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Cotes Park was sunk in 1850. The shafts were 143 yards to the Deep Soft seam and 160 yards to the Deep Hard seam. There was a ‘dumb’ fault and ‘dumb ground’ crossing for the Carnfield railway tunnel area to ensure that subsidence did not affect the main railway line..

The mineral rights at Cotes Park were originally leased by James Oakes & Co. Two coal seams (named the Bottom Hard and Main Soft) ran under the Outseats Estate at Alfreton, and were leased from William and Joseph George Wilson.  This lease is dated 3rd July 1868 and ran for a period of 30 years. The surface area under which the seams were leased stretched between Flowery Leys Lane and Mansfield Road, Alfreton.

PHOTO: An early aerial photograph of Cotes park Colliery

James Oakes & Co. eventually purchased the freehold of the Cotes Park Estate in the 1930s and continued to mine until the colliery was nationalised in 1947. The new owners, the National Coal Board, removed the steam engines and boiler house, and converted the mine completely to electric power. The maximum tonnage produced at Cotes park was recorded in 1956, but from then on the output reduced year on year. It finally closed after 113 years in May 1963, on economic and geological grounds. The last Colliery Manager to work at Cotes Park was a Mr. T. H. Jameson.