huge empire, and how the collieries of the Nottinghamshire coalfield shaped Worksop, its people and its landscape.

    In Autumn 1 we study the history of mining. In Autumn 2 we become geographers and investigate our own local area, including a fieldwork walk at Manton pit top.

    What we will know and remember

    History: Industrial Revolution and Mining

    Autumn 1

    1. To know what mining is and when and why it began.
    2. To know key mining events on a timeline.
    3. To know how a miner's life changed after the Industrial Revolution.
    4. To know how steam power and new laws made mining safer.
    5. To know who George Stephenson was and why he mattered.
    6. To know the environmental problems mining caused.
    7. To know how coal and industry helped Britain build an empire, and how that empire affected people around the world. Empire

    Geography: Marvellous Miners Local Study

    Autumn 2

    1. To know how to locate Worksop and give six-figure grid references.
    2. To know the local collieries (Manton, Shireoaks, Creswell, Thoresby, Harworth).
    3. To know the physical features left by mining (spoil heaps, subsidence).
    4. To know how Worksop's community changed, past and present.
    5. To know how to record local features through fieldwork.

    Inside a colliery

    Headgear and winding wheel Engine house Spoil heap Shaft Coal seam Coal seam Roadway with pit props Cage carries miners and coal up and down the shaft Not to scale. Deep pits like Manton reached seams hundreds of metres underground.

    Mining through time

    • Roman timesCoal is collected from surface deposits.
    • 1600sWoodland is running out, so bell pits are dug to reach shallow coal.
    • 1712Thomas Newcomen's steam pumping engine drains water from mines.
    • c.1750The Industrial Revolution begins and demand for coal grows.
    • 1769James Watt patents his improved steam engine.
    • 1815The Davy lamp makes it safer to work near firedamp.
    • 1825George Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington Railway opens.
    • 1842Mines and Collieries Act: women, girls and boys under 10 no longer work underground.
    • 1850Coal Mines Inspection Act brings in mine inspectors.
    • 1860The minimum age for boys underground rises to 12.
    • 1869The Suez Canal opens. Coal-powered steamships reach India and the Far East much faster.
    • 1872Coal Mines Regulation Act: every mine needs a certified manager.
    • 1898Work begins sinking Manton Colliery, Worksop.
    • Early 1900sThe British Empire covers about a quarter of the world's land.
    • 1913Britain mines more coal than ever before or since.
    • 1947The coal industry is nationalised.
    • 1984-85The miners' strike.
    • 1994Manton Colliery closes. Its pit top is later reclaimed as green space.

    Local Worksop events Empire events

    Coal by numbers

    3m170015m180050m1850225m1900287m1913
    Millions of tons of coal mined in Britain each year (approximate). Output soared with steam power, railways and the growth of the empire.

    How steam changed mining

    1. PumpingSteam engines pumped water out,so pits could go much deeper. 2. WindingSteam winding gear lifted cagesof miners and coal up the shaft. 3. RailwaysSteam locomotives carried coalquickly to towns, factories and ports.

    Children underground

    Before 1842, children as young as five worked long shifts in the dark. These were some of their jobs.

    Trapper

    Often aged 5 to 8

    Sat alone in the dark for up to 12 hours, opening and closing doors to keep fresh air flowing.

    Hurrier

    Children and young women

    Pulled heavy tubs (corves) of coal along low, narrow tunnels, often using a chain and belt.

    Thruster

    Usually children

    Pushed the tubs from behind with their hands and heads to help the hurrier along.

    The Davy lamp

    Invented 1815

    Its wire gauze stopped the flame lighting explosive firedamp gas, saving many lives.

    1842No women, girls or boys under 10 underground.
    1850Inspectors check that mines are safe.
    1860Boys must be 12 to work underground.
    1872Every mine needs a qualified manager.

    Coal, power and empire

    An empire is a group of countries or lands ruled by one powerful country. By the early 1900s, Britain ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen. Coal was at the heart of its power: it fuelled the factories that made goods to sell, the railways that moved them, and the steamships of the Royal Navy and merchant fleet that carried them around the world.

    Coal minede.g. Worksop Steam power Factoriescloth, iron, machines Railwaysmove coal and goods Steamshipstrade and Royal Navy Goods sold across the empireBritish cloth, rails and machines Raw materials shipped backcotton, tea, rubber, sugar, jute
    Coal powered a cycle: raw materials came in from the empire, and finished goods went back out.

    The steamship route to India and the East

    Britain Gibraltar Malta Suez Canal Aden Bombay Colombo Singapore Hong Kong
    Black dots show some of the British coaling stations, where steamships stopped to refuel. Not to scale.

    Who benefited?

    Factory owners, merchants and traders in Britain grew very rich. Jobs in mines, mills and shipyards grew, and Britain became the most powerful country in the world.

    Who lost out?

    Millions of people in the empire had no say in how they were ruled. Land and resources were taken, and local industries, such as hand-weaving in India, were damaged by cheap British goods.

    Think like a historian

    Was the Industrial Revolution good for everyone? How might a Worksop miner, a mill owner and a weaver in India each answer that question?

    Key vocabulary

    coal
    A black fossil fuel formed from ancient plants and burned to release energy.
    fossil fuel
    A fuel formed from the remains of ancient living things over millions of years.
    non-renewable
    A resource that cannot be replaced quickly after it is used.
    colliery
    A coal mine together with its buildings and machinery.
    shaft
    A vertical passage connecting the surface to the mine workings below.
    coal seam
    A layer of coal running between layers of rock.
    coalfield
    An area where workable layers of coal are found underground.
    bell pit
    A shallow early mine that widened near the seam, giving it a bell shape.
    trapper
    A child who opened and closed ventilation doors underground.
    hurrier
    A worker, often a child, who pulled loaded corves of coal through the roadways.
    firedamp
    Explosive methane gas that could be lit by a naked flame.
    Davy lamp
    An 1815 safety lamp whose wire gauze reduced the risk of lighting firedamp.
    winding gear
    Powered drums and ropes used to raise and lower cages in a shaft.
    legislation
    Laws made by Parliament.
    spoil heap
    A mound of waste rock and soil brought up during mining.
    subsidence
    The sinking of the ground caused by mine workings below.
    six-figure grid reference
    A six-digit code pinpointing a place inside an OS map grid square.
    reclamation
    Restoring damaged industrial land for a new use, often as green space.
    empire
    A group of countries or lands ruled by one powerful country.
    colony
    A country or area ruled by another country, often far away.
    raw materials
    Natural materials, such as cotton or rubber, used to make goods.
    trade
    Buying, selling and exchanging goods between places.
    coaling station
    A port where steamships stopped to take on coal.

    Empire words

    Key people

    George Stephenson

    1781-1848

    A colliery engineer known as the Father of the Railways. He designed safety lamps for miners and built locomotives, including Rocket, that carried coal and people further and faster.

    Sir Humphry Davy

    1778-1829

    A scientist who invented the Davy lamp in 1815, helping to protect miners from explosions of firedamp.

    James Watt

    1736-1819

    An engineer whose improved steam engine powered pumps, winding gear and factories.

    L.S. Lowry

    1887-1976

    An artist famous for industrial landscapes filled with simple figures, painted in a muted colour palette.

    Our local collieries

    Worksop sits on the Nottinghamshire coalfield. Collieries grew where workable coal seams could be linked to the Chesterfield Canal and the railways.

    Look for the clues mining has left behind: pit-top sites now used as green space, spoil heaps that have been landscaped, and rows of houses built for mining families.

    Chesterfield Canal Worksop Manton Shireoaks Harworth Creswell Thoresby N
    Sketch map, not to scale. Positions are approximate - use an OS map to find exact grid references.

    Learning across the curriculum

    Science: Forces (Y5)

    Autumn 1

    • To know heavier objects have more gravitational force; different masses fall at the same speed.
    • To know unsupported objects fall to Earth because of gravity.
    • To know the effect of friction between moving surfaces.
    • To know the effects of air and water resistance (upthrust).

    Science: Electricity (Y6)

    Autumn 2

    • To know how to build a simple circuit and why it works or not.
    • To know the symbols used in circuit diagrams.
    • To know how voltage affects brightness and volume.
    • To know how wire length affects bulbs and buzzers.
    • To know how to design and test a working circuit.

    Art: Painting with L.S. Lowry

    Autumn 1

    • To know about the work of L.S. Lowry.
    • To know Lowry's muted colour palette.
    • To know how to draw simplified industrial figures.
    • To know how to compose an industrial landscape.

    DT: Automata with Cam Mechanisms

    Autumn 2

    • To know how cam mechanisms create movement.
    • To know how to design and build a mining automata.
    • To know how to decorate without affecting movement.
    • To know how to evaluate and improve a design.

    Music: Industrial Rhythms

    Autumn 1

    • To know that an ostinato is a repeated pattern that underpins a piece.
    • To know that texture describes how many layers are sounding at once.
    • To know how to create a rhythmic ostinato from an industrial sound.
    • To know how to layer several ostinati to build a machine-like texture.
    • To know how to control dynamics and tempo within an ensemble.

    Bringing it to life

    Visits and visitors

    National Coal Mining Museum; a visit from ex-miners on 11 November; the Manton pit-top walk.

    Class texts

    Street Child by Berlie Doherty and Canary in the Coal Mine by Madelyn Rosenberg.

    Building on

    Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the Chesterfield Canal and Worksop area study, and Rocks in Science.

    Talk about it at home

    Did anyone in your family work in a pit, or remember the collieries around Worksop? Ask them what they remember.

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