1. The History
Ledston Luck Colliery was a coal mine between Castleford and Micklefield. The pit was sunk in the 1870's and later formed part of the super-pit of interlinked workings around Selby. The two winding Houses were built in 1911 and where among the first to use electric winders, at a time most other mines were still using steam. The pit was linked with the nearby Peckfield Colliery via rail, allowing the coal to be transferred to the main line for distribution. The 2ft 6in gauge line took coal for processing at Peckfield Colliery, using elderly Hudswell Clarke 0.6.0 engines.
A couple of archived external snaps. In the first one, winding house No.1 is to the left and No.2 to the right. The building inbetween has no been cobverted into offices:
Ledstone Luck 3 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And one from the moan road looking at the front of Winding House No.1:
Ledstone Luck 4 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston Luck miners were the last to return to work after the miner’s strike in 1984, a year to the day after the National Coal Board (NCB) announced plans to shed 20,000 more jobs in the next financial year. The pit would be closed less than two years in 1986.
A couple of old internals:
Ledstone Luck 2 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledstone Luck 5 by HughieDW, on Flickr
All that remains of Ledston Luck Colliery are the unique winding houses which are on the English Heritage list of scheduled ancient monuments.
2. The Explore
This was a nice relaxed explore in the October afternoon sun. There isn’t a lot left bar the two winding houses but given their rather lovely design, it is still a worthwhile explore. This place used to crop up quite a bit circa 2012/13 but less so more recently. Maybe it just dropped off people's radar or maybe it was sealed. The one closest to the road is pretty easy access but the other one took a bit more working out. Both have now had all the winding gear removed but there are still enough bits and bobs to make this a very enjoyable explore. There’s then the nearby Pitstop café in the former canteen building which does ace sausage, bacon and egg butties.
3. The Pictures
No.1 winding house first. Inexplicably I failed to take a picture of the front of the building with the really nice 1911 date stone. A couple of externals:
Ledston 11 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The first floor:
Ledston 08 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3431 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3430 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3435 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3425 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Then up to the second level:
img3423 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3422 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3416 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3421 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Then on to Winding House No.2:
Ledston 15 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 12 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3456 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3460 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3444 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3445 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston 13 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Recesses where the winding machines once where:
img3452 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3449 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3448 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3446 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ledston Luck Colliery was a coal mine between Castleford and Micklefield. The pit was sunk in the 1870's and later formed part of the super-pit of interlinked workings around Selby. The two winding Houses were built in 1911 and where among the first to use electric winders, at a time most other mines were still using steam. The pit was linked with the nearby Peckfield Colliery via rail, allowing the coal to be transferred to the main line for distribution. The 2ft 6in gauge line took coal for processing at Peckfield Colliery, using elderly Hudswell Clarke 0.6.0 engines.
A couple of archived external snaps. In the first one, winding house No.1 is to the left and No.2 to the right. The building inbetween has no been cobverted into offices:
And one from the moan road looking at the front of Winding House No.1:
Ledston Luck miners were the last to return to work after the miner’s strike in 1984, a year to the day after the National Coal Board (NCB) announced plans to shed 20,000 more jobs in the next financial year. The pit would be closed less than two years in 1986.
A couple of old internals:
All that remains of Ledston Luck Colliery are the unique winding houses which are on the English Heritage list of scheduled ancient monuments.
2. The Explore
This was a nice relaxed explore in the October afternoon sun. There isn’t a lot left bar the two winding houses but given their rather lovely design, it is still a worthwhile explore. This place used to crop up quite a bit circa 2012/13 but less so more recently. Maybe it just dropped off people's radar or maybe it was sealed. The one closest to the road is pretty easy access but the other one took a bit more working out. Both have now had all the winding gear removed but there are still enough bits and bobs to make this a very enjoyable explore. There’s then the nearby Pitstop café in the former canteen building which does ace sausage, bacon and egg butties.
3. The Pictures
No.1 winding house first. Inexplicably I failed to take a picture of the front of the building with the really nice 1911 date stone. A couple of externals:
The first floor:
Then up to the second level:
Then on to Winding House No.2:
Recesses where the winding machines once where:
:
