Coal Mining in East Leeds

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wiggy
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Post by wiggy »

jf wrote: Somewhere at work we have maps of the mines in east Leeds, from the Coal Authority records. I remember seeing Osmondthorpe colliery marked, though detail wasn't great as they were photocopied plans.The pit at Gipton was served by a tramway, with coal transported via the Leeds tram network, rather than via the heavy rail system. This was quite an unusual arrangement. Some of the alignment of the colliery line is still visible on Google Earth, I have a photo of a map of the layout somewhere. yes i was looking at the line on google earth last night,it is now what we called the 'long ginnel'and looking on google earth,i am sure i can see sidings.on the sites i mentioned earlier, i see there was osmondthorpe 'A' and osmondthorpe'B'(both owned by hird,dawson and hardy) aswell as white horse,seacroft,neville hill,beckett street,rock(stoney rock)killingbeck,manston and manston lodge.the list is endless,with owners and dates.take alook-its called' list of coal mines uk 1880.'
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AUSSIEPOM
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Post by AUSSIEPOM »

I was interested to read about the slag hills behind the Shaftesbury cinema at the junction of Harehills Lane and York road. In 1939 we used to live at 428 York Road not far from the Shaftesbury Pub and Cinema. About 20 later I lived in Nowell terrace before I came to Australia in 1960. Whilst living in the Nowells I had a small Sheltie dog and I often used to walk her over this slag hills toward York Road. I know many changes have happened over the years including the closure of the cinema but I would be interested to hear if the old slag heaps have been cleared away or are they still there Mike in Australia
mIKE

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

AUSSIEPOM wrote: I was interested to read about the slag hills behind the Shaftesbury cinema at the junction of Harehills Lane and York road. In 1939 we used to live at 428 York Road not far from the Shaftesbury Pub and Cinema. About 20 later I lived in Nowell terrace before I came to Australia in 1960. Whilst living in the Nowells I had a small Sheltie dog and I often used to walk her over this slag hills toward York Road. I know many changes have happened over the years including the closure of the cinema but I would be interested to hear if the old slag heaps have been cleared away or are they still there Mike in Australia after all this time away, I think you'll love this site Mike, especially the older threads going back over a year. Things certainly have changed but there will be alot here to stir memories for you.The Shaftsbury is shown above. Down-load Google Earth and you will be able to look at all your old locations.
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The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Hector wrote: I am researching the history of coal mining in East Leeds, I have come across the usual ones but does anyone have any info on the more obscure ones. Well we have a few threads on coal mining in Leeds now and various views, maps and I've even started going and looking. The Godfrey maps are essential to be able to pick out most mining sites, there's the definitive 1880 lists and Chameleons old geology maps. Perhaps all our efforts could combine to produce something definitive?G.C. Dickinson writes the notes to the Godfrey maps and these are excellent and he seems VERY knowledgable - anyone know anything about him?Godfrey's map for the York Road mine shows it as "York Road Ironworks" and certainly coal mines are intertwined with iron and fireclay mining and processing. You can't mistake the large spoil heap on the map and of course it's still there.Interestingly there's a spoil heap marked on Torre Road which Dickinson says is a mine. He also says that a shaft was sunk in Harehills lane brickyard (the chimney is there and some waste land that may carry the shaft head) - so again what is marked as Brickworks may also have coal workings there too - this is the case at Blue Hill and othe other harehills Lane Brickworks down towards Roundhay road end where the mosque is now.As I said on another thread the spoil heaps of the West Yorkshire colliery are full of brick Clay!Obscure mines by definition would be bell pits and shallow workings - that's the thing about East Leeds - if you want coal just go outside and dig down!Once commercial works got going there's a better record of them.Don't forget halton Moor colliery whcih I think is pictured on Leodis.That's a fantastic record of what these sort of mines looked like - not always large winding houses with the big wheel!!!Anyway GOOD LUCK keep us informed and if you can list what you have I'm sure we can all suggest any gaps - plus names are hard to work out. I do for instance feel that what is known as Brian Pit is Seacroft Colliery and Park Pit is Harehills Colliery.

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Yes the 1880 list is a godsend!!!From it obcure mines for me are Potternewton and Moortown.Boy would I love to track these down.That day in local history library I've been meaning to have this las six years must come soon.If anyone has any idea though???

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

Very true - I remember as a child, digging a foot down in the back garden would reveal chunks of golden sandstone (Gran would keep some of these for scouring her door-step) yet in the front garden digging the same depth would start to bring up smalllumps of hard, shining, black lumps of coal. I think there must have been a shift in the ground there to account for such a difference.

Tel. 0532
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Post by Tel. 0532 »

BROWN MOOR COLLIERY/ WEST YORKSHIRE COLLIERY- AusthorpeI regularly walk my dog through the woods parallel to the Leeds-York railway line in Austhorpe, cutting up back up through the woods, past the Thorpe Park development & onto Barrowby Lane. Does any one have any details on the mining that went on around this area? I've looked at the old maps & I see 2 old pits as titled above.I'm particularly interested in the wooded & very undulating area just off Barrowby Lane where there seems to be a lot of 'brick coloured 'stone.I wondered also if someone could shed any light on the fact that a friend who lives near by calls this area 'the moon' or 'half moon'Also the uses for the now disused reservoir near to the railway line.Thanks, Graham

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Tel. 0532 wrote: BROWN MOOR COLLIERY/ WEST YORKSHIRE COLLIERY- AusthorpeI regularly walk my dog through the woods parallel to the Leeds-York railway line in Austhorpe, cutting up back up through the woods, past the Thorpe Park development & onto Barrowby Lane. Does any one have any details on the mining that went on around this area? I've looked at the old maps & I see 2 old pits as titled above.I'm particularly interested in the wooded & very undulating area just off Barrowby Lane where there seems to be a lot of 'brick coloured 'stone.I wondered also if someone could shed any light on the fact that a friend who lives near by calls this area 'the moon' or 'half moon'Also the uses for the now disused reservoir near to the railway line.Thanks, Graham The wooded area and undulating hills is the West Yorkshire colliery.Look at the 3 large stones and see the holes in the middle of two, mining machinery would be set onto these blocks for stability.Most Leeds mines were worked into Coal, Ironstone and fireclay seams and the spoil you see on the heaps is fireclay. It's red from the iron.Walk to the back of the site and you will see a double line of trees continue off towards the railway. Go over there and you will see a straight shallow embankment where a railway line once took away the coal and clay. Over to the right was Brown Moor colliery but I think it has gone due to industrial development. There was a Barrowby Pit, I don't have the exact location but someone on here definately does. Not much to see there though.In Hollyshaw Lane the Prince Arthur Pit is also there and its very much trees and undulations!!!

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liits
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Post by liits »

West Yorkshire Colliery / Brown Moor, a further question; I’m sure that this was mentioned in an earlier post, the wooded area [55’48’’ N - 1’25’’W] when viewed from ground level, is bounded by four earth embankments and forms a rectangle. I think it was referred to as a reservoir but is this what it was?With regard to the site of the colliery itself, when I was a kid, we rabbited around here a lot and if you went into the wooded area from Barrowby Lane via the path closest to the houses at Barrowby Crescent, within about ten yards, visible in the earth was the remains of a backfilled shaft. The level of the fill had obviously sunk over the years leaving the top six or so feet visible. It always frightened the hell out of me! I also notice on Google Earth, that some goon is using a big area of land for scrambling or motor bike doings. Often a precursor to things going from trashed to really ruined!    

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

liits wrote: West Yorkshire Colliery / Brown Moor, a further question; I’m sure that this was mentioned in an earlier post, the wooded area [55’48’’ N - 1’25’’W] when viewed from ground level, is bounded by four earth embankments and forms a rectangle. I think it was referred to as a reservoir but is this what it was?Visible in the earth was the remains of a backfilled shaft. The level of the fill had obviously sunk over the years leaving the top six or so feet visible. Second point first - I'd have been delighted to have located the shaft head!! Obviously the council eventually covered it all over. Of the hundred Leeds mines I doubt if we shall find the shaft head of any one!The old resevoir as it was called on the 1890's maps was not there in 1854 and it's hard not to associate it with the mines due to position and date.Looking on Google and my old maps I see it still has a bit of water in!! Brown Moor was the first colliery and it had a railway to it, West Yorkshires line branching off. On google you can see the curvature to main line - you can see the stump of the brown moor line cut off by Thorpe Park development which has obliterated Brown Moor colliery.I know that Miggy Colliery had "sludge beds" sort of settling ponds possibly for the washings. I dunno if the water was used for this, or indeed if it went somewhere else. Dunno if the mines pumped out into this resevoir.Chameleon maybe knows more about any likely connection between the mine processes and a large body of water?

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