History
The colliery began production in April 1965 and Employed about 2,000 men. Many of the miners relocated from Scotland to work at the colliery, having lost their jobs at Scottish pits that closed in the 1960s. In March 2004, the pit received £7.2 million from the Coal Investment Aid Scheme.
Kellingley’s two main shafts were each almost 870 yards (800 m) deep. One was used to move men and materials, and the second to move coal from the Beeston seam, at a rate of up to 900 tonnes an hour. Kellingley primarily supplied local power stations. It also produced some housecoal-quality coal: larger-sized coals of higher calorific value.
The Beeston seam was accessed after a £55 million investment programme undertaken by UK Coal. It was expected to extend the life of the colliery until at least 2015. Coal reserves accessible in the Silkstone seam were anticipated to extend its life to 2019.
Miners took part in the 1984 miner’s strike, although there was a higher number opposed to the strike at Kellingley than in most other pits in Yorkshire. A miner from Kellingley, Joe Green, was killed after being hit by a lorry on 15 June 1984. From January 1985 onwards, some miners returned to work, and the strike formally ended on 3 March 1985.
From March to June 2004, workers took sporadic strike action.
Kellingley Colliery closed on 18 December 2015, marking the end of deep mining in the United Kingdom. UK Coal had first proposed its extension by three years, alongside a similar extension to the life of Thoresby Colliery in Nottinghamshire, which closed in July 2015. But business minister, Matthew Hancock, argued that the £338m said to be required for this plan "does not represent value for money".
With closing Kellingley, the company laid off 450 miners. Energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, said all miners at Kellingway would receive from UK Coal "the same severance package as miners at Thoresby".
The shafts of the Colliery will be emptied of cables and ropes and then filled with a concrete block about 10 metres deep. Demolition then starts on the surface buildings and the site will be levelled out before ownership is transferred to Harworth Estates for future redevelopment.
On Saturday 19 December thousands of people turned out for a march in Yorkshire to commemorate the end of deep coal mining in the UK and, specifically, Kellingley's last shift the day before. Starting at Knottingley Town Hall the last miners, their families and many former miners marched to the Social Club.
The Explore
Explored here with Dweeb and Session9. In usual style for an epic explore a 3:00am rise; heading to North Yorkshire, picking up Session9 on the way, meeting with Dweeb at 7:00am outside the gates of Kellingley. This has been a prime location this year considering it closed in December 2015 and at the time of closure was the last deep coal mine in Britain. It was very easy to access due to the sheer size of the site; we knew that this would be a secure location so we went straight for the conveyors and tried to navigate whilst hidden out of site under the housing. My trademark binoculars came in very handy scooping out miles ahead before proceeding. We headed for the coal preparation plant first; loads of large heavy metal machinery lay ahead – definitely my favourite part. Many offices around this area were unbelievably eerie, many personal belongings lay about, clocks still ticked and several newspapers lay around dated 22nd December 2015. After making it to the top floor; we spotted the security teams patrolling around in vans and some on foot with dogs located behind the back of the winding towers. After regrouping and some consideration on how to push on through to the winding towers without getting clocked, we set off in an anti-clockwise direction around the site to avoid detection – It worked, and we made it inside. The winding tower was interesting and it led towards the shower block. Our attempts at the showers failed because we couldn’t get passed a sealed door padlocked tight from the other side and with security in such close proximity we declined any further attempts. We continued to be cautious around the winding tower as security where parked merely meters from us. We really wanted to climb to the top of the winding towers, but the staircase led outside making us very exposed. Just as we were about to leave Kellingley the security officers and dogs decided to start patrolling the perimeter; we held off for a few minutes and then decided to make a break for it.
Pictures
Thank you all for viewing all,
I hope you enjoyed
The Lone Shadow
The colliery began production in April 1965 and Employed about 2,000 men. Many of the miners relocated from Scotland to work at the colliery, having lost their jobs at Scottish pits that closed in the 1960s. In March 2004, the pit received £7.2 million from the Coal Investment Aid Scheme.
Kellingley’s two main shafts were each almost 870 yards (800 m) deep. One was used to move men and materials, and the second to move coal from the Beeston seam, at a rate of up to 900 tonnes an hour. Kellingley primarily supplied local power stations. It also produced some housecoal-quality coal: larger-sized coals of higher calorific value.
The Beeston seam was accessed after a £55 million investment programme undertaken by UK Coal. It was expected to extend the life of the colliery until at least 2015. Coal reserves accessible in the Silkstone seam were anticipated to extend its life to 2019.
Miners took part in the 1984 miner’s strike, although there was a higher number opposed to the strike at Kellingley than in most other pits in Yorkshire. A miner from Kellingley, Joe Green, was killed after being hit by a lorry on 15 June 1984. From January 1985 onwards, some miners returned to work, and the strike formally ended on 3 March 1985.
From March to June 2004, workers took sporadic strike action.
Kellingley Colliery closed on 18 December 2015, marking the end of deep mining in the United Kingdom. UK Coal had first proposed its extension by three years, alongside a similar extension to the life of Thoresby Colliery in Nottinghamshire, which closed in July 2015. But business minister, Matthew Hancock, argued that the £338m said to be required for this plan "does not represent value for money".
With closing Kellingley, the company laid off 450 miners. Energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, said all miners at Kellingway would receive from UK Coal "the same severance package as miners at Thoresby".
The shafts of the Colliery will be emptied of cables and ropes and then filled with a concrete block about 10 metres deep. Demolition then starts on the surface buildings and the site will be levelled out before ownership is transferred to Harworth Estates for future redevelopment.
On Saturday 19 December thousands of people turned out for a march in Yorkshire to commemorate the end of deep coal mining in the UK and, specifically, Kellingley's last shift the day before. Starting at Knottingley Town Hall the last miners, their families and many former miners marched to the Social Club.
The Explore
Explored here with Dweeb and Session9. In usual style for an epic explore a 3:00am rise; heading to North Yorkshire, picking up Session9 on the way, meeting with Dweeb at 7:00am outside the gates of Kellingley. This has been a prime location this year considering it closed in December 2015 and at the time of closure was the last deep coal mine in Britain. It was very easy to access due to the sheer size of the site; we knew that this would be a secure location so we went straight for the conveyors and tried to navigate whilst hidden out of site under the housing. My trademark binoculars came in very handy scooping out miles ahead before proceeding. We headed for the coal preparation plant first; loads of large heavy metal machinery lay ahead – definitely my favourite part. Many offices around this area were unbelievably eerie, many personal belongings lay about, clocks still ticked and several newspapers lay around dated 22nd December 2015. After making it to the top floor; we spotted the security teams patrolling around in vans and some on foot with dogs located behind the back of the winding towers. After regrouping and some consideration on how to push on through to the winding towers without getting clocked, we set off in an anti-clockwise direction around the site to avoid detection – It worked, and we made it inside. The winding tower was interesting and it led towards the shower block. Our attempts at the showers failed because we couldn’t get passed a sealed door padlocked tight from the other side and with security in such close proximity we declined any further attempts. We continued to be cautious around the winding tower as security where parked merely meters from us. We really wanted to climb to the top of the winding towers, but the staircase led outside making us very exposed. Just as we were about to leave Kellingley the security officers and dogs decided to start patrolling the perimeter; we held off for a few minutes and then decided to make a break for it.
Pictures
Thank you all for viewing all,
I hope you enjoyed
The Lone Shadow
