Newstead colliery was sunk by the Newstead Colliery Company. The two 3.96m (13 feet) diameter shafts were 457m (almost 1,500 feet) deep. The unusual winding engines were vertical steam engines with 40-inch diameter cylinders and a 72-inch stroke, replaced in 1961 by electric winders.

The number one (up-cast) shaft had a unique copper-lid air-locking system to maintain mine ventilation during coal winding. By 1880, the colliery workshops and the nucleus of the miners’ housing were complete, the housing in the village expanding to 1,200 dwellings by 1923. Between 1947 and mine closure in 1987, a total of 30,200,000 tons of saleable coal was produced from seven seams. 41 lives were lost during the 104 years of operation. Although nothing of the colliery itself remains, the original colliers’ housing forms a conservation area within Gedling borough, while the spoil heaps are being transformed into a country park.