Mines, mining and quarrying

Close-up view of the Byers anchor fluke with its swastika symbol. The anchor was used to aid ships to be kept in position on East Suisnish pier while the ore was being loaded. It was made by W. L. Byers of Sunderland perhaps in the early years of the 20th century, and like many of their anchors, it has the swastika symbol on one of the flukes. The swastika has been around for many centuries as a symbol of good luck, and in this instance has absolutely nothing to do with the Nazis who subsequently appropriated it for their own dark purposes.

This anchor was used to aid ships to be kept in position on East Suisnish pier while the ore was being loaded. It was made by W. L. Byers of Sunderland perhaps in the early years of the 20th century, and like many of their anchors, it has the swastika symbol on one of the flukes. The swastika has been around for many centuries as a symbol of good luck, and in this instance has absolutely nothing to do with the Nazis who subsequently appropriated it for their own dark purposes.

East Suisnish pier, completed by 1914, was constructed by Robert McAlpine & Sons for William Baird & Co. who had purchased Raasay in 1912. Baird's developed the ironstone mining on Raasay and the pier was used to load processed iron ore on to boats for transport to iron and steel works elsewhere in the UK. The pier and adjacent slipway (shown here) was also used as the Raasay ferry terminal until the new terminal at Clachan was opened in 2011. The hills and mountains of Skye are in the distance.

East Suisnish pier, completed by 1914, was constructed by Robert McAlpine & Sons for William Baird & Co. who had purchased Raasay in 1912. Baird's developed the ironstone mining on Raasay and the pier was used to load processed iron ore on to boats for transport to iron and steel works elsewhere in the UK. The pier and adjacent slipway was also used as the Raasay ferry terminal until the new terminal at Clachan was opened in 2011. The hills and mountains of Skye are in the distance.

Structural geology of Little Haven and The Settlands The cliffs from Little Haven to Broad Haven (and northward) display a spectacular range of geological structures, folding, faulting and thrusting, mainly in the Lower Coal Measures. The relatively weak mudstone and shale-dominated sequences show much incompetent deformation: tight, thrusted and overturned folds, in contrast to the thicker, stronger, sandstones which have formed relatively open and concentric folds. The northern limb of the Fox Hole anticline forms the southern headland of The Settlands bay. The style of folding is open and concentric, largely due to the thick (approx 70 m in total) and competent (strong) nature of the sandstone of which it is comprised. At the western end of the headland the bedding dips at about 30° to the north, but this steepens along its length to become near-vertical at the eastern end of the headland. This is a view from The Settlands looking head-on at the steeply dipping bedding surfaces. The bedding is cut by nurmerous joints (fractures). Just left of centre is a fenced-off mine entrance a few metres above beach level. This is thought to be a former drainage level to dewater coal mine workings, possibly in the core of the anticline and perhaps further inland.

Structural geology of Little Haven and The Settlands The cliffs from Little Haven to Broad Haven (and northward) display a spectacular range of geological structures, folding, faulting and thrusting, mainly in the Lower Coal Measures. The relatively weak mudstone and shale-dominated sequences show much incompetent deformation: tight, thrusted and overturned folds, in contrast to the thicker, stronger, sandstones which have formed relatively open and concentric folds. This is a view of the Fox Hole anticline taken from beach level. The style of folding is open and concentric, largely due to the competent (strong) nature of the sandstone of which it is comprised. A thin coal in the core of the anticline has largely been extracted by mining. The sandstone displays a number of sedimentary features, including cross-bedding and channel erosion, formed by deposition in a high-energy delta distributary channel setting. Restoring the anticline to its 'unfolded' condition, these sedimentary structures then indicate a general current flow direction from south-west to north-east. Folding, faulting and thrusting make determination of the exact stratigraphic correlation of the Fox Hole sandstone difficult, but it is reasonably clear that this is the lowest stratigraphic unit in the Little Haven area and is well down in the Lower Coal Measures sequence.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. Heading north along the coast path from Rickets Head, the site of Trefrane Cliff Colliery comes into view, with its spoil heaps and prominent furnace chimney. The colliery worked the Cliff Vein coal seam, pieces of which can be readily found in the spoil heaps. Looking over St Brides Bay, Ramsey Island is visible on the skyline just right of centre.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. Heading north along the coast path from Rickets Head, the site of Trefrane Cliff Colliery comes into view, with its spoil heaps and prominent furnace chimney. The colliery worked the Cliff Vein coal seam, pieces of which can be readily found in the spoil heaps.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. Heading north along the coast path from Rickets Head, the site of Trefrane Cliff Colliery comes into view, with its spoil heaps and prominent furnace chimney. The colliery worked the Cliff Vein coal seam, pieces of which can be readily found in the spoil heaps.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. Heading north along the coast path from Rickets Head, the site of Trefrane Cliff Colliery comes into view, with its spoil heaps and prominent furnace chimney. The colliery worked the Cliff Vein coal seam, pieces of which can be readily found in the spoil heaps.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. This northward view from the coast path from Rickets Head shows Newgale Sands in the background. On the right of the photo, behind the fence is a spoil heap in the vicinity of the shaft of Black Cliff (Rickets Head) Colliery which worked the Black Cliff Vein.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. This southward panoramic view from the coast path shows Rickets Head on the right and St Brides Bay in the background. The present-day profile of the headland is a result of former coal mining activity and the removal of overburden to access the Rickets Head Vein coal which cropped out at the base of the sandstone which comprises the up-standing pillar of rock. The coast path climbs up from Rickets Head over the disturbed ground and spoil heaps visible in the foreground. On the left of the photo in the flatter grassy area, are old shafts and degraded, grassed-over, spoil heaps of Rickets Head Colliery which worked the underlying Black Cliff Vein. Stratigraphically, the rocks of Rickets Head are the highest (youngest) in the Carboniferous sequence of the Pembrokeshire coalfields.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. An end-on, westerly view of Rickets Head with St Brides Bay in the background. The present-day profile of the headland is a result of former coal mining activity and the removal of overburden to access the Rickets Head Vein coal which cropped out at the base of the sandstone which comprises the up-standing pillar of rock. Stratigraphically, the rocks of Rickets Head are the highest (youngest) in the Carboniferous sequence of the Pembrokeshire coalfields. The coast path climbs up over the disturbed ground and spoil heaps visible in the foreground.

Nolton Haven to Newgale The small Nolton-Newgale coalfield is separated by faulting from the main Pembrokeshire coalfield. It lies mostly within Pennant Sandstone Formation of the Upper Coal Measures rocks. This northward panoramic view from the coast path shows Rickets Head. The westerly, seaward, dip of the strata (approx 20°) is well seen.The present-day profile of the headland is a result of former coal mining activity; the rounded gap in the centre of the photo is at least partly due to the removal of overburden to access the Rickets Head Vein coal. On the right of the photo, behind the fence are old shafts and degraded, grassed-over, spoil heaps of Rickets Head Colliery which worked the underlying Black Cliff Vein. Stratigraphically, the rocks of Rickets Head are the highest (youngest) in the Carboniferous sequence of the Pembrokeshire coalfields.

The winding drum and other parts of the Westthorpe Colliery (near Sheffield) winding engine, recovered from scrap and stored in the stock yard at Pleasley Colliery. Now awaiting decisions and funding on how best to protect and restore the winding engine. Pleasley Colliery is situated just inside the Derbyshire border, about 5.5 km from the centre of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. It is now a mining museum which is steadily being developed. www.pleasleypittrust.org.uk

Component parts of the Westthorpe Colliery (near Sheffield) winding engine, recovered from scrap and stored in the stock yard at Pleasley Colliery. Now awaiting decisions and funding on how best to protect and restore the winding engine. Pleasley Colliery is situated just inside the Derbyshire border, about 5.5 km from the centre of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. It is now a mining museum which is steadily being developed. www.pleasleypittrust.org.uk

Pictorial safety reminder board affixed to part of the pit top structure of the No.2 South Shaft at Pleasley Colliery. This is probably not its original location; most likely it would have been in a place readily viewed by the workmen on their daily route from arriving at the colliery to descending the shaft, e.g. from the time-office, via the pit-head baths and lamp-room, to the shaft top. Boards and notices like this were common at British collieries. Often they were painted or drawn directly on to plywood boards, probably by talented colliery workmen. Pleasley Colliery is situated just inside the Derbyshire border, about 5.5 km from the centre of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. It is now a mining museum which is steadily being developed. www.pleasleypittrust.org.uk

The code of shaft signals to be used when winding in shafts. This signboard is at Pleasley Colliery mining museum. Pleasley Colliery is situated just inside the Derbyshire border, about 5.5 km from the centre of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. It is now a mining museum which is steadily being developed. www.pleasleypittrust.org.uk