Apedale Colliery Discussion

Alex

Alex

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At Apedale the drifts go through the seams until it gets lower down where it is in the seam for an extended amount of time. A level is a level tunnel that can either be in the seam or through various seams.

I don't think I ever seen the word 'adit' associated with a coal mine.

I think alot of it is just local names for things, if you look at the old OS maps, Slope and Slant only seem to appear in South Wales.


Mod Note: Moved from this thread because I was going a bit off topic.

Coal Mine Types

I've been looking at coal mines in South Wales recently, and am somewhat confused by the nouns used to describe sites. The following 6 seem to be in common usage - I was aware that a drift is an incline into a hillside. I presume level is horizontal into a hillside. I could look these up, but...
buddlepit.co.uk buddlepit.co.uk
 
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Alex said:
At Apedale the drifts go through the seams until it gets lower down where it is in the seam for an extended amount of time. A level is a level tunnel that can either be in the seam or through various seams.

I don't think I ever seen the word 'adit' associated with a coal mine.

I think alot of it is just local names for things, if you look at the old OS maps, Slope and Slant only seem to appear in South Wales.
Click to expand...
Some drifts go down in seam, some don't.
At Apedale the drifts went down 'against' the seams, then turned 180 and the dips went down in the seams.
As you say very local terminology!
 
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Les Riley said:
Some drifts go down in seam, some don't.
At Apedale the drifts went down 'against' the seams, then turned 180 and the dips went down in the seams.
As you say very local terminology!
Click to expand...

Drifts 5 and 6 went back on themselves. 1,2,3 and 4 run in the same direction the coal is dipping but at around 45 degrees to the seam, lower down 3 and 4 turn to the right and run along the seam which is where the NCB longwall workings are. 7s just goes in the completley opposite way through the seams down to the Chalkey.

apedaleagain.png

Apolgies for the poor quality screenshot.

If your interested Les, one of volunteers has uploaded a bunch of plans from the 80s/90s. I can send you the link.
 
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Alex said:
Drifts 5 and 6 went back on themselves. 1,2,3 and 4 run in the same direction the coal is dipping but at around 45 degrees to the seam, lower down 3 and 4 turn to the right and run along the seam which is where the NCB longwall workings are. 7s just goes in the completley opposite way through the seams down to the Chalkey.

View attachment 284

Apolgies for the poor quality screenshot.

If your interested Les, one of volunteers has uploaded a bunch of plans from the 80s/90s. I can send you the link.
Click to expand...
Not seen that one before. Looking at it, suggests that problem in 3s about 20yrs back, was due to the "June 72" workings off 2s which I make to be about 150ft below 3s. At the time there was talk of it being due to an "old 3s" under 3s. An old 3s didnt sound very likly to me at the time and this seems to confirm my doubts, unless Les knows different?
Im still amazed though at the amount of ground that was "swallowed"!
 
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Mr. C said:
Not seen that one before. Looking at it, suggests that problem in 3s about 20yrs back, was due to the "June 72" workings off 2s which I make to be about 150ft below 3s. At the time there was talk of it being due to an "old 3s" under 3s. An old 3s didnt sound very likly to me at the time and this seems to confirm my doubts, unless Les knows different?
Im still amazed though at the amount of ground that was "swallowed"!
Click to expand...

There is Workings in the Peacock underneath (5m or so) both 3s and 4s Drift. These are what came in and there is talk of reopening it to visitors if it every comes in again. For reference the shaft is next to the garden clubs shed.

It's a bit of a strange desicion to undermine your own drift.

apedalepeacock.jpg
 
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Alex said:
There is Workings in the Peacock underneath (5m or so) both 3s and 4s Drift. These are what came in and there is talk of reopening it to visitors if it every comes in again. For reference the shaft is next to the garden clubs shed.

View attachment 285
Click to expand...
Now that makes more sense!!
I've not seen that one before, it would explain where all that ground went. Looks like it really was sliding down the old drift after all.
BTW it was under the top of 4s that entry was first regained to 7s. We got fed up with filling the hole in that kept appearing under the rings on the left as you go down.
 
Mr. C said:
Now that makes more sense!!
I've not seen that one before, it would explain where all that ground went. Looks like it really was sliding down the old drift after all.
BTW it was under the top of 4s that entry was first regained to 7s. We got fed up with filling the hole in that kept appearing under the rings on the left as you go down.
Click to expand...

How long were you at Apedale? All the exciting stuff like reopening 7s was before my time. Not a massive amount happening at the moment either as the water levels have blocked off ventilation to the Spencroft.
 
Alex said:
Drifts 5 and 6 went back on themselves. 1,2,3 and 4 run in the same direction the coal is dipping but at around 45 degrees to the seam, lower down 3 and 4 turn to the right and run along the seam which is where the NCB longwall workings are. 7s just goes in the completley opposite way through the seams down to the Chalkey.

View attachment 284

Apolgies for the poor quality screenshot.

If your interested Les, one of volunteers has uploaded a bunch of plans from the 80s/90s. I can send you the link.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I would be interested. I have never seen any plans of the place before.
 
Alex said:
How long were you at Apedale? All the exciting stuff like reopening 7s was before my time. Not a massive amount happening at the moment either as the water levels have blocked off ventilation to the Spencroft.
Click to expand...
I was there for the first 5 years after it closed as a pit. It was me & mate Lionel who removed the stopping from by the Bassey landing in 4's & also started that dip from the middle of the Bassey Mine crut, Also heavily involved in 3's recovery & was asked back in 2011 to help demolish the concrete stopping on 7s.
I've still got some stuff on loan to the museum, which as far as I know was never put on display. One of these days I must come & see about getting one item back, as it's of sentimental value. Last time I was there was in late 2016 but just before my last visit, my dad was taken very ill & I was for too busy for "hobbies" for quite some time after.
 
Might be worth looking at some local mining terms. The late Paul Deakin compiled this short glossary as attachment for his Apedale-reports. He usually refers to No 'x' pit like on the mine plans, British Coal's shaft register to footrails. Drift and pillar in Staffordshire was a system similar room and pillar for working the coal seams. The term 'drift' might be the wrong term for the mine entries at Apedale although technically they would be called drifts in other parts of the world. Just to make things worse some of the footrails were also referred to as (surface) cruts in older reports (like No. 7) as they were driven across the measure.Glossary PRD.jpg
 
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Thanks for making the plans available. Paul told me that he used most of the old plans for the modern composite plan. He hasn't changed any of the mining terms. The glossary is part of a report he did in 1992 on No 7 pit.
 
When McCreadys had the place they poached Paul from Wardell Armstrong to work for them. Mainly as the surveyor for the mine.
It was him who suggested to me that I work there. Mixed blessing.....

Thanks for the link Alex.
 
Screenshot_20240124_174238_Gallery.jpg

Any ideas why no 6 has a random bit of 1 in 1.5 in the middle of it? Was it because of geology or did someone cock up the digging.
 
There was a short area of very hard ground with water pouring in. They had to drive through it with air-leg hammer drills and strong explosive.
I think they dipped down to get through it as quick as possible. It made for a funny kink in the roadway vertically.
It was done by deputy Pat Kiely and collier Billy Smith.
 
Thanks for the information Les, do you know if it was over enough distance to affect the haulage? Perhaps needing a roller on the roof for the rope.
 
Not as bad as that (that I remember) but it was a bit of a roller coaster for that short distance.
There was always spilt coal on the floor through that bit where the tubs suddenly changed gradient.
 
I wouldnt be supprised if that wasnt where my Uncle Roys brother John, swore blind that Roy tried to kill him! He described it as so near verticlal, that he had to have his hands on the roof to stop himself from falling. It would make sense, as I recall Roy being deputy on 5s Peacock.
It was Uncle Johns first and only trip down a pit.
 
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