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Holbrook colliery shaft


miamivice

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On 28/12/2015 at 17:05, Unitedite Returns said:

An excellent bit on investigative work, and very interesting.

I do know a little about the remaining building structures and I can confirm that, to the best of my knowledge, that they were not connected with the colliery.

They were originally erected by the Express Dairy Company, as a milk distribution depot, and were used primarily, in their later years, as a collection point by a number of private, doorstep milk retailers, [bottled milk buyers], operating in that local area.

I seem to think that their dairy association finished sometime in the early 1990's and afterwards, were taken over by another, non-dairy related business, although, as to whom they were, and as to what they traded, unfortunately I cannot recall.

 

Out walking at the weekend and had the opportunity to take some photos of the ‘dairy distribution’ building, as I’d noticed when driving past most days on my way home, they’d cleared the site. Looks like either redevelopment, or demolition so thought I’d take some photos for posterity.....  not that the building has any historic or architectural significance I suppose?

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What was the building originally then? A sort of distribution centre for the milkmen?

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Not sure, but it was still showing as ‘dairy’ on maps as late as 1981. You can see in the attached that it’s between the garage and the hall (another lost, mystery building) and opposite Bramah’s.

The site seems a bit small to be a dairy, or a bottling plant. Even the old maps don’t shop the buildings any larger than they are now. However there is a large expanse of concrete pad, which may have been a yard where the milk trucks came in and the bottles already crated were transferred on to the floats, so they could head out in their morning rounds? The map from 1981 shows the access drive off Station Road.

Pure guesswork, as no photos or history to substantiate that.

Also, since I took those photos in 2019, the big pile of earth and rubble to the right of the building has been cleared to leave a large round circular wall, filled in with rubble. I wonder if that was something to do with Holbrook Colliery, as there doesn’t seem to be any reference to it on the 1981 map. However, on  older maps (1956 shown), the circular structure is there, but no label as to what it is/was? Air shaft perhaps?

 

 

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I was looking at the big circular brick structure yesterday, I don’t think it’s a shaft, it looks to me as if it might have been the base from some sort of storage silo maybe? I wasn’t about to jump in it and find out. 

What I did find on the site was a MASSIVE man made pond. If you approach the site it’s on the far side backing on to the extreme corner of EMR. It has a big chain link fence around it with various warnings. It is in the area where there was an Adit for the pit which discharged waste water. The pond was stagnant so I’d assume the adit is long since sealed or buried?

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44 minutes ago, miamivice said:

I was looking at the big circular brick structure yesterday, I don’t think it’s a shaft, it looks to me as if it might have been the base from some sort of storage silo maybe? I wasn’t about to jump in it and find out. 

What I did find on the site was a MASSIVE man made pond. If you approach the site it’s on the far side backing on to the extreme corner of EMR. It has a big chain link fence around it with various warnings. It is in the area where there was an Adit for the pit which discharged waste water. The pond was stagnant so I’d assume the adit is long since sealed or buried?

Edit checked the Coal Authority website, there looks like a mound covered in gabions thar is the outlet for the waste water adit from the pit. I could have looked inside the gates as the lock was broken, but call me a chicken but I didn’t dare. 

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Just up from the colliery is the old railway bridge for the line that went up to the sidings I think?

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1 minute ago, Paolo Coopio said:

Just up from the colliery is the old railway bridge for the line that went up to the sidings I think?

20210606_110423.jpg

20210606_110317.jpg

 

Actually looking at maps after posting this.  The line under this bridge actually joined up with the GCR further up towards Beighton. 

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On 06/06/2021 at 18:17, Paolo Coopio said:

 

Actually looking at maps after posting this.  The line under this bridge actually joined up with the GCR further up towards Beighton. 

There seem to be few images of the Holbrook Branch which connected Holbrook Colliery with the Great Central Railway at Beighton, although the two lines, which ran together for some distance actually diverged physically just beyond Meadowgate Lane, then on the outskirts of Beighton.

Today, both the Great Central Railway formation and the Holbrook Branch formation have been almost completely filled in at Meadowgate Lane and it is difficult, even for those that knew it well, to actually follow these two alignments.

However, I trust that the attached images might resurrect a few memories. Copyright Retained.

GCR009; Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction, Looking South towards Killamarsh; 16/06/1977

GCR036; Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Holbrook Colliery Branch, Looking North towards Beighton. Meadowgate Lane Bridge over G.C.R Line visible in distance; 09/06/1977

GCR037; Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking North towards Beighton; Midland Railway Formation Marked by Telegraph Poles; 09/06/1977

GCR038; Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking South towards Killamarsh; Midland Railway Formation Marked by Telegraph Poles; Position of Station Road Bridge over Holbrook Colliery Branch indicated by arrow; 09/06/1977

GCR009-Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Looking South-16-06-1977.jpg

GCR036-Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Holbrook Colliery Branch, Looking North-09-06-1977.jpg

GCR037-Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking North-09-06-1977.jpg

GCR038-Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking South-09-06-1977.jpg

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Missed one:-

GCR032; Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Looking South towards Killamarsh. G.C.R. Formation to L.H.S. and Holbrook Colliery Formation to R.H.S.; 09/06/1977

GCR032-Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Looking South-09-06-1977.jpg

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16 hours ago, Unitedite Returns said:

There seem to be few images of the Holbrook Branch which connected Holbrook Colliery with the Great Central Railway at Beighton, although the two lines, which ran together for some distance actually diverged physically just beyond Meadowgate Lane, then on the outskirts of Beighton.

Today, both the Great Central Railway formation and the Holbrook Branch formation have been almost completely filled in at Meadowgate Lane and it is difficult, even for those that knew it well, to actually follow these two alignments.

However, I trust that the attached images might resurrect a few memories. Copyright Retained.

GCR009; Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction, Looking South towards Killamarsh; 16/06/1977

GCR036; Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Holbrook Colliery Branch, Looking North towards Beighton. Meadowgate Lane Bridge over G.C.R Line visible in distance; 09/06/1977

GCR037; Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking North towards Beighton; Midland Railway Formation Marked by Telegraph Poles; 09/06/1977

GCR038; Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking South towards Killamarsh; Midland Railway Formation Marked by Telegraph Poles; Position of Station Road Bridge over Holbrook Colliery Branch indicated by arrow; 09/06/1977

GCR009-Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Looking South-16-06-1977.jpg

GCR036-Meadowgate Lane, Beighton, Holbrook Colliery Junction-Holbrook Colliery Branch, Looking North-09-06-1977.jpg

GCR037-Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking North-09-06-1977.jpg

GCR038-Killamarsh, Holbrook Colliery Branch Formation, Looking South-09-06-1977.jpg

These photos are great and living within a stones throw of the old line, I can relate exactly to where these are now, even after the housing estate, industrial estate and various pathways and tracks into and out of Rother Valley Country Park have sprung up in the intervening years. Thanks for sharing these.

I’ve attached a map showing the route from just above Meadowgate Lane (now the path into Rother Valley Country Park), down to Holbrook Colliery. The modern aerial view of the area is also overlaid as a transparent image on the map, so you can see where the route was, in relation to today’s landscape and features.

1148D60C-FB07-4FA3-A0D0-AC92D0FF28F9.jpeg

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Those 2 photos alongside the Midland Railway telegraph poles, you can actually walk that banking in between the woolley bros and Holbrook.

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On 14/06/2021 at 19:50, RLongden said:

These photos are great and living within a stones throw of the old line, I can relate exactly to where these are now, even after the housing estate, industrial estate and various pathways and tracks into and out of Rother Valley Country Park have sprung up in the intervening years. Thanks for sharing these.

I’ve attached a map showing the route from just above Meadowgate Lane (now the path into Rother Valley Country Park), down to Holbrook Colliery. The modern aerial view of the area is also overlaid as a transparent image on the map, so you can see where the route was, in relation to today’s landscape and features.

 

Greatly enjoyed looking at the map that you attached to your post.

I have a question though. Do you know what year that the Ordnance Survey Map was published?

The reason I ask, is that the L.D. &. E.C.R. (Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway) line is shown as an incomplete and untracked formation, whereas all other formations are shown as being intact.

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14 hours ago, Paolo Coopio said:

Those 2 photos alongside the Midland Railway telegraph poles, you can actually walk that banking in between the woolley bros and Holbrook.

I must admit that I didn't know that this section of the Holbrook Colliery Branch was still intact, but then again, the last time that I visited this particular location was when I took the above photographs.

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8 minutes ago, Unitedite Returns said:

Greatly enjoyed looking at the map that you attached to your post.

I have a question though. Do you know what year that the Ordnance Survey Map was published?

The reason I ask, is that the L.D. &. E.C.R. (Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway) line is shown as an incomplete and untracked formation, whereas all other formations are shown as being intact.


Derbyshire XIII.SW
Series: Ordnance Survey. Six-inch to the mile
Revised: 1896 to 1897
Published: 1899

Link to actual map page:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101600271

Link to overlay page:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.408968661902186&lat=53.33067&lon=-1.33050&layers=6&b=1

Hope this helps and let’s you take a closer look at the map itself.

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Unitedite Returns said:

I must admit that I didn't know that this section of the Holbrook Colliery Branch was still intact, but then again, the last time that I visited this particular location was when I took the above photographs.

If its the section I'm thinking of. 

None the less. If you're on the 2 bridges greebway alongside station road,  there is a path that goes under the old railway bridge on the trackbed. After around 50 yards you find yourself walking on a banking parallel to the Midland. On maps it exactly where the trackbed would be.  Let me see if I can find any photos I've taken. 

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I can't find any photos of the path, but annoyingly I know I have taken some in the past. 

 

However the path in question is attached. There are some definite distinctive shapes of railway banking along that stretch 

Screenshot_20210618-133014_Chrome.jpg

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21 minutes ago, Paolo Coopio said:

I can't find any photos of the path, but annoyingly I know I have taken some in the past. 

 

However the path in question is attached. There are some definite distinctive shapes of railway banking along that stretch 

Screenshot_20210618-133014_Chrome.jpg

@Paolo Coopio I know where you are. Field Farm was on the site of where the bus garage is now. The top circle is where the path in between the bus garage and Woolley Brothers (abattoir) meets the railway bridge, with a right turn just beforehand on to a path, leading along the back of the bus garage. There has been some landscaping done along this path, but it quickly levels out and opens up into the track bed that is photograph #3 from @Unitedite Returns. The path is narrower than the photo at this point, but only due to the growth of thick brambles and adjacent to a steel fence, underfoot is littered with what looks like ballast, old coal and clinker. The path eventually drops down, over a timber footbridge, then continues back on the track bed, eventually passing under the railway bridge, underneath Station Road. This has also been landscaped to form a foothpath that bends to the right, to meet up with the footpath, created to run parallel to the road. The original railway line would have continued through where the stone-filled wire gabions have been stacked - recently cut and emptied by the local scroats!

Its a path that we use regularly on our local walking circuits, so next time I’m down there, I’ll try and get five photos that represent the current images of the ones that @Unitedite Returns took, in June 44 years ago!

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26 minutes ago, RLongden said:

@Paolo Coopio I know where you are. Field Farm was on the site of where the bus garage is now. The top circle is where the path in between the bus garage and Woolley Brothers (abattoir) meets the railway bridge, with a right turn just beforehand on to a path, leading along the back of the bus garage. There has been some landscaping done along this path, but it quickly levels out and opens up into the track bed that is photograph #3 from @Unitedite Returns. The path is narrower than the photo at this point, but only due to the growth of thick brambles and adjacent to a steel fence, underfoot is littered with what looks like ballast, old coal and clinker. The path eventually drops down, over a timber footbridge, then continues back on the track bed, eventually passing under the railway bridge, underneath Station Road. This has also been landscaped to form a foothpath that bends to the right, to meet up with the footpath, created to run parallel to the road. The original railway line would have continued through where the stone-filled wire gabions have been stacked - recently cut and emptied by the local scroats!

Its a path that we use regularly on our local walking circuits, so next time I’m down there, I’ll try and get five photos that represent the current images of the ones that @Unitedite Returns took, in June 44 years ago!

Bingo!!

 

On a separate note, I did wonder what had happened to the stone wire things. Couldn't get my head around it. 

 

The whole Holbrook, killamarsh, rother valley, beighton area is such a rich area for history. 

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33 minutes ago, RLongden said:

Its a path that we use regularly on our local walking circuits, so next time I’m down there, I’ll try and get five photos that represent the current images of the ones that @Unitedite Returns took, in June 44 years ago!

I would find those very interesting, I think. In the meantime:-

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Built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns, to works number 3734, in 1918, Class 04/8, No.63706, (Shed No.38D, Staveley G.C.), on a down mineral freight, passes Killamarsh Junction Signal Box, on 18/04/1964. Copyright Retained.

The North Midland Old Road can be seen to the right hand side of the photograph and the girder “occupation bridge”, which carries Field Farm “Lane” over it. Is the bridge still there? The telegraph poles which separate the North Midland Old Road from the Holbrook Colliery Branch can also be seen. Unfortunately, the branch formation is tantalisingly just out of sight.

CAI512-RSH.E106.3734-1918, Class 04-8, No.63706 passing Killamarsh Junction Signal Box, & over L.M.S.R., view looking South-18-04-1964.jpg

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Built by the North British Locomotive Company, to works number 26609, in 1949, Class K1, No.62005, (Shed No.50A, York North), on a short down freight service, passes Holbrook Colliery Branch Junction, where it joins the Great Central Railway formation at Meadow Gate Lane, Beighton, on 05/09/1959. Copyright Retained.

Killamarsh Junction Signal Box can be seen beyond the “Bird Cage Bridge”, which carries the Great Central Railway formation over the North Midland Old Road.

The embanked L.D. &. E.C.R. (Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway) formation can be seen to the left hand side of the photograph, together with the bridge which carries it over the Waleswood Curve from Killamarsh Junction.

Withdrawn from Shed No.55A, Leeds Holbeck in December 1967, No.62005, was fortunate enough to be preserved by the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group and is still in operation today.

CAIMF552-NBLG.L982.26609-1949, Class K1, No.62005, at Holbrook Colliery Junction-Meadow Gate Lane, Beighton-05-09-1959.jpg

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1 hour ago, Unitedite Returns said:

Built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns, to works number 3734, in 1918, Class 04/8, No.63706, (Shed No.38D, Staveley G.C.), on a down mineral freight, passes Killamarsh Junction Signal Box, on 18/04/1964. Copyright Retained.

The North Midland Old Road can be seen to the right hand side of the photograph and the girder “occupation bridge”, which carries Field Farm “Lane” over it. Is the bridge still there? The telegraph poles which separate the North Midland Old Road from the Holbrook Colliery Branch can also be seen. Unfortunately, the branch formation is tantalisingly just out of sight.

CAI512-RSH.E106.3734-1918, Class 04-8, No.63706 passing Killamarsh Junction Signal Box, & over L.M.S.R., view looking South-18-04-1964.jpg

I believe the field farm bridge is still there. Looking very worse for wear now though. 

On a side note The red brick viaduct the lane takes over the Norwood branch is also still there

 

 

Screenshot_20210318-161107_Photos.jpg

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30 minutes ago, Paolo Coopio said:

I believe the field farm bridge is still there. Looking very worse for wear now though. 

On a side note The red brick viaduct the lane takes over the Norwood branch is also still there.

I genuinely cannot believe as to just how much this bridge has deteriorated over the past 43 years.

See below, dated, 16/06/1977. I seem to think that the track was lifted in 1973.

GCR131-Norwood Colliery, Killamarsh Branch Formation Remains, near Killamarsh Junction-16-06-1977.jpg

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1 hour ago, Unitedite Returns said:

I genuinely cannot believe as to just how much this bridge has deteriorated over the past 43 years.

See below, dated, 16/06/1977. I seem to think that the track was lifted in 1973.

GCR131-Norwood Colliery, Killamarsh Branch Formation Remains, near Killamarsh Junction-16-06-1977.jpg

Wow. 

Looks like the bankings have slipped. More archway on show now. Unrecognisable. 

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Is the old metal bridge still there? I remember as a kid it having no steel plates left, there was just a big drop between the girders!

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