Earlier this year it was announced Harworth Colliery in North Nottinghamshire would probably not reopen.
Mothballed since 2006, owners UK Coal had stated they were exploring the viability of restarting mining here, but in April hopes were reported as dashed, and for now the pit remains on care and maintenance.
Shafts were sunk towards the Barnsley Seam in the 1920s, and its high quality coal was in demand by the rail industry until the 1960s (coal from here was used to fuel the Mallard's steam train speed record in 1938) and mainly for power thereafter. The current concrete headgears (above) were constructed in 1989 and 1996.
Here is a photo of the last train leaving Harworth colliery in 2006 (courtesy signalboxes.com)
This is the view from possibly the above signal light in 2014:
A little further down the line, looking toward the headgears:
One noticeable feature in the village is a long square tube which runs away from the colliery and over a hill. This houses a conveyor belt which was presumably used to transport slag away from the pit. It's readily enterable and made for an interesting afternoon's explore.
The belt is within the structure on the left:
This is where the belt emptied onto the slag heap:
Finally, a 6 second montage of walking through the shaft.
[video=youtube_share;575pBmkYqKc]http://youtu.be/575pBmkYqKc[/video]
Mothballed since 2006, owners UK Coal had stated they were exploring the viability of restarting mining here, but in April hopes were reported as dashed, and for now the pit remains on care and maintenance.
Shafts were sunk towards the Barnsley Seam in the 1920s, and its high quality coal was in demand by the rail industry until the 1960s (coal from here was used to fuel the Mallard's steam train speed record in 1938) and mainly for power thereafter. The current concrete headgears (above) were constructed in 1989 and 1996.
Here is a photo of the last train leaving Harworth colliery in 2006 (courtesy signalboxes.com)
This is the view from possibly the above signal light in 2014:
A little further down the line, looking toward the headgears:
One noticeable feature in the village is a long square tube which runs away from the colliery and over a hill. This houses a conveyor belt which was presumably used to transport slag away from the pit. It's readily enterable and made for an interesting afternoon's explore.
The belt is within the structure on the left:
This is where the belt emptied onto the slag heap:
Finally, a 6 second montage of walking through the shaft.
[video=youtube_share;575pBmkYqKc]http://youtu.be/575pBmkYqKc[/video]
