After a long, long time with no exploring this was the first stop on a gentle mooch round Kent. It was only when I was half way round here I realised that I'd only recently seen a set of pics from 28DL.
A bit from Wikipedia : Work commenced in 1908, and coal was first brought to the surface on November 19, 1912. The first shaft sunk hit water at 260 feet (79 m) and 22 men were drowned. The colliery was served by the Faversham to Dover railway, and a halt(Snowdown and Nonington) was provided. In 1945 the workforce was 1,876, with 1,523 being employed sub-surface and 353 above. The colliery closed in 1986 and the shafts were capped in 1988.
From Underground Kent : Snowdown has the privilege of being Kent’s deepest shaft at well over 3000 feet (some 915m). At these depths, the geological heat starts to become very noticeable and Snowdown earned the nickname of “Dante’s Inferno†with many miners suffering from heat stroke.
Some pics of the colliery when it was running are on http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/snowdown_colliery.htm
There are a few remains of what was presumably quite a large railway yard
And the old Engine Shed
Most of the buildings are well sealed at ground level though some industrious use of coal heaps and other stuff provides some access
The old admin building is accessible and there are a couple of old safes
and some old paperwork
There are at least 3 markers for the old shafts. This is for the deep one
A bit from Wikipedia : Work commenced in 1908, and coal was first brought to the surface on November 19, 1912. The first shaft sunk hit water at 260 feet (79 m) and 22 men were drowned. The colliery was served by the Faversham to Dover railway, and a halt(Snowdown and Nonington) was provided. In 1945 the workforce was 1,876, with 1,523 being employed sub-surface and 353 above. The colliery closed in 1986 and the shafts were capped in 1988.
From Underground Kent : Snowdown has the privilege of being Kent’s deepest shaft at well over 3000 feet (some 915m). At these depths, the geological heat starts to become very noticeable and Snowdown earned the nickname of “Dante’s Inferno†with many miners suffering from heat stroke.
Some pics of the colliery when it was running are on http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/snowdown_colliery.htm
There are a few remains of what was presumably quite a large railway yard
And the old Engine Shed
Most of the buildings are well sealed at ground level though some industrious use of coal heaps and other stuff provides some access
The old admin building is accessible and there are a couple of old safes
and some old paperwork
There are at least 3 markers for the old shafts. This is for the deep one
