tarboat's photos with the keyword: warwickshire

The downcast shaft at Daw Mill Colliery was just over 550m deep. In later years all coal was brought out through a drift.

Cemex Rugby Cement Plant, Lawford Road, Rugby seen from the train. With its origins in the early 19th century, the company was founded in 1862 as the Rugby Lias Lime & Cement Company Ltd before being renamed the Rugby Portland Cement Company Ltd in 1872, in 1979 it was renamed the Rugby Group plc. In the late 1990s, the plant at Rugby was upgraded at a cost of £200 million to a production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes. In 2000 Rugby Cement was taken over by the RMC Group, which was itself taken over by the Mexican firm Cemex in 2005.

Main entrance to Daw Mill Colliery in happier days.

The Leamington and Lillington brick works was off Campion Road in Leamington Spa and operated from the nineteenth century until the 1950s by which time the bricks were fired in a large Hoffmann kiln. Bricks from this works can be seen in the old library and art gallery in Leamington.

Ansley Hall Colliery opened in 1878 and soon after the Ansley Hall Coal & Iron Co. Ltd was founded. The pit closed in 1959 and since then the pithead baths buildings have been in industrial use. This is one of the entrances to this 1930s building.

There is a trend towards commemorating collieries by siting a sheave, or often only half a sheave, at the site entrance or on a nearby roundabout. At Pooley Hall Colliery you are presented with the 'Rainbow Sheave of Heritage' which is obviously a most appropriate feature, or maybe not ............ The site is now a country park although the baths and workshop buildings remain in industrial use.

Whilst mooching around old colliery sites in the Midlands this Nissen Hut appeared behind a hedge at Pooley Hall near Polesworth.

Daw Mill, which was Britains most productive colliery in recent years, is now shut down and abandoned after a major underground fire. This view was made few years ago when it seemed to have a fairly decent future.

The Hathern Station Brick and Terra Cotta Company was established in 1874. The business flourished and 'Hathernware' and glazed 'faience' was exported worldwide during the first three decades of the twentieth century and many cinemas were faced and decorated with the products of this works. Although the company survived into the 1970's when restoration projects began to provide much needed business, takeover by Ibstock finally led to closure of the works in summer 2004. At one time the company also produced blue bricks from the Cliff Brickworks at Kingsbury near Tamworth in Warwickshire. Cliff brickworks opened in 1870 and closed in 1969. This example of a brick paver survives outside the offices of the Hathern brickworks.

Birch Coppice Colliery and Brickworks east of Tamworth was owned by Morris & Shaw Ltd. The pit was sunk in 1875 and the brickworks first appears between the mid 1880s and 1900. It was expanded after WWII by the National Coal Board but had been closed by the 1970s.

Rail rapid loading bunkers at Daw Mill Colliery in Warwickshire.

The two shafts at Daw Mill Colliery are just over 550m deep. All coal is now brought out through a drift.

Downcast shaft at Daw Mill colliery in Warwickshire. This is the largest colliery in the UK, mining a five-metre thick section of the Warwickshire Thick seam some 750 metres below the ground. The shafts here are 558 metres and 556 metres deep. In 1982, a drift was completed and all coal is now brought out this way.

Not much action in the loading sidings at Daw Mill Colliery on this particular sunday.