Pit shaft

Whilst out and about I spotted this shaft in the field close to the Macclesfield Canal. It is not marked on any Coal Authority plan. In the eighteenth century it will have worked the Gees Seam at a depth of 160-170ft. The mound is made of pit shale and rock that was brought out whilst sinking the pit. The shaft is situated in the slightly greener area at lower centre of the image. The flat circular area behind is where the horse gin was located to wind baskets of coal on the end of a rope. The colliers will have been lowered into the workings on the same rope. There are lots more unrecorded shafts in the area which often show up well during dry conditions in the summer.