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Post by John on Sept 9, 2006 18:16:18 GMT -5
Personally I wouldn't, especially coal or stratified ironstone.
I have seen sites devoted to mine exploration by so called "experts". All admit they have never worked in mining, so how they can call themselves "experts" beats me.
After having many hours of training and re training for working underground, I'm still not an expert, but having well over twenty years experience, I know what I'm looking for.
ie blackdamp, poor roof conditions, where not to poke my nose!
One company I worked for had a full on site rescue team made up of members of all four shifts. These men trained with the best equipment the company could get and would go up to the nearest mines rescue station, which I thing was in County Durham, for training under the full time squads.
They also had permission to enter and do training in the old Boulby ironstone mine, very close to our mine. In fact, both shafts of Boulby Potash Mine dissect the old Boulby iron mine roadways.
BUT, having seen blackdamp put out a Deputies oil lamp, theres no way I'd poke my nose into old coal mines or ironstone mines..
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Post by dazbt2 on Sept 10, 2006 6:15:26 GMT -5
Can you read my mind? I have just started writing, this very morning about the 85 strike and finding access to old mines in order to get a bit of 'home coal,' I intended to add it onto the 'Unions and Strike' topic, but would fit this one better.
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Post by John on Sept 10, 2006 7:29:21 GMT -5
Just summat that struck me when I was surfing the net one day Daz..
I've sen photos of some miners in the 1926 strike getting coal from shallow seams in Yorkshire.
I wonder, now you've brought that side of it up, how many blokes actually went out and mind coal for themselves during the "big strike"?? I know there are a couple of pubs in north Nottingham that have cellars in coal seams and their right to mine coal goes back to a Henry 8th decree. But as to shallow seams anywhere else in the Nottingham area I'm not real sure of. Most of the seams there are pretty deep.
I'm sure one of the pubs is the Admiral Rodney near Wollaton.
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Post by jimmarsh on Aug 15, 2007 16:56:59 GMT -5
Hi John,
In my hometown, Somercotes in Derbyshire, there is a pub called The Rifle Volunteer on Birchwood Lane. Any mines in that proximity had been closed for years when I lived there up until 1960, but the story went that years ago . . probably the early 20th century . . in the cellar of the Rifle Volunteer, you could hear the hammering of the men at work in nearby workings.
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Post by romanian1 on Nov 5, 2009 7:10:02 GMT -5
Personally I wouldn't, especially coal or stratified ironstone. I have seen sites devoted to mine exploration by so called "experts". All admit they have never worked in mining, so how they can call themselves "experts" beats me. I explore old mines most weekends and have seen several coalmines and i certainly wouldnt class myself as an expert and have never worked in mining. That said, in our party we have a gentleman who has written several books on the subject of coal and mining and worked in a lancashire pit for 30 years and a gentleman that trains the emergency services in confined spaces work. most safe mine exploration is common sense and myself and the group i explore with would never enter any of the places without the appropriate safety equipment. |
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Post by John on Nov 5, 2009 8:55:08 GMT -5
Personally I wouldn't, especially coal or stratified ironstone. I have seen sites devoted to mine exploration by so called "experts". All admit they have never worked in mining, so how they can call themselves "experts" beats me. I explore old mines most weekends and have seen several coalmines and i certainly wouldnt class myself as an expert and have never worked in mining. That said, in our party we have a gentleman who has written several books on the subject of coal and mining and worked in a lancashire pit for 30 years and a gentleman that trains the emergency services in confined spaces work. most safe mine exploration is common sense and myself and the group i explore with would never enter any of the places without the appropriate safety equipment. Your biggest hazards in old coal mines are blackdamp and methane. Blackdamp is the "gas" we were always wary of when carrying out inspections of pumps and equipment in way out places of pits. It's the silent killer. Myself and a pumper had to wait for a Deputy one evening to go and examine a couple of pumps up the tailgate, of a lonwall. It was a working retreating longwall, but to our left were the cut throughs to the last longwall. Outside was a storm, so low air pressure. So "gas" was bleeding out the old goaf. We never managed to get more than a few hundred yards inbye of that tailgate either, as well ventilated as it was, blackdamp chased us out. Blackdamp isn't really a gas, it's absence of oxygen, usually a mixture of Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide. In deeper mines, which I doubt you'd be able to explore, as they'd be long flooded, a third danger exists, risk of major roof falls due to lack of roadway maintenance. BUT, if I were to enter an old coal mine, I'd take a good quality multi gas tester that monitors oxygen levels continuously with audible warnings if the oxygen falls to a preset level, a good relightable flame safety lamp too as I trust them more than gas detectors, plus I was taught to use them. A couple of sticks of chalk would also be indispensible, to mark the walls to prevent getting lost!! Laughable, but it can and does happen. I once got lost in old workings doing my job!! Only good training, common sense and not panicking did I find my way back to some air doors! |
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Post by romanian1 on Nov 6, 2009 6:25:24 GMT -5
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Post by John on Nov 6, 2009 8:58:55 GMT -5
Looks like the remains of stone dust barriers in your second image, and the last one is a thickish seam, although judging by it's colour, pretty low quality. All hand worked too!
I like the bricked arched roadway in No3 photo!! Quality workmanship, probably dates to the mid 19th century.
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Post by dazbt on Nov 6, 2009 22:39:40 GMT -5
Fantastic photographs, don't stop sending em. I realise it wouldn't be wise to publish the exact location but could some identification or detail be added to the pics.
The shallow arched brick lined roadway seems very unusual, wouldn't be a canal entry of Mr Bridgewaters would it by chance?
I agree with the stone dust barriers comment but the coal in the last pic looks pretty good to me, I'm guessing the unsupported workings are quite old, even though the yellow ochreing and sulphur leaching (at a guess) shows through, the coal seems fairly bright .......... if I were pushed I'd guess at a Barnsley Bed Top Hards ............ but then again, wots a thick pit fitter know?
Superb photos, I reckon that we are priveleged to view em, thanks Romanian 1, don't stop.
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Post by romanian1 on Nov 7, 2009 8:06:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the positive reply Daz, i'll happily keep posting pics as i enjoy sharing the things we're lucky enough to see, thats one of the reasons i do what i do, to document a historical part of our industry which i slowly being lost. Obviously as you say at this point i'll have to be very wary about naming exact locations due to the nature of the potential dangers, also we post on other internet forums which are monitored by various governing bodies (ie the coal authority) and if we give exact locations next thing you know is the access points are sealed up for good and thats not what we want. The shallow arched brick lined roadway you see is a coal and fireclay drift somewhere in Lancashire and has no connection to either messrs bridgewater or brindley although i may have had dealings with the area you reference on other occasions.   Both the top pics are the same place and again are a driftmine in the lancashire area. The two bottom ones are different driftmines in yorkshire. I have to go out now but i'll put some more pictures up shortly when im back, in the meantime heres another quick one to whet your appetite  Fantastic photographs, don't stop sending em. I realise it wouldn't be wise to publish the exact location but could some identification or detail be added to the pics. The shallow arched brick lined roadway seems very unusual, wouldn't be a canal entry of Mr Bridgewaters would it by chance? I agree with the stone dust barriers comment but the coal in the last pic looks pretty good to me, I'm guessing the unsupported workings are quite old, even though the yellow ochreing and sulphur leaching (at a guess) shows through, the coal seems fairly bright .......... if I were pushed I'd guess at a Barnsley Bed Top Hards ............ but then again, wots a thick pit fitter know? Superb photos, I reckon that we are priveleged to view em, thanks Romanian 1, don't stop. |
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Post by John on Nov 8, 2009 10:40:49 GMT -5
Fantastic photographs, don't stop sending em. I realise it wouldn't be wise to publish the exact location but could some identification or detail be added to the pics. The shallow arched brick lined roadway seems very unusual, wouldn't be a canal entry of Mr Bridgewaters would it by chance? I agree with the stone dust barriers comment but the coal in the last pic looks pretty good to me, I'm guessing the unsupported workings are quite old, even though the yellow ochreing and sulphur leaching (at a guess) shows through, the coal seems fairly bright .......... if I were pushed I'd guess at a Barnsley Bed Top Hards ............ but then again, wots a thick pit fitter know? Superb photos, I reckon that we are priveleged to view em, thanks Romanian 1, don't stop. There's mention of the canals inDr AR Griffin's books, they date back to the 70's and he states many of them now are in a dangerous state and are inaccessible Daz. |
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