deepest shaft in british coalfields

[andyexplorer]

John i've just been on one of the (Expert ) websites as you call them
they are all arguing as to which was the deepest coal mine in britain there have been upto a dozen nominations i have my own views but you lot worked the pits in this country so i would like you to tell me your ideas

here are a few to play with
sutton manor 2000 ft
mosley common 3,000 ft
clockface 4,000 ft
parsonage 4,000 ft
wolstanton no2 3,200 ft
wolstanton no 3 3,750 ft
hem heath 3,400 ft
bold no1 @ 3 3,000 ft
pendleton 3,600 ft

some of these will be working depths the original question was deepest shaft ever sunk in the british coal field
Thanks andy

[John]

All records point to the Clock Face Colliery in Lancashire at 1400metres.

Looking around there were dozens of shafts 1000M plus deep, most are in the Lancashire coalfield. Even the Kent pits were over 950 metres deep.
Maltby Colliery is deep too.

Best place to end that argument is the Guinness Book Of Records. That will give past records and present records.

[John]

Parsonage workings reached 4000 feet in depth and is listed as the deepest colliery workings, not shafts.

The Lancs coal seams dipped south westwards.

[Wheldale]

Deepest pit or deepest shaft? I believe Bickershaw had the deepest workings at 1300m. Deepest shaft, North Selby war 1040m I believe.

[Wheldale]

The aditnow site quotes wolstanton at 1046 and hem heath at 1062m depth.

[John]

The deepest "single drop" shaft in the world is....Western Area Gold Mining Co's SA at 2991.4M!!!!! Wonder how long it takes to ride that shaft??

[Wheldale]

When I worked at West Drie in 98 they had a shaft or was in the process of sinking a single drop shaft to 3400m. Mind you the price of gold hit the floor so maybe it was stopped. I will try and find out.

[John]

That was from an article six years old and mentions the shaft is to be deepened.

I found a PDF format file on coal gasification, it lists Clock Face shafts as the deepest coal shafts ever sunk in the UK. www.ncl.ac.uk/energy/assets/documents/coalclassification.pdf

[philford734]

I worked in Lancashire in the 1960s &70s I started at Bold training Bold No 1 & No3 shafts wound to the Rushy Park seam ar 1,000 yds deep. the shaft went a bit deeper to the Arley Mine
seam then the sump. Arley was never worked. I worked for a time at Sutton Manor, the shaft was just over 600yds deep down to the Wigan series of seams. While I was there Sutton Manor conected through to Clockface. The shaft at Clock was roughly the same depth as Manor 600yds. The road way through was just about level in the Wigan 5ft Seam. When the connection was made we came out in a roadway full of supplies loaded on wagons. We where not allowed to use any of this material even pipes to extend our water range. The board decided not to reopen the rest of Clock so we seald off the connection.
The depth given for Clocks shafts as being over a thousand yards is wrong. The workings may well have gone very deep, the coal that they where working at the end of the pit was to the west and dipping at 1 in 5

[Wheldale]

On the aditnow site it has a similar thread that says the Clockface depth is wrong. More like 600 or so yards.

[John]

I'll keep a copy of Phils post for when I do Clockface Collieries history, I'm still gathering information, I must start organizing it all, you wouldn't believe the paperwork I have on UK collieries that I have gleaned from many sources over the last two years!!

[Wheldale]

have you got much info on Wheldale Colliery?

[John]

Jun 16, 2011 13:10:16 GMT -5 Wheldale said:

have you got much info on Wheldale Colliery?

I don't think so, been concentrating on Notts and Derbyshire pits, and in the process have gathered info on other collieries mostly by sheer luck.
I'll take a look later, but busy mowing my fields at the moment and my lunchtime is over....Back to work..

[Wheldale]

There is a shaft at Driefontein gold mine in SA that is 3500m deep in a single drop. Deepest in the world.

[Sam from Kent]

Kent:

Tilmanstone 3033'
Snowdown 3003'
Betteshanger 2100'

[John]

Jun 16, 2011 13:19:02 GMT -5 Wheldale said:

There is a shaft at Driefontein gold mine in SA that is 3500m deep in a single drop. Deepest in the world.

That one I think, lifts ore and men up in two lifts, ie the weight of the ropes make it uneconomic to cover the whole shaft, so they have a second skip on lighter ropes slung under the main skip. Ore handling is done from shaft bottom weighing flask to a loading point at mid level, then loaded onto the main skip when the lower one goes to shaft bottom, one the next wind the top one is discharged at surface while mid one discharges at mid level.

Sounds an odd system, but overcomes the tremendous rope weights that would be encountered with full shaft winding ropes, which would weigh hundreds of tons.

I believe the winding is done by the "Blair winding method" too, dual ropes with a balance wheel on top of the skips.

Men ride to midshaft, get off at the landing stage, then wait for the bottom skip to complete their ride down the shaft.

[John]

Here's one I cannot get my head around, system Blair multi rope winder with balance wheel on top of the skip.

The reason why smaller ropes and safety factors are allowed is because two ropes are used, and it's proven that if one rope fails, the other can take the load...

Hmmmmm interesting, BUT, if one rope fails how does the balance rope hold the skip? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Me finks, whoever wrote that had never seen the Blair system with balance wheel and rope..... ;D

If one rope fails, the balance rope will be pulled out by the weight of the skip and plunge to the bottom of the shaft, it's only job is to compensate for slightly differing winding rope lengths..

[merlin]

Jun 16, 2011 12:49:54 GMT -5 Wheldale said:

On the aditnow site it has a similar thread that says the Clockface depth is wrong. More like 600 or so yards.

llay main pit north wales were a 1000 yds

[John]

Jun 25, 2021 17:52:06 GMT -5 merlin said:

Jun 16, 2011 12:49:54 GMT -5 Wheldale said:

On the aditnow site it has a similar thread that says the Clockface depth is wrong. More like 600 or so yards.

llay main pit north wales were a 1000 yds

Cotgrave shafts were 586m and 531m, I don't think 1000yards was rare in the easterly portions of the English coalfields, I'd hazard a guess nearly all the Lancashire collieries around Manchester were all well over 1000 yards deep. Not sure without checking, but most of the Selby complex shafts would have been deeper than a thousand yards.
Although not in coal, the Woodsmith Mine when completed will be the deepest shafts in Europe.