Coal Mines in Leeds

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kenneth
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Post by kenneth »

The Parksider wrote: kenneth wrote: Many years ago there used to be a mock up of a coal mine in Leeds City Museum in the days when the Museum was located on Park Row when the HBos bank building is now Yes, I went in with my mum, must have been about 4 years old then.One day the city may recognise it's mining/quarrying heritage again?For anyone interested who looks at the old mones/quarries Leeds had a number of "Calliard" quarries, which is a tightly packed type of sandstone.One of those words long forgotten and explanation courtesy of Mike Gill. Mike also kindly explains how coal may have been present in Moortown area due to a fault, or may be from a coal bed that wasn't the same as mined in south Leeds. Either way he has records of Moortwn Colliery producing coal..... being raised in Beeston I believe our back to back in the Marsdens is built on top of mines. And yes it would be nice if the city recognised it's debt to those miners and also the engineers and tailoring industry who also put this city on the map. My Dad was a master tailor and latterly worked many years for Joseph May & Sons down the bottom of Domestic Street. My Mum was born in Morley, one of three sisters who all served time in the woolen mills before she moved to Leeds with her Mother to take a corner shop on Elland Road. Interestingly, her Mother had the first ice cream business in Morley. They used to make thier own ice cream and take it round the streets with horse and cart
"The Future is not what it used to be"Regards- Kenneth

kenneth
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Post by kenneth »

Brunel wrote: This should prove useful to all the "bookworms"http://librarycatalogue.leedslearning.netIf you search for Oakwood Historical Society.Shows 11 copies of the above book available. That is a really interesting link thank you. I am also very interested in Subterranean Leeds. Did I read somewhere that you had some involvement in this. I am sure there was a link to some of your pictures
"The Future is not what it used to be"Regards- Kenneth

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

kenneth wrote: Brunel wrote: This should prove useful to all the "bookworms"http://librarycatalogue.leedslearning.netIf you search for Oakwood Historical Society.Shows 11 copies of the above book available. That is a really interesting link thank you. I am also very interested in Subterranean Leeds. Did I read somewhere that you had some involvement in this. I am sure there was a link to some of your pictures Try these:http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Thre ... ForumID=22

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Just to add to the long since defunct Idea Moortown Colliery on King Lane was Leeds northernmost coal mine I have.....1. Whinmoor Coal Mine - referred to in "Foundry Mill" when quoting what the Manor of seacroft consisted of in 1603 when James 1st transferred the land to a new owner.2. Cookridge Coal Mine - Referred to in Don Coles wonderful histories, appearing as a record in the local magistrates dealings when the owner of the said mine was fined for not filling it back in after it was worked out.Whinmoor was next Moor up from Seacroft Moor where Brian pit?saecroft colliery was, and Cookridge is adjacent Rawdon and Horsforth whose old mines still show surface remains......

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

The Parksider wrote: Just to add to the long since defunct Idea Moortown Colliery on King Lane was Leeds northernmost coal mine I have.....1. Whinmoor Coal Mine - referred to in "Foundry Mill" when quoting what the Manor of seacroft consisted of in 1603 when James 1st transferred the land to a new owner.2. Cookridge Coal Mine - Referred to in Don Coles wonderful histories, appearing as a record in the local magistrates dealings when the owner of the said mine was fined for not filling it back in after it was worked out.Whinmoor was next Moor up from Seacroft Moor where Brian pit?saecroft colliery was, and Cookridge is adjacent Rawdon and Horsforth whose old mines still show surface remains...... Any idea of a more precise location for Whinmoor pit - new one on me.The land there is boulder clay giving out to limestone the further north you go, so would this one be on the edge of the field?

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

chameleon wrote: The Parksider wrote: Just to add to the long since defunct Idea Moortown Colliery on King Lane was Leeds northernmost coal mine I have.....1. Whinmoor Coal Mine - referred to in "Foundry Mill" when quoting what the Manor of seacroft consisted of in 1603 when James 1st transferred the land to a new owner. Any idea of a more precise location for Whinmoor pit - new one on me.The land there is boulder clay giving out to limestone the further north you go, so would this one be on the edge of the field? Seacroft Moor/Manston provided adequate enough seams for deep mining and as you say those seams should peter out as they head north.Heading north takes you onto "Winn Moor" and I suspect that that particular moor may have stretched from seacroft moor - possibly Barwick Road being the boundary, north and over York Road and on to the coal road (what does your maps say).Whilst I have no maps for the 1600's and possibly they would not feature coal pits anyway, all I can conclude is the Winn Moor pit can only have been towards seacroft moor/Manston on the southern edges of the Winn Moor, such that it would only have been a short distance from very viable pits.Possibly winning some coal on whin moor gave the miners enough info to make the next dig southwards rather than northwards!!!As for the Cookridge pit I suspect that was on the high ground near crag hill and a continuation of thin seams from Rawdon and Horsforth. I collected some coal bits from a Rawdon pit site and could not get them to burn, so poor quality stuff up here.....

richardc1983
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Post by richardc1983 »

Anyone aware of any deaths/accidents at brown moor colliery site.Thorpe Park business park is now built here but we are getting ghostly goings on... blinds parting as if someone is looking out from the inside.Lights coming on in areas no one is sat (sensor operated) sound of doors closing.This happens during the night when only a couple of people are working.Is it possible there could be hauntings?

electricaldave
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Post by electricaldave »

There was a planning application submitted for Haigh Wood Crescent recently that mentions coal mine workings, which may well mean that Cookridge pit was somehwere in the vicinity.There was a quarry behind the shop on Haigh Wood Road but its very overgrown, used to play on it a lot as a kid.Having a pit in the area would have made a lot of sense given that its very near to Horsforth station.It could have only have been a very small concern though.http://plandocs.leeds.gov.uk/WAM/doc/De ... ageCount=4

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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

Not a coal mine but this does relate to coal in Leeds.When construction work was going on in 1984 for a new laboratory block at the Blood Transfusion Centre in the grounds of Seacroft Hospital a few thin coal layers were exposed. At only around a couple of centimetres thick (say an inch) they could hardly be called seams but they did show that coal was still present in the area.
A rainbow is a ribbon that Nature puts on when she washes her hair.

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

electricaldave wrote: There was a planning application submitted for Haigh Wood Crescent recently that mentions coal mine workings, which may well mean that Cookridge pit was somehwere in the vicinity.There was a quarry behind the shop on Haigh Wood Road but its very overgrown, used to play on it a lot as a kid.Having a pit in the area would have made a lot of sense given that its very near to Horsforth station.It could have only have been a very small concern though.http://plandocs.leeds.gov.uk/WAM/doc/De ... ageCount=4 Thanks for that Dave, very welcome and very interesting.The Cookridge pit (pits who knows) date back to the days of local people simply digging their own "bell pits" where you dig down into a seam and then dig outwards until it's at risk of collapsing, then start again close by. None appear in Cookridge in the 1850 OS although several appear in Rawdon and Horsforth particularly Lee Lane and west end.It is hard to know what the extent of the bell pits were location wise, and I suspect the coal board records don't go far enough back to pinpint exact locations for the bell pits. Therefore they are probably saying that wherever the underlying seam was reachable from the surface by bell pit, there could be a bell pit there.So I would suspect that from Rawdon, through Horsforth west and north and across moseley beck into cookridge all development plans may have this warning.Thank you again.

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