tarboat's photos with the keyword: oven

There was once an extensive coal industry exploiting the thin seams under the moors between Bolton and Darwen in Lancashire. These remains of the four beehive coke ovens at Cranberry Moss are typical of the small scale of operations in the area.

The remaining buildings of the Goss, Falcon Pottery on Sturgess St, include these two bottle ovens within a hovel. They date from c1902-5 and are listed Grade II.

Interior of one of the surviving beehive coke ovens at the site of Aspen Colliery near Burnley. The colliery closed in 1922 so the survival of these ovens is remarkable.

Demand from the Sheffield steel industry led to the development of a significant coking industry in north Derbyshire in the later nineteenth century. The use of beehive coke ovens persisted even after the development of more efficient bye-product recovery ovens due to the steelmakers believing that the product of the beehive non-recovery system was superior. Summerley Colliery at Unstone was sunk in 1871 and operated only until 1884. Coal was coked in two back-to-back banks each of 24 beehive ovens and these continued in use until 1921. Today the ovens survive and are listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, but this has not resulted in much care and maintenance of the structure which is in poor condition and has been damaged by trees. This view shows the roof of one of the ovens and the fused firebrick due to the high temperatures achieved during the coking process.

The survival of the Aspen Colliery beehive coke ovens is remarkable considering that the pit closed in 1922 and the site is very accessible adjacent to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Two surviving bottle ovens of the Falcon Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. November 2001