Coal Mines in Leeds

Si · Post by Si » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 3:58 pm

Brandy wrote: wiggy wrote: Brandy wrote: when i was younger my grandad used to tell me that below us(on the gipton estate) there used to be miles of old mine shafts and he told me that the hills circled in red are actually slag heaps my gran used to look for coal on the 'pit hill',on gipton during the war,the slag heap as it was then,the one on your picture was much bigger,it was reduced in size after aberfan,then again when they built the old folks home in the 80s.i believe gipton pit closed in 1921.then there was neville hill,east end park and a few on york road including white horse pit.....have we all done this before?? yes wiggy im quite sure we have been here before lol it's like ground hog day sometimes this site but i still love! See Rolarena!!!!! Is that Sonny & Cher I can hear?!

Si · Post by Si » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 3:59 pm

And a double post! Wierd!

Brandy · Post by **Brandy** » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 5:03 pm

Si wrote: And a double post! Wierd! yes si i think SL is having one of its funny doo's today !

Post by **chameleon** » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 8:51 pm

Brandy wrote: wiggy wrote: Brandy wrote: when i was younger my grandad used to tell me that below us(on the gipton estate) there used to be miles of old mine shafts and he told me that the hills circled in red are actually slag heaps my gran used to look for coal on the 'pit hill',on gipton during the war,the slag heap as it was then,the one on your picture was much bigger,it was reduced in size after aberfan,then again when they built the old folks home in the 80s.i believe gipton pit closed in 1921.then there was neville hill,east end park and a few on york road including white horse pit.....have we all done this before?? yes wiggy im quite sure we have been here before lol it's like ground hog day sometimes this site but i still love it ! I think Brandy, new users do't always realise how much has gone on before and don't look back, the presence of threads older than a month too isn't obvious until you've become familiar with the site.It could do perhaps with a little 'welcome and how to' message being sent to people as they register.

Post by **chameleon** » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 8:56 pm

The Parksider wrote: Barwicker wrote: I believe that the subsidence mentioned above affecting Bullerthorpe Lane may have been caused by the workings of Temple Pit which was certainly in this area. The pits at Colton I understood to be mostly "Bell Pits", still possibly dangerous but less likely to cause that sort of subsidence. There were of course at least three deep mines at Garforth, all at one time owned by the Gascoigne family and when I lived in Crossgates many years ago the house was very close to what had been Brianside Colliery, somewhere in the triangle outlined by York Road, Crossgates Road & Crossgates Lane, again giving a reason for many road names. Brianside pit I think IS built over unlike other croggy collieries!!!Anyone manage an exact location - It's on Godfreys? Parksider - transfering the co-ordinates from the '34 Geology map to the '76 OS map does put the shaft where I suggested as shown below - to within a few feet.It looks as though the area was purposely left when the houses were built, just a bit of road and a few garages. The house to the left is newly built - have to wonder if they know what they have as a neighbour!

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 10:22 pm

liits wrote: [another, but older, was on Hollyshaw Lane. This was on the left just before the crest of the hill, on the left as yoy went up towards Whitkirk. If you were to venture as far as Barowby Comon, on the left had side, as you headed towards Garforth, was a whole great big area that had been mined. This area still [in the mis 1970's] showed obvious evidence of being mined. Prince Arthur Pit up Hollyshaw Lane with a bit of the spoil retaining wall left. Brown moor and west yorkshire collieries on barowby common.Loads more in a big sweep across Leeds as far across as Blue Hill Colliery on Blue Hill Lane.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 10:41 pm

rikj wrote: I've the Hudson book out of the library at the moment Parksider! Great read and some ace maps as well. Ask away if you've got any questions as it isn't due back for a while! You finished that book yet!!!!!!!!Seriously no rush, but tip me the wink when/where it's going back!!

grumpytramp · Post by **grumpytramp** » Mon 21 Jan, 2008 11:44 pm

Great thread!When I was very wee my mum worked at Killingbeck and then Jimmies Intensive Care Unit on odd shift patterns (long night shifts at the weekend ending sometime after lunch). The weekend treat was my dad taking me and my wee sis to collect mum from the hospital ......... but it wasn't see mum that use to be the treat!We would always go and do the messages (normally from Grandways in Halton) and then head out to go and see some trains. In those days you could head out to Micklefield and visit Peckfield Colliery where there was always a pug working in the yard such as http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/mainindx ... ield01.htm (when going to see my Nana in Darlington on the train from Crossgates I always insisted on sitting on the right going and left coming home just so I could get the best view of the pug at the screens as you went through Micklefield) or down to Woodlesford to Primrose Hill Colliery and see their pugs http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/mainindx ... rose01.htm or if there was enough time some of the other steam locos working at places like Wheldale, Glasshoughton or Fryston Collieries. Then there was the (at the age of six the frankly baffeling) narrow gauge railway that linked Ledston Luck Colliery and Peckfield Colliery http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/specials/ledstonluck/I can remember in the late 60's and early 70's pit buses running from Crossgates and Halton to the likes of Primrose Hill, Ledston Luck and probably far beyond!These infantile memories and my mothers constant threats that "if you don't do well at school than it's pit for thee" conspired to ensure that I did moderately well at school. Unfortunately my announcement that I fancied a career in mining engineering didn't go down too well at home. In a desperate attempt to put the fear of God in me, my mum pulled a few strings with a husband of collegue and arranged for me to go underground at Prince of Wales Colliery. It had the opposite effect, after wangling another trip this time to Rothwell Colliery that was me set! My mum need never worried about her wee lad going down t'pit for life as I joined the industry in 1983 and Mrs Thatcher was just about to help her out! Still I managed a couple of years working underground which I look back on with nothing but fondness and respect for the lads I worked with (and the generations of colliers I came from) and my own pride of being a coal face worker if only for a short period of my life!

grumpytramp · Post by **grumpytramp** » Tue 22 Jan, 2008 12:07 am

Following on I have in my possesion a copy of the Colliery Guardian's Guide to the Coalfields 1967. It is interesting to note the collieries still operating then in the city and its immediate environs:GOMERSAL COLLIERY - Gomersal, Nr LeedsWorking Beeston and Blocking coalsEmploying 298 men underground & 70 men surfaceLEDSTON LUCK COLLIERY - Kippax, Nr LeedsWorking Middleton Little, Silkstone and Flockton Thick coalsEmploying 275 men undergound and 115 men surfaceLOFTHOUSE COLLIERY - Outwood, Nr WakefieldWorking Flockton and Eleven Yards coalsEmploying 764 men undergound and 210 men surfaceMIDDLETON BROOM COLLIERY - Middleton, Leeds 10Working Black Bed coalEmploying 387 men undergound and 91 men surfacePECKFIELD COLLIERY - Micklefield, Nr LeedsWorking Beeston coalEmploying 337 men undergound and 91 men surfacePRIMROSE HILL COLLIERY - Woodlesford, Nr LeedsWorking Middleton Little, Silkstone and Eleven Yard coalsEmploying 607 men undergound and 222 men surfaceROTHWELL COLLIERY - Rothwell, Nr. LeedsWorking Eleven Yards and Furnace coalsEmploying 679 men undergound and 144 men surfaceSAVILLE COLLIERY - Methley, Nr LeedsWorking Flockton (Firthfield) coalEmploying 273 men undergound and 119 men surfaceSHAW CROSS COLLIERY - DewsburyWorking Eleven Yards, Wheatley Lime and Beeston coalsEmploying 452 men undergound and 150 men surfaceTHORNHILL COLLIERY - Thornhill, Nr DewsburyWorking Wheatley Lime, Silkstone and Beeston CoalsEmploying 413 men undergound and 73 men surfaceWATERLOO MAIN COLLIERY - Temple Newsam, HaltonWorking Silkstone, Middleton Little and Black Bed coalsEmploying 276 men undergound and 123 men surface.A few notes of trivia .......... when Rothwell Colliery closed in 1983 it was the oldest working colliery in the UK (with a history that could be traced to the the 18th Century ......... DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY LINKS REGARDING THE COLLIERIES HISTORY?) and Waterloo Main Colliery's most famous Bevin Boy was the city's Sir Jimmy Saville (I vaguely remember reading his amusing and slighly odd autobiography 'Love is an Uphill Thing' where he recalls working underground stark bollock naked, cleaning himself carefully underground before emerging dressed to the nines at the end of the shift to head into town to run a dance ......... or something like that)

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Tue 22 Jan, 2008 11:00 pm

grumpytramp wrote: Great thread!When I was very wee my mum worked at Killingbeck and then Jimmies Intensive Care Unit on odd shift patterns (long night shifts at the weekend ending sometime after lunch). The weekend treat was my dad taking me and my wee sis to collect mum from the hospital ......... but it wasn't see mum that use to be the treat!We would always go and do the messages (normally from Grandways in Halton) and then head out to go and see some trains. In those days you could head out to Micklefield and visit Peckfield Colliery where there was always a pug working in the yard such as http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/mainindx ... ield01.htm (when going to see my Nana in Darlington on the train from Crossgates I always insisted on sitting on the right going and left coming home just so I could get the best view of the pug at the screens as you went through Micklefield) or down to Woodlesford to Primrose Hill Colliery and see their pugs http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/mainindx ... rose01.htm or if there was enough time some of the other steam locos working at places like Wheldale, Glasshoughton or Fryston Collieries. Then there was the (at the age of six the frankly baffeling) narrow gauge railway that linked Ledston Luck Colliery and Peckfield Colliery http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/specials/ledstonluck/I can remember in the late 60's and early 70's pit buses running from Crossgates and Halton to the likes of Primrose Hill, Ledston Luck and probably far beyond!These infantile memories and my mothers constant threats that "if you don't do well at school than it's pit for thee" conspired to ensure that I did moderately well at school. Unfortunately my announcement that I fancied a career in mining engineering didn't go down too well at home. In a desperate attempt to put the fear of God in me, my mum pulled a few strings with a husband of collegue and arranged for me to go underground at Prince of Wales Colliery. It had the opposite effect, after wangling another trip this time to Rothwell Colliery that was me set! My mum need never worried about her wee lad going down t'pit for life as I joined the industry in 1983 and Mrs Thatcher was just about to help her out! Still I managed a couple of years working underground which I look back on with nothing but fondness and respect for the lads I worked with (and the generations of colliers I came from) and my own pride of being a coal face worker if only for a short period of my life! Super post and just over the road to your mum's work was Killingbeck Colliery!!