Now I'm sure this place needs no introduction, but here's a brief history anyway...
In 1960 work began in order to sink two shafts, eventually reaching a depth of around 800m. The colliery began producing coal in 1965, employing around 2000 workers. The colliery closed on 18th December 2015, after failed proposals to extend its life. Using the various coal seams available to it, the colliery could've continued producing coal until 2019.
Following the closure the shafts were capped, and demolition work started. Over a year after closure me and @Lost Explorer thought we'd go and check it out after seeing the documentary on its closure recently. Going by the rate of demolition at Thoresby, I wasn't expecting quite so much of it to have gone yet.
The Explore
We approached from the rear, after initially being clocked by secca from a neighbouring site. She warned us of the dogs, and that we shouldn't go in, but could take photos from the canal side... yeah right
Initially the site seemed fairly quiet, so we headed for the nearest building that didn't look like it was going to fall down. This happened to be the coal prep/washing building. (I never knew they washed coal, but I do now)
So after cracking open a safety brew we got wandering around for a bit...
In this photo you can really see how much of the site has been demolished so far. In previous reports this area is filled with conveyors and intermediate buildings, now its bare.
After heading back down to the ground floor we needed to get across to the headstocks and bath house. We timed our cross in between a dumper travelling from each end of the site, but we didn't count on secca driving around on patrol. Not knowing if he spotted us we headed back into the building we'd come from... a minute or so later it was clear he had... "woof woof woof"
So after about 15 minutes of going from side to side upstairs, wondering what we were going to do, whether we try and hide and wait it out, our make our escape, we decided to just give up. They had the building almost surrounded, secca one side with dog, a few workmen approaching from the front, and as we'd later find out, police on the other side.
Fortunately secca and the police turned out to be alright, and after some questions and checking us out over the radio we got a VIP taxi back to the car. Thankfully I had my fake gopro rolling and managed to get a few stills of the outside of the coal prep building, which is nothing short of a H&S nightmare.
Thanks for looking!
In 1960 work began in order to sink two shafts, eventually reaching a depth of around 800m. The colliery began producing coal in 1965, employing around 2000 workers. The colliery closed on 18th December 2015, after failed proposals to extend its life. Using the various coal seams available to it, the colliery could've continued producing coal until 2019.
Following the closure the shafts were capped, and demolition work started. Over a year after closure me and @Lost Explorer thought we'd go and check it out after seeing the documentary on its closure recently. Going by the rate of demolition at Thoresby, I wasn't expecting quite so much of it to have gone yet.
The Explore
We approached from the rear, after initially being clocked by secca from a neighbouring site. She warned us of the dogs, and that we shouldn't go in, but could take photos from the canal side... yeah right
Initially the site seemed fairly quiet, so we headed for the nearest building that didn't look like it was going to fall down. This happened to be the coal prep/washing building. (I never knew they washed coal, but I do now)So after cracking open a safety brew we got wandering around for a bit...
In this photo you can really see how much of the site has been demolished so far. In previous reports this area is filled with conveyors and intermediate buildings, now its bare.
After heading back down to the ground floor we needed to get across to the headstocks and bath house. We timed our cross in between a dumper travelling from each end of the site, but we didn't count on secca driving around on patrol. Not knowing if he spotted us we headed back into the building we'd come from... a minute or so later it was clear he had... "woof woof woof"
So after about 15 minutes of going from side to side upstairs, wondering what we were going to do, whether we try and hide and wait it out, our make our escape, we decided to just give up. They had the building almost surrounded, secca one side with dog, a few workmen approaching from the front, and as we'd later find out, police on the other side.
Fortunately secca and the police turned out to be alright, and after some questions and checking us out over the radio we got a VIP taxi back to the car. Thankfully I had my fake gopro rolling and managed to get a few stills of the outside of the coal prep building, which is nothing short of a H&S nightmare.
Thanks for looking!
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