A nice little ol' coal shaft

[smiffy]

Only a quick one this………
No details really available for this old coal shaft…
….Its been quietly sitting in the woods for many years….Capped sometime back around the late 50s or early 60s and not thought to have been used as a ‘production’ shaft…….information locally says it was an air shaft for a big colliery about ½ a mile down the road……
…Anyways …
..First off is a photo of the cap that was on top…covered in moss and gorse and pretty much forgotten….

Fortunate that it had been more or less forgotten really for when the excavator started to gently pull the cap to one side it fell completely apart and most of it hurtled down the shaft……….the concrete used was a really scant mix with barely any cement evident and only a few bits of rail steel as reinforcing which only just (literally by about 3 or 4” alone!!) rested over the shaft walls …Not only that but the ‘lid’ was less than 6” thick too………A good ‘jump’ on the top and you could quite literally have gone through………I guess this is one of the reasons the Coal Authority is so insistent on doing this work………….
..Bit scary really as I (and probably loads of folk before me too!) had stood on this cap only a few months before wondering how deep the shaft underneath was…
…… The answer is almost 170’……

… You could see clearly down the shaft which was part stoned and partly cut through rock……..

………..A narrow stream of water could be seen flowing at the bottom but it wasn’t flooded……Off to one side could be seen a roadway but actually capturing a photograph of the bottom proved beyond my photography skills……

………. The walls and stonework of the shaft was in really excellent order apart from the top foot or so of rough work that had been done to level the top for the old cap to be poured .........

Apart from that it certainly looked as though the shaft could have been put back into service……………Sadly not anymore though……….the remorseless minions of the dreaded Coal Authority shall once again have their way and the shaft is being filled with clean stone ready for re-capping and landscaping as you look at these pictures…………

 

[BigLoada]

Awesome mate. Thats a wonderful bit of stone lining there. Tjhere is one identical and open just like this not far from me but The fence is to high to photograph it.

Good job man!

 

[Sabtr]

Wow.

Good job you didn't disco dance on that! Such beautiful stonework. Gotta be done I suppose!

 

[Lightbuoy]

Wow.

Good job you didn't disco dance on that! Such beautiful stonework. Gotta be done I suppose!

True.

Shame that it couldn't have been capped with some sort of ironwork though, thus allowing the shaft to remain un-filled, and the occasional curious passer-by could still see down it

Lb :jimlad:

 

[Sabtr]

I know of an adit (coal) near me which seems to be getting the coal boards attention. That was about a year ago looking at the fencing etc. I will get a closer look at it but a flooded river is stopping me!

I wonder if the coal board are having a "purge" on old stuff like this?

 

[Lightbuoy]

.....I wonder if the coal board are having a "purge" on old stuff like this?

I can only think that the H & S phantom is looming large within the Coal Board?

Lb :jimlad:

P.s. -wonder if sealing-up all these shafts, adits etc. will affect the integrity of the underground workings below? -I.e. -due to no / reduced ventilation?

 

[Sabtr]

I can only think that the H & S phantom is looming large within the Coal Board?

Lb :jimlad:

P.s. -wonder if sealing-up all these shafts, adits etc. will affect the integrity of the underground workings below? -I.e. -due to no / reduced ventilation?

Well, if they are having a purge on old workings they have a heck of a job on up here!

I could take you to countless places where drifts and shafts have opened up. Mostly due to our friend water.

The ventilation problems here are cured by vent stacks everywhere. Some are actually in stone walls so we don't see them. Others are lines of "rockets" with monitoring equipment attached. I watched some being created a few months ago too.

 

[Lightbuoy]

.....The ventilation problems here are cured by vent stacks everywhere. Some are actually in stone walls so we don't see them. Others are lines of "rockets" with monitoring equipment attached. I watched some being created a few months ago too.

Ahh, thanks for that.

Lb :jimlad:

 

[Landsker]

the coal borad keeps an eye on sites like this and on mine exploration forums apparently.

 

[smiffy]

I think the root problem is this ever present spectre of possible future
'public liability and/or culpability' in the event of any sort of incident regarding an old coal shaft or level.............
Scenario: The CA fit the shaft with a lovely new steel grill.........months go by...Mr Pikey comes along and says to himself summat like
"Wayy Hay! Theres 2 ton or so of heavy scrap sitting there!"
Half hours work with a Hiab on a lorry and a cutting lamp and he's ripped it free no matter how well fixed it had been..............
Little Johnny comes trotting along with his Pals the next day and the inevitable happens.....................
A few month or so later the CA find themselves in Court fighting a gigantic Compensation Claim off Little Johnnies Mum and Dad cos he's as dead as a 10 year old usually is after falling down a 200' pit shaft and some smart arse lawyer has realised that the CA had a 'Duty of Care' to keep every body safe from the shaft that was 'their responsibilty'...........
I totally agree these shafts should be preserved ....somehow..... but this bloody ever present nonsense 'nanny state mentality' is gonna beat us every time

 

[underitall]

I think the root problem is this ever present spectre of possible future
'public liability and/or culpability' in the event of any sort of incident regarding an old coal shaft or level.............
Scenario: The CA fit the shaft with a lovely new steel grill.........months go by...Mr Pikey comes along and says to himself summat like
"Wayy Hay! Theres 2 ton or so of heavy scrap sitting there!"
Half hours work with a Hiab on a lorry and a cutting lamp and he's ripped it free no matter how well fixed it had been..............
Little Johnny comes trotting along with his Pals the next day and the inevitable happens.....................
A few month or so later the CA find themselves in Court fighting a gigantic Compensation Claim off Little Johnnies Mum and Dad cos he's as dead as a 10 year old usually is after falling down a 200' pit shaft and some smart arse lawyer has realised that the CA had a 'Duty of Care' to keep every body safe from the shaft that was 'their responsibilty'...........
I totally agree these shafts should be preserved ....somehow..... but this bloody ever present nonsense 'nanny state mentality' is gonna beat us every time

All that proves Pikeys ruin everything, mostly UrBex related.

By the way, nice shaft.

 

[Lightbuoy]

the coal borad keeps an eye on sites like this and on mine exploration forums apparently.

The CB would say that they are being resourceful, I'd say that's cheating!

Lb :jimlad:

 

[Lightbuoy]

I think the root problem is this ever present spectre of possible future
'public liability and/or culpability' in the event of any sort of incident regarding an old coal shaft or level.............
Scenario: The CA fit the shaft with a lovely new steel grill.........months go by...Mr Pikey comes along and says to himself summat like
"Wayy Hay! Theres 2 ton or so of heavy scrap sitting there!"
Half hours work with a Hiab on a lorry and a cutting lamp and he's ripped it free no matter how well fixed it had been..............
Little Johnny comes trotting along with his Pals the next day and the inevitable happens.....................
A few month or so later the CA find themselves in Court fighting a gigantic Compensation Claim off Little Johnnies Mum and Dad cos he's as dead as a 10 year old usually is after falling down a 200' pit shaft and some smart arse lawyer has realised that the CA had a 'Duty of Care' to keep every body safe from the shaft that was 'their responsibilty'...........
I totally agree these shafts should be preserved ....somehow..... but this bloody ever present nonsense 'nanny state mentality' is gonna beat us every time

Hit nail on head there! All true, soooo true.

Lb :jimlad:

 

[Morrisey]

Oh my giddy aunt!!! why do these not open up by me. 200ft rope, gas detector and in we go especially if as you say it aint flooded.

 

[Logan_Five]

Awesome mate. Thats a wonderful bit of stone lining there. Tjhere is one identical and open just like this not far from me but The fence is to high to photograph it.

Good job man!

Where's that, BL? Drop me a PM - just curious!

 

[BigLoada]

Where's that, BL? Drop me a PM - just curious!

Hi mate, its Whittle Colliery. Went last year, big stone lined shaft but its probably been capped as they were working on site at the time!

 

[TK421]

Nice one Smiffy, worrying about the 'thin cap'. I now have an image of you wandering round with a stick testing the ground

 

[Logan_Five]

Uncapped shafts must be a major problem, especially where they have become forgotten and over-grown. I know there are supposed to be some on the south side of the river at Plessey Woods, near Bedlington. Wouldn't fancy going fishing for them.

 

[Sabtr]

Uncapped shafts must be a major problem, especially where they have become forgotten and over-grown. I know there are supposed to be some on the south side of the river at Plessey Woods, near Bedlington. Wouldn't fancy going fishing for them.

You mean these mate.





I have my eye on them.

 

[smiffy]

Hey Sausage thats exactly what loads of old shafts looked like around here mate....Hidden away down in the woods with a bit of rough fencing round 'em ....a bit of pig wire and a strand or so of barb wire and thats yer lot..........
..........I really love it that they obviously weren't bothered about leaving a ferking great big hole lying in the woods and certainly didn't give a monkies toss about the dreaded H&S and Public Liabilty in those days.....................
.....................
"Awh.... come on and hurry up Sid!.....the pubs open ...that'll do...they wont get in there...It's only a 400' deep hole and we've had all the coal out so what kind of twat would ever wanna get in there anyways !!!"..

Fast forward 20 or so years.......and along come us .....hehheh!


Hey and I'll tell ya what Morrisey......
........It's one thing to abseil down a shaft like that but you must have some kinda arms on you if you'd actually even contemplate hauling yerself back up a 170' shaft though!.........heheheh!
And if you have got arms such as that????..............well........ I wouldn't want a smack in the mouth off ya thats fer sure!