67 replies to this topic

[SteveHB]

My Dad was down Nunnery in 1926, he would have been fourteen years old at the time,
he had an accident down the pit, while standing behind a pit pony (his foot on the rail) he stroked it's rear end,
the pony made a fast move forward thus pulling the railed coal wagon over his foot, and broke it.
He was taken to hospital and strapped up and then taken home on a horse drawn cart.

[ukelele lady]

My dad was a coal surface worker age 15 but on the census it never said which coal mine.
Living on Apple Street any ideas which mine this would be?

[History dude]

The Victoria History of the County of Yorkshire Vol. 2, records that in Handsworth in the winter of 1357 a Richard Glet was working in a certain shaft called "Orpit" when a fall of rock crushed him to death.

From the Arundel Castle Manuscripts in Sheffield Archives. Accounts for 1664. John Eyre for the Coal Pitts in Sheffield Park: £145.00.00.
Accounts 1671: £72.10.00

[hilldweller]

There was a small drift mine at Little Matlock in Loxley, it was still going in the fifties. It was situated behind and below the Robin Hood pub. To the right of the front of the pub yard was a decrepit building consisting of a winch house and a loading stage. From the end of the winch house a set of narrow gauge rails ran down a steep incline to the entrances to two drift mines into the hillside under the pathway that leads down to the river. There were points at the bottom of the incline and rails ran into each drift. The winch was powered by a large lorry engine. The main product was gannister with a bit of low grade coal.
The owner of the mine lived in one of the cottages in the side of the pub that was later incorporated into the main structure.
An older lad told us that he had been taken into the mine but when he saw the shot-firer warming a detonator over his acetylene lamp (it was a bit damp) he decided he had better be somewhere else.
We used to wait until they came out of the mine and tipped the calcium carbide out of their lamps down the hillside. We would then gather the still fizzing stuff and put it in tobacco tins to make depth charges in the river. You had to remember not to put the lid on until the last moment.
The mine can be seen on the 1950's OS map 314 (Wisewood)
HD

[DaveH]

An older lad told us that he had been taken into the mine but when he saw the shot-firer warming a detonator over his acetylene lamp (it was a bit damp) he decided he had better be somewhere else.
We used to wait until they came out of the mine and tipped the calcium carbide out of their lamps down the hillside. We would then gather the still fizzing stuff and put it in tobacco tins to make depth charges in the river. You had to remember not to put the lid on until the last moment.
The mine can be seen on the 1950's OS map 314 (Wisewood)
HD

We have discussed carbide lamps and actylene before in this linked topic

[History dude]

Some pictures of workers at Handsworth Colliery dated around 1950?
2nd from left is Herbert Webster.



Now pictures in the 1980's


And in this one there was still a loud hissing noise from the shaft when it was taken.

[History dude]

The next mine I have a lot of material on is Woodthorpe Colliery.
The fist image is the 1901 map which shows it at its hight of importance. The heart shaped tip grew as big as the Mansfield Road Fire station tower. The entire fire station was built on the tip. The long buildings just below Elm Tree are the coke ovens, coal was transported up to them by the inclined plane trackway that goes under Mansfield Road. The TA centre is now built on the site of the ovens.


Next image: construction of the Applegarth estate and the road down to it. The road covered up the tunnel under Mansfield road. They knocked down the ornamental posts to accomodate the road, before I could get a picture of them and the tunnel entrance, which had been bricked up much earlier.
To the far left of the picture are the testing equipment NCB workmen were using investingating an air shaft that had open up in 1984, when this picture was taken. I asked them when the had finished and the chap said it was over 100 feet!
The main part of the mine was inbetween the Manor house and Woodthorpe estate on the field, just in front of the small building. Incidently the Woodthorpe estate gardens at this lower part, end on the old hedges of the farmland.


This large house (taken again around 1984) I discovered to be the Woodthorpe Pit Manager's house. In the 1901 directory he is listed as one Stephen Bacon. He and his wife Miran are both burried in Intake Cem. His wife had died in 1886 aged 43, but Stephen lived till 1911 aged 70. His boss at the Nunnery Colliery Company, in 1901, Thomas Robert Gainsford lived at the nearby mansion Woodthorpe Hall.


Meanwhile some of the workers lived in these houses just uproad from the boss. Others tended to live in the older houses going down City Road.


Last up the closure notice (I believe for 1921) in the local paper.

[SteveHB]

Exellent last couple of posts History dude !

Here are two photos at Nunnery, no idea as to what year/s.

[History dude]

Thought you would like them. The people in the pictures look like they date to around 1910, a bit like the photo's of Titanic passengers!

I also came accros a compensation claim case that involves Woodthorpe pit dated August 10, 1866. Tried at at Liverpool Assizes.
Ann Holmes was claiming damages for the death of her husband Henry, from the mine owner John Rhodes.
The case hinged on the fact there were not enough refuge holes and no signals. Rhodes pleaded not guilty.
Henry aged 57 had worked there 4 years.
It seems that waggons of coal were pulled by rope and an engine up and down the same shaft as the men came up and down. Not enough holes were provided as the waggons passed by the men going up and down. Henry was caught and dragged by one of the waggons and broke his pelvis dying a year later of his injury.
Ann won the case and was award £160. It was revealed they had filled up a refuge hole sometime before the accident and a lamp on the waggon wasn't used due to the expense of cotton and oil for it.

[Ray Battye]

Gannister mines also mined coal so they were sometimes called collieries. There were dozens of these scattered down the western hills of Sheffield, especially around Stocksbridge, Oughtibridge, Worrall Wadsley, Loxley, Dungworth etc and also some in Dore, Abbeydale Valley and so on.
I have had a book published called The Forgotten Mines of Sheffield which is a detailed history of these mines. This is no longer in shops but I have copies for sale at home.
Contact me at Raybats@aol.com or phone 01142864418 if you want further information.

Ray Battye

[History dude]

Another image of the Testing equipment used to drill down the 100 foot air shaft that appeared in 1984.

[nevthelodgemoorowl]

There was a small drift mine at Little Matlock in Loxley, it was still going in the fifties. It was situated behind and below the Robin Hood pub. To the right of the front of the pub yard was a decrepit building consisting of a winch house and a loading stage. From the end of the winch house a set of narrow gauge rails ran down a steep incline to the entrances to two drift mines into the hillside under the pathway that leads down to the river. There were points at the bottom of the incline and rails ran into each drift. The winch was powered by a large lorry engine. The main product was gannister with a bit of low grade coal.
The owner of the mine lived in one of the cottages in the side of the pub that was later incorporated into the main structure.
An older lad told us that he had been taken into the mine but when he saw the shot-firer warming a detonator over his acetylene lamp (it was a bit damp) he decided he had better be somewhere else.
We used to wait until they came out of the mine and tipped the calcium carbide out of their lamps down the hillside. We would then gather the still fizzing stuff and put it in tobacco tins to make depth charges in the river. You had to remember not to put the lid on until the last moment.
The mine can be seen on the 1950's OS map 314 (Wisewood)
HD

Would that be listed as Myers Lane (Not Myers Grove Lane) or Stannington ? nos 33 or 45

[hilldweller]

Would that be listed as Myers Lane (Not Myers Grove Lane) or Stannington ? nos 33 or 45

The buildings were on Greaves Lane on map Number 314 which is listed as Wisewood. If you look in the bottom left corner of the map you can see the rails marked as a tramway running to the west from the buildings down to the drifts and located just north of the former Robin Hood pub.
I dare say that there must still be remnents still to be seen below the footpath but unfortunately I'm not in a position to go exploring any more.
Cue for some able-bodied person with a camera to see if there's anything still to see. The incline at least should still be there.
HD

[Stuart0742]

Here is a record of a visit to Nunnery in 1937 by mining students of the Notts Mining Students Association.



Thanks to Yelhsa Ballard for the image

[Stuart0742]

Article about a dispute in the 19c



Again thanks to Yelhsa Ballard for the image

[History dude]

A couple of graves which record the deaths of miners.
The first at Intake Cemetery. "George Smith who was killed at Birley Pit January 13 1903 aged 44."
The Next at City Road. "Wilfred Owen accidentally killed Nunnery Colliery 4 March 1944 aged 31. "

[Unitedite Returns]

Yes we moved into Rainbow Grove in 1970.

The pit was a training centre for sometime after it stopped mining, will have to delve a bit deeper. There were still some of the pit buildings there in the early 70's, just wished I had had the foresight to take some photo's.

I remember the fishing pond, and the mucky polluted Shirebrook, but the "Bubble Bath" is a new one to me.

Most of the East Birley Pit site was cleared a long, long time ago, but some surface structures still remain.

I think that what does remain was part of the former pit workshops and that it was also formerly used as the training unit for the "Bevan Boys", although I am not fully sure about that particular fact.

Anyhow for years, it remained in the hands of a private company and I believe was a small engineering, or electrical works. The building still exists, although it now seems disused, but it is well protected by a high, stout, galvanised compound and so, may still be used for storage purposes.

There was an underground explosion at East Birley in the 1920's - 1930's and my great grandfather, William Webb is recorded as being underground when the incident occured. He survived, though a number of others did not. I will post the details when I find them.

Behind the surviving building, there is a flight of steps that still lead down to the Shire Brook and where the footpath crosses the brook by a bridge, I believe was the location of the "Rainbow Forge", together with some cottages. I do not know as to when the Rainbow Forge ceased to exist, but it was certainly gone before the closure of the East Birley Pit. It changed occupation on a number of occasions during the 19th Century. It was originally used for scythe and sickle manufacture, but it was later converted to shovel manufacture. Ownership was vested with the Hounsfield's of Hackenthorpe Hall.

I too know about the "bubble bath" but I always thought that it was a consequence of microbiological growth, resulting from the brook being over fertilised with discharges from the effluent plant upstream. Certainly we never played in it, downstream of the sewerage farm.

There was also a West Birley Pit on the Intake side of Linley Lane, together with some beehive coke ovens, but they all disappeared a long, long time ago. However, the former West Birley site continued in use as a coal "land sale" until long afterwards, probably into the 1950's and I remember that there were still railway lines in situe, though long disconnected from the former Birley Branch Line until well into the 1970's.

[Unitedite Returns]

Some pictures of workers at Handsworth Colliery dated around 1950?
2nd from left is Herbert Webster.



Now pictures in the 1980's


And in this one there was still a loud hissing noise from the shaft when it was taken.

Is Handsworth Colliery also known as High Hazels Colliery?

[History dude]

Is Handsworth Colliery also known as High Hazels Colliery?

No. Handsworth was just off Finchwell Road. High Hazel's was off Catcliffe Lane, which has been removed, but it was in the open area (on maps) between where Poplar Way joins the Parkway.

[Unitedite Returns]

Details about the explosion at East Birley Colliery on 23-02-1924, as promised are as follows.

An explosion of firedamp initiated by the firing of a charge of eight ounces of Samsonite No. 3, a permitted explosive, in proximity to fissures or breaks which contained firedamp. The seam that was being worked at the time, was the Parkgate, 4.5 feet thick with a strong sandstone roof, and it was in the 320's level section of the No. 4 district of this seam that the accident occurred.

My Great Grandfather, William Webb, Collier, is shewn on the plan as being in the vicinity of the workings protected by gate 93.

http://www.flickr.co...ner/5892129160/

http://dmm2.org.uk/u...ort/2276-10.htm

The Durham Mining Museum Site contains a good deal of useful reports and such.

[History dude]

Page from one of my note books with details of various pits.

[lebourg]

The buildings were on Greaves Lane on map Number 314 which is listed as Wisewood. If you look in the bottom left corner of the map you can see the rails marked as a tramway running to the west from the buildings down to the drifts and located just north of the former Robin Hood pub.
I dare say that there must still be remnents still to be seen below the footpath but unfortunately I'm not in a position to go exploring any more.
Cue for some able-bodied person with a camera to see if there's anything still to see. The incline at least should still be there.
HD

I remember the entrance to the mine.

The Loxley valley was my play area in my early teens 1960.

A friend and I went so far in but got scared and came out.

The wood roof supports looked to us to be in bad condition.

Do you remember the nearby rifle range with the buts and shooting points?

Some years later I went with a friend and a metal detector and recovered quite a few 303 bullets and shell cases.

I did hear that the range was closed after a walker got shot but I have no details.

 

I also remember school sending a group of us boys on a visit underground to Brookhouse pit.

Although I had relatives who were miners the visit made such an impression that I vowed never to work in one (pit)

[hilldweller]

I remember the entrance to the mine.

The Loxley valley was my play area in my early teens 1960.

A friend and I went so far in but got scared and came out.

The wood roof supports looked to us to be in bad condition.

Do you remember the nearby rifle range with the buts and shooting points?

Some years later I went with a friend and a metal detector and recovered quite a few 303 bullets and shell cases.

I did hear that the range was closed after a walker got shot but I have no details.

 

I also remember school sending a group of us boys on a visit underground to Brookhouse pit.

Although I had relatives who were miners the visit made such an impression that I vowed never to work in one (pit)

I well remember the rifle firing points, if my memory serves me they consisted of a simple brick wall with square holes (embrasures ?) along the bottom. If you lay down and looked through the holes it was apparent that it hadn't been in use for some time as all you could see were trees, some of which were quite old. We went walking along the hillside but never found any trace of where the targets were.

Around about 1960 or so we used to watch marksmen firing at targets in the small quarry just past the Robin Hood on the track that led up to Stannington village. When they had finished we used to gather all the little .22 cartridge cases and take them home. We would place about 3 non-safety match heads in each and carefully crimp the open end shut with pliers.

They made a hell of a crack when a housebrick was dropped on them. The tiny bits of brass schrapnel were dangerous though.

I have an early memory of watching my father, dressed in whites, playing cricket in the sportsfield, in front of and to the right of, the pub.

I don't know which team he was playing for, but I can also remember him playing at Low Bradfield. This would be in the early nineteen fifties.

 

HD

[lebourg]

<p>As you say Hilldweller the trees had grown but if you walked Stannington direction there was a trench with the remains of metal frames for the targets and a bank of earth at the back to stop the bullets.</p>
<p>I think there was also the ruined remains of a stone cottage. I also remember that there were grindstones in the river at that time.</p>
<p>The mine entrance I explored was half way up the banking to the left of the steep path heading up to the pub.</p>
<p>We used to walk down to the river opposite the school playing fields. This was before it was tip filled and the pub built.</p>
<p>At that time there were garden allotments and at the Loxley Rd side a big dam.</p>
<p>By the river we would turn towards Stannington until we reached the path up to the Robin hood.</p>
<p>This was the route of the cross country run for MG school.</p>
<p>Later on MG lane led to the entrance to Stannington College</p>
<p>More memory...</p>
<p>The first row of houses had just been built on Marchwood road.</p>
<p>Just above were the remains of a gun site with circular gun bays, sunken ammunition stores nissan huts and a concrete control room.</p>
<p>Wonderful playground for a young kid.</p>

[Oldbloke]

Has anybody ever come across Birley Gate Colliery, Intake?

[Edmund]

From http://www.healeyher.../B3-1921-B.html :

 

Birley Gate drift no coal found, washout of Fenton seam, continued dipping at 1in3, old shaft scoured out to water at 40 yards (36.5m) and further drifting discontinued after 154 yards (141m) when a dispute in lease of royalty arose,
Apr 1921, Levi Robinson Colliery Manager and Surveyor

 

And related, partnership dissolved in 1922:

 

 Birley Gate Colliery 1922.pdf   137.21K   7 downloads

 

Assuming Birley Park Gate Colliery was the same place, it was operating in 1862:

 

[Oldbloke]

All I have to go on at the moment is this 

 

 

Attached Images

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[lysander]

Whilst researching the history of the formation of the NCB I came across a rather surprising entry for a Colliery Company whose registered office ,in 1948,was at the Devonshire Arms in Dore. Apparently, there exists a thin seam of coal, at no great depth, from which the "Dore Colliery Company" extracted coal by, presumably, open-casting. The coal was probably used to produce "white coal"* from local timber, which was then used for smelting lead.

 

Totley and District is an early example of industrial scale production where ,by using "white coal" and water-powered bellows, much smaller quantities of lead could be smelted at any  one time...thus freeing the lead smelter from his reliance on a prolonged wind in the right direction for his "Campaign", at what were known as "Bole Hills" . The Totley method also made the transportation of lead to east coast ports for shipping to London much easier, by virtue of it being produced in much smaller ingots than could be produced from a "Bole". Much of Derbyshire had effectively been deforested by the demand for wood for these campaigns and , consequently,the lead ore (galena) was brought by pack- horse over the hills into Totley, Beauchief and probably Crookes where wood was more abundant  ( e.g Abbeydale Woods)

 

Whether the company was still engaged in coal mining at the time of nationalisation is a moot point, but the knowledge that all the "posh" folk, living in Dore, were actually in an ex mining area caused quite a stir, some years ago, when I placed a small notice in the Bar area to the effect that the Dev was once the registered office for a coal mining company!

 

My ancestor, living ( and dying) in Totley left all his lead smelting tools to his son in his will, dated 1672!

 

* White coal is similar to charcoal.