An old air shaft between Bruntcliffe and Howden Clough

jim · Post by **jim** » Sun 28 Jul, 2013 11:41 am

morleyhall wrote: Going slightly off topic here, but back in the mid 70s I lived at Moat Hill in Birstall, and I have a young faded memory of seeing disused railway sidings in a field near to the woods at Howden Clough. I’m sure that the sidings ended on the raised bank in the field here. Try the "old-maps" website. Enter co-ordinates 423800, 426800 which should cover the area you refer to. I can't see rail tracks at the exact spot you refer to, but the now closed "Leeds New Line" and the GNR Bradford - Batley lines crossed in the immediate vicinity by the right angled bend in Nab Lane, and there was a colliery just north of the bridge. Hope this helps.

majorhoundii · Post by **majorhoundii** » Sun 28 Jul, 2013 11:45 pm

I seem to remember there being a pit at Bruntcliffe called "Horse Rigg" or something like that, perhaps this airshaft is connected?

grumpytramp · Post by **grumpytramp** » Tue 30 Jul, 2013 12:36 am

The shaft is shown on the 1854 Ordnance Survey 1:10560 map (attached) and is named Birkby Brow Colliery [attached]

grumpytramp · Post by **grumpytramp** » Tue 30 Jul, 2013 12:36 am

somme1916 wrote: As an afterthought..........I would think it highly likely it would be an old air ventilation shaft for Victoria Colliery(p.s. there's some great pics in that book). I think that this working predates both Bruntcliffe Thorn and Bruntcliffe Victoria collieries (operated by the Haigh family between 1848 and 1929) and is associated with the old pits in Birkby Brow Woods (also recorded as Birkby Brow colliery - see attached). The Thorn and Victoria pits were to much greater depth.There are no references to Birkby Brow collieries in any of the usual sources or Memoirs suggests that these workings may have been substantially abandoned by the late 1850-early 1860s and incorperated into the much larger Bruntcliffe Thorn and Victoria pits. I would hazard that the abandonment plans for the two Bruntcliffe pits would also record these workings (though that is no garuntee as the 1973 Lofthouse Disaster so well illustrated)The shaft itself was capped in 1951 (with a 5m x 5m x 0.3m reinforced concrete slab)

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Tue 30 Jul, 2013 1:20 am

Cheers grumpytramp. The air shaft I queried about does seem to be at the site of the Birkby Brow Colliery.

greenhow302 · Post by **greenhow302** » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 12:19 am

A site listing the known locations for collieries in the British Isles can be found at http://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines/coal/maps/ ... lComprises an overlay on Google maps/earth - if you know of a colliery that is not listed, then please let us know.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 12:54 am

greenhow302 wrote: A site listing the known locations for collieries in the British Isles can be found at http://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines/coal/maps/ ... lComprises an overlay on Google maps/earth - if you know of a colliery that is not listed, then please let us know. Thanks for that extremely interesting link greenhow302. I've just done a quick glance and found a pit called Coalpit Hill by the A61 between Weeton Lane and Dunkeswick Lane that I was not aware of. It's near the Green Lane track that I have very occasionally walked, so I will try to remember to look out next time for any remaining signs (if any) of the pit. It's not an area where I would have thought there may have been a coalpit.