Coal Mining

Basic coal mining Weizigou in the Nanpiao area, Liaoning Province, China

Linghe Colliery, Nanpiao, Liaoning Province, China

Inspired by the recent image of Braysdown Colliery by Fray Bentos, I delved into the tarboat archives and found this view taken by my late friend Ron Dyer. The pit had been closed for six months and already much removal of infrastructure had taken place. The ropes have been removed from the shaft too.

Towards sunset on the Nanzhan dirt tips of the Jalainur opencast coal mine, Nei Mongol, China.

There are few places in the UK where you can see three colliery headgears at once. This is Chatterley Whitfield Colliery in North Staffordshire which closed in 1976 and was subsequently operated as a mining museum until that failed in 1993. The headgears seen are, from the left, Institute, Platt and Hesketh shafts. There is a fourth headgear on the Winstanley shaft which is to the left of the photographer.

New coal mine sinking at Dazhuankuang near Pingdingshan. The number of small mines in this area is astonishing.

The Senje colliery is the oldest coal mine in Serbia, the first shaft having been sunk in 1853. The current main shaft was completed in c1927 and is 175 metres deep. The headgear dates from the sinking of this shaft which is used for winding men and materials. It is operated by a steam winding engine built in 1878 and relocated here from a mine at Vrdnik.

One of the last batches of SY class 2-8-2 locomotives to be built in the very late 1990s is seen here leaving Qiaonan Jct for Wangqian on the Tiefa mining railway. Large spoil heaps dominate the coal mining landscape in this area.

The shepherd heads home with his flock as the sun sets behind the power station and a colliery screens and bunkers in Jalainur, Mongolian Autonomous Region.

The Apedale mines were always welcoming when I visited and allowed freedom to wander around the site so long as I did not enter the adits. This is one of the utilitarian buildings that housed the electric hauler for an adit. The coal was brought out on the conveyor that can be seen coming in from the left side of the picture.

One of the few structures remaining from Fenton Park collieries is this chimney base. To the left are the shaft remains of the Victoria Colliery. In the background can be seen the housing in Ubberley and Bentilee. This area has some of the best nineteenth century mining remains to be found in North Staffordshire.

Dazhuangkuang Colliery is one of the major production centres around Pindingshan in Henan Province, central China. It is located about 35km west of the city.

Butterworth Hall Colliery was one of the largest in Milnrow in the early twentieth century. In 1869 the nine was owned by Richard and William Stott, but it was sold to Platt Brothers of Oldham. It is said to have been a very wet mine and it finally closed in 1928 after the workings became flooded. It was then purchased by Oldham Corporation for use as an underground reservoir, with upwards of a million gallons of water per day being pumped to Piethorne Reservoir, around 2 miles away. The headstocks were demolished in 1950. The name lives on and today the shaft, which is situated just in front of the brick building in the background, continues to supply water, although the site is now run by United Utilities.

Dump truck moving across the dirt tip at Welbeck Colliery in Nottinghamshire, one of only two working pits left in the county. Downcast shaft on the right and ventilation fan evasee lower left.

More underground fun in a drift mine. Level in the coal seam with the site of an air door ahead. It could have done with an air door now as the atmosphere in here was very poor indeed.

Vreoci coal mine washery, Serbia.

The more I look into the subject the more I realise just how extensive the coal mining industry was in the hills around Macclesfield. I took a stroll into Higher Hurdsfield and soon found coal workings adjacent to Well Lane and Swanscoe Lane. There is one mine on the left, against the wall with lots of holly growing out of the shaft. Well Lane runs across the image and the mounds on the right in front of the wall are the remains of another shaft which I suspect was the one used to raise coal with carts loading just inside the gateway. Just out of view to the right along Well Lane is a large old house fronting the road which used to be a public house known as the Traveller's Rest. The location suggests that Well Lane may have been the old route of the road to Rainow. Maybe Eagle1942 can help with this? Judging by the evidence available so far, it is likely that these pits were operating in the first half of the nineteenth century. They were certainly out of use by the 1870s. Cliff Hill in the background was part of Macclesfield Common where coal was being worked in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and probably earlier. I shall have to have a look at the remains up there in the next few weeks.

Disused tubs at the incline top at Tows Bank Colliery, Northumberland, 1996. These 12cwt tubs were purchased from Brancepeth Colliery.