Coal Mining

This colliery was sunk by the Clarke's of Noblethorpe Hall in 1861-66 and was probably undertaken by James Farrar, brother of Sarah Ann Clarke. The later history of the pit is not well recorded and it was disused by 1906 although it may have been used as a pumping shaft by the National Coal Board at a later date. The site has a good range of remains including this fine stone heapstead which is in remarkably good condition.

Head Wrighton No.1 shunts chaldrons under the screens at the Beamish colliery during the recent photo charter. This locomotive can be quite alarming as from certain angles it appears to be running without a driver!

Another view from one of my 1980s trips around the private mines in North Staffordshire. The Great Row Colliery Company operated six mines at this time; this is the winding house and tipping stage at their Hollywood Lane Mine at Silverdale.

Originally sunk in c1842 the Amalie shaft in Essen was eventually incorporated into the colliery Sälzer Amalie which finally ceased winding coal in 1966. Today the shaft is retained to service pumping arrangements for the few remaining collieries in the area.

Zolder was the last colliery in the Benelux countries and closed in 1992. The machine hall still has much of the machinery remaining.

The Great Wood Pit was winding coal during the early 19th century and continued in use until the closure of Denton Collieries at the end of 1929. Hidden away in woodland are the remains of the pithead with the bedstones for the drum, flywheel and crank of the beam engine winder that worked this pit.

Belgium no longer has a coal industry and the last pit to close was that at Zolder, in the Limburg region, which stopped work in 1992. The machine hall and one headgear survives, whilst the power house has been converted to office and exhibition use and some of the processing buildings have also found alternative use. This view from the machine hall towards the only remaining headframe..

Chatterley Whitfield colliery continues to rot away behind the security fences. I took a walk to the top of the spoil heap today and arrived just in time for the sun to break through. There is a so-called 'Friends' group, but their performance has been less than impressive. Their website remains stuck in 2010 and I have never, ever, received a reply from them to emails submitted asking questions about their work and open days. This is not the way to gather support for a project that needs every friend it can get. Best viewed original size .

After the Second World War Marshall plan funds were used to modernise the Ressaix collieries through the sinking of a 5 metre diameter shaft and the the installation of a tower equipped with a 3,300hp electric winder. The designed production was 3000 tonnes of coal per day. The output was taken to the Péronnes washery that was constructed at the same time and from where this photograph was taken. The life of the whole complex was short and closure came in 1969. Today the winding tower remains as a reminder of the once extensive coal industry and the site is used by a gas distribution company.

Slurry treatment tank at Triage-Lavoir de Péronnes.This coal washery was built with the help of Marshall Plan funding in 1954. It processed daily over 3,000 tonnes of coal from the mines of Péronnes, Ressaix and Trivières. In 1969 with the closure of the Saint-Albert and Sint-Margriete mines the washery became redundant and the equipment was removed. It is now a listed historic monument but plans for re-use of the building for small businesses have so far not been developed.

Heading down the dip in the main haulage drift.

Life is really hard for the few surviving deep pits in Britain. Here's hoping that Hatfield can prosper in 2013.

Plaque on the end wall of the former baths at Gibfield Colliery. Coal owners Fletcher Burrows & Co Ltd erected the first purpose built colliery bath house in Britain at Gibfield Colliery in 1913 after a trial of an adapted building at their Howe Bridge Colliery. The colliery closed in 1963 but the building survives as a car repair and maintenance garage.

HE 3694 Whiston and WB 2842 bank a long mineral train out of Foxfield Colliery yard watched by an appreciative gallery.

Shafts 1 & 2 of Zeche Westfalen at Ahlen were sunk from 1909 and the first coal raised in January 1914. Mining here ended on June 30th 2000 and these are the only two of seven headframes that this mine once had at a number of locations in the area. Some of the surface building have been preserved or have found new uses.

Headgear on the second shaft at 2 at Pingdingshan No.2 Colliery. This is quite a small colliery with a rather nice narrow gauge overhead wire electric railway for moving materials and coal on the surface.

Coal appears to have been worked under Ford Moss from the 17th century until 1914. The colliery remains, including this chimney, are now a scheduled ancient monument. They are still deteriorating rapidly.

The gate on the side door to the training galleries at Boothstown Mines Rescue Station is very much of its tme, the building dating from 1933. Little decorative touches such as this are sadly lacking in most modern structures.