tarboat's photos with the keyword: shaft

When the 3.54 mile Totley Tunnel was being built for the Midland Railway between 1888 and 1893 the Duke of Rutland refused permission for more than one excavation and ventilation shaft to be dug on his land. Four shafts were initially sunk, all fairly close together at the Totley end, but after the line opened a fifth ventilation shaft was deemed necessary. Despite the Duke's previous objections this shaft was sunk from the Totley moors at a surface height of around 1250 feet. This shaft had to be sunk to the side of the existing tunnel and then connected to it at the side. The mounds of spoil associated with the sinking along with the circular engineering brick wall around the top can be seen from quite a distance away across the moors. Considerable quantities of water enter the shaft and when a train approaches the cross tunnel the air pressure is enough to force some water back up and out of the top, showering the area around with man-made rain.

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.

Mining of limestone in the Lilleshall and Pitchcroft area of Shropshire commenced in 1794. By 1826 a mine had been established at Pitchcroft with two shafts and a couple of limekilns adjacent to a branch of the Donnington Wood Canal. This is the view down one of the shafts. Mining here ceased after a serious flood in 1860.

Whilst out walking we came across this coal shaft that had let go. Until the collapse there was no sign on the surface of there being a shaft apart from the low spoil mound. A public footpath runs alongside and no doubt thousands of feet have passed over the capping under the grass. This pit will have worked the Upper and Lower Holcombe Brook seams in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. These seams were very thin, probably a maximum of 18 inches. The depth of the shaft is likely to be around 80ft.

Sponds Colliery lies across a moor some 1100ft up in the parish of Lyme Handley. in the nineteenth century the land was in the ownership of the Legh's of Lyme Hall and the coal mines were let for many years to James Jackson, a farmer from Pott Shrigley. He worked the Sweet Seam via a series of pits which he sank as the workings moved from north to south across the moor. This shaft was around 300ft deep and may have been in operation in the 1870s or early 1880s. The whim winding gin stood just behind the photographer. Along the trackclose to the wall in the background can be seen the spoil from another shaft.

The dry weather for the past weeks has caused the local archaeology to become more obvious. A trip out with a drone today yielded evidence of coal pit shafts dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. This previously unrecorded shaft could have been anything up to 250 ft deep and worked with a horse gin. It was certainly already disused by 1826.

Long disused shaft of the Foul Clough colliery up on the moors above Walsden. In 1854 this colliery was operated by John and Reuben Haigh.

The pumping engine at Harvey's Shaft of the Kadina copper mine housed a 60 inch diameter Cornish beam engine manufactured by Harvey of Hayle. Electric pumps replaced this engine in 1904 and production ended in 1923 when the Wallaroo Mining Company went into voluntary liquidation. The enginehouse survives with the pump rods still sticking out of the flooded shaft.

Slack Breaks Mine near Winster. This lead mine shaft is over 300ft deep.

I always enjoy peering into old mineshafts. This nicely stone lined shaft is on a lead vein working in Derbyshire and probably leads to a wide range of interesting workings.

Whilst the sun was shining I took the opportunity to search for mining remains in a field that I had never looked at before. The Middlewood area has a long history of coal extraction with a number of seams outcropping in the area. Here alongside the Bollinhurst Brook are the remains of a shaft dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. A shallow round depression filled with bramble and a couple of birch trees marks the spot where once was a windlass or gin to wind the coal from the pit.

From adventures in the Forest of Dean in the 1980s. A quick peek down the Fairplay shaft shows the beam slot for the under beam Cornish pumping engine that worked here. Details are found in the sale advert: By direction of the Chastan Syndicate Ltd. Mr Illtyd Thomas, FAI ( Machinery Auctioneer ) Will sell by auction on the premises, on Wednesday 3rd July 1907 commencing at one pm in the afternoon. PLANT AND MACHINERY - Comprising etc. Lot 161. Cornish beam pumping engine. Single 76 inch cylinder, 12 ft stroke with steam chest on massive girder and column supports. Under beam 30 ft long by 7 ft Dia’ with balancing tank, feed pump and about 8 ft of piping. Lot 166. Pump lift of about 170 yds of 19 inch flanged pipes in 9 ft lengths, with snore piece 11 ft by 19 inch gland, ram chamber solid ram 9 ft by 14 inch and 2 heavy clack pieces.

Just below Chinley Churn on the Beard Moors the eighteenth century coal mining remains are extensive. There are two shafts in this view, the second lying in the low mound, right of centre background. From 1300ft above sea level the view takes in Whaley Bridge on the left and Furness Vale to the right, with Whaley Moor in the far background.

Sponds Colliery lies across a moor some 1100ft up in the parish of Lyme Handley. in the nineteenth century the land was in the ownership of the Legh's of Lyme Hall and the coal mines were let for many years to James Jackson, a farmer from Pott Shrigley. He worked the Sweet Seam via a series of pits which he sank as the workings moved from north to south across the moor. This shaft was around 300ft deep and may have been in operation in the 1870s or early 1880s. On the bank immediately behind can be seen the circle on which the whim winding gin stood and under the grass can be found the flagged path upon which the horse walked.

This house with fine views over Cheshire is today known as Hilltop Cottage, although a few locals still know it as ‘Longchimney’. If you look closely at the photo you can see a depression in the ground in the lower right, this marks the shaft of the Lower Pit that was 213 ft deep to the Reform seam, passing through the Gees seam a short distance above. In the background just below the large tree at the rear of the house was the Bye or Rise Pit. This was 207ft deep. The left section of the house with the gable end was the winding enginehouse for the two pits and in 1826 held a rotative atmospheric beam engine. It is described in the Colliery Inventory for that year as: One Engine at Gees to Wind from 2 Pits 28" cylinder on the common principle, Iron carriage beams, spur gears, flat rope drums wrought iron boiler the whole fixed up in a building complete. The mining engineer John Buddle, writing in the same year noted: A common atmospheric winding engine with a 28in. cylinder, called about a 12 horse power. He also recorded that there were: 5 Getters employed who work 5 quarters per day at present. The water is drawn by the Winding Engine at the Low Pit in buckets – feeder about 600 Galls a day. By 1826 the pit was beginning to reach the end of its productive life and it is likely that by the 1830s the engine had been removed for reuse elsewhere on the colliery. The house remained and was converted to living accommodation and was extended significantly in the last twenty years.

The fading sign indicates the hand of the long defunct N.C.B (National Coal Board) in the capping of this eighteenth century coal mine at Pott Shrigley. Having installed the cap over the stone lined shaft, the only danger that I could perceive was that of tripping over the concrete obelisk itself! Sadly, this sort of engineering has destroyed much of the archaeological evidence that had survived at the surface.

Well, what would you do? Yes it was dangerous and it was deep! Old Lead shaft near Minera.

Sucked down the shaft and into the mine.