# New Hawne Colliery, Halesowen, December 2011



## TranKmasT (Dec 29, 2011)

I've passed this on numerous occasions as it's local to me, finally got around to taking a closer look.




> New Hawne Colliery, on a 48 acre site to the North and East of --------, west of Hawne and stretching South to the main ------ Road, was so called to distinguish itself from Old Hawne Colliery which was very close by. It was situated originally close to Hawne House, the home of the early 19th century reformer Thomas Attwood. It belonged to the newly formed New British Iron Company (1843) and began producing coal in 1864. Minerals were also mined there. The coal and minerals were carried away in trucks on the local railway that spanned the River Stour past Timbertree Colliery into Congreaves Railway sidings where they were tipped into trucks to be carried away. The minerals there were granted a thirty year term with the promise that at least one pair of shafts were to be sunk in the five years since 1864. This seems to have happened as the date on the engine house that is still standing says '1865'. On 23rd June, 1873, permission was given to extend the mining area for minerals another 38 acres southwards to include Hawne Bank Farm as it was believed that huge deposits lay under it. Some time before 1909 the control of New Hawne Colliery passed from New British Iron Company to the family of Shelah Garratt, the Dudley coal-master who owned said farm. On his death in 1893, his son Job carried on with the business where it flourished until his death in 1909. The colliery came through the Miners' Strike of 1921although rioting did occur by the striking miners. However, the 1926 General Strike finished the mine off altogether due to the fact that there was no-one to control the flooding of the mines, and it was considered to be uneconomical to drain them after the Strike. Once the shafts had been cleared and the mine buildings cleared away the land was left more or less at it was, now overgrown with only the huge pit mound showing formed by mine detritus ans ironworks waste. Hawne Bank Farm has gone but the engine house is still standing in Shelagh Road (possibly named after Shelah Garratt), Halesowen. It is one of the very few remaining colliery buildings in the area and is also a fine example of circular joinery in the triple arch at the front.



*Taken from Black Country History* http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB145_p_1839/







































*
Workshops*


























*Inside the airshaft*























*
Thanks for looking.*​


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## highcannons (Dec 29, 2011)

fantastic brick work. Thanks for posting.


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## jools (Dec 29, 2011)

Lovely pics, thanks for that 

,am intrigued by the last but one pic there is a metal "groove" pictured, do you know what it was for? is there a matching groove anywhere,, how long is it??

thanks,, Jools


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## TranKmasT (Dec 29, 2011)

Not sure Jools. Wish I stood further back now. The groove was a couple of metres long at least.


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## TK421 (Dec 29, 2011)

Super photos there buddy!


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## smiler (Dec 29, 2011)

What’s left doesn’t look too bad I hope it stays that way, like jool’s I was intrigued by the iron groove set in the wall and would like to know its purpose. I enjoyed looking, Thanks


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## flyboys90 (Dec 29, 2011)

Is the wheel at top of the tower & inside part of the winding gear?


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## caiman (Dec 29, 2011)

The last four pics are where the ventilation fan would have been. By the look of the remains it was not a Waddle fan so it would have been a centrifugal fan of the type with big paddles like a water wheel. I'm guessing that the groove may have been related to a control mechanism?


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## borntobemild (Dec 29, 2011)

good stuff - pleasantly surprised that so much remains


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## jools (Dec 30, 2011)

caiman said:


> The last four pics are where the ventilation fan would have been. By the look of the remains it was not a Waddle fan so it would have been a centrifugal fan of the type with big paddles like a water wheel. I'm guessing that the groove may have been related to a control mechanism?



It appears to be curved,,,,,,,,, could have been a damper to regulate the air-flow,,,,,,

,,,,,,he's got to go back!!


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## Malcog (Jan 2, 2012)

This is one of the only Black Country remains collieries extant, as the majority of those mines were short lived, the coal was won, and the miners moved on. The seam in most of the area was 30 feet thick, this meant enormous underground holes that were very unstable, and as the coal was extracted, the ground above fell into the hole. In the 19th century all the easily mined coal was extracted, then mines like Hawne extracted from deeper seams, at higher cost. There reamins a lot of coal under the area, the 30 foot seam was extracted by inefficient means such as bell pits and pillar and bord, some estiimates say only 40% of the reserves were mined. 
In the late 90s when the Dudley bypass was built the 30 foot seam was laid bare and some of the coal was extracted and sold at a profit to the road builders.


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## Foxylady (Jan 10, 2012)

What a fantastic find. Love the buildings and remains. I agree with Jools...go back! More pics!


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## Malcog (Jan 16, 2012)

The groove with the metal was part of a Guibal fan, used at most large Black Country collieries. The winding wheel was probably used for maintenance of the fan and it's pitwork.


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 16, 2012)

A lovely old building -if only those walls could talk.....

Ta for posting


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## eliki (Jan 19, 2012)

Thank you so much for putting these photos on here. I used to wander around inside that building back in the early 90s, on the way home from Halesowen College, and it fascinated me. Especially that wooden wheel in the larger building. (I was less impressed when I got my foot stuck inside that metal grate in the smaller building, and had fun trying to get free again without falling into the big hole!) And then of course they boarded the place up in 1998, and I was unable to get back in. Annoying because I always wanted some photos of the inside of the place, but lacked a camera good enough to do so. So it is one heck of a nostalgia trip seeing inside there agian, so thank you very much for putting these on here!


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## night crawler (Jan 19, 2012)

Loveing tha building and the interior. Well done nice report.


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## Em_Ux (Jan 19, 2012)

Fantastic!


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