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  #1  
Old 07-02-2012, 04:53 AM
rickt rickt is offline
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Default Broomhill Colliery

Broomhill Colliery seems to be mentioned a lot , thought I'd upload an old photo . Not one of mine but a capture from a few years ago .I remember going into the old manor house over 20 years ago with an 2 piece video camera and recording unit just before it was pulled done to make way for the new housing development .

Last edited by rickt; 27-11-2017 at 09:18 PM.
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  #2  
Old 07-02-2012, 10:06 AM
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Default Broomhill Colliery

Nice picture. I have no recollection of the pit unfortunately. I guess that is a view looking NW. You could go down that shaft and walk to Hauxley or Bondicarr underground. If I recall the Ellington colliery maps correctly Hauxley workings extended to just off the pier ends at Amble. Imagine - a mile and a half more and they could have reached the eastward workings of Shillbottle colliery, then you would have been able to walk to Shilbottle!
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Old 07-02-2012, 02:13 PM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Broomhill colliery.

There was no connection between Broomhill shaft and Hauxley. All of Broomhill workings to the N E were from surface drifts namely East Togston,Dawsons and Coldrife, the coal from these was transported overland to the colliery on tubways. There was a connection, in the early 1920's, from East Togston to Newburgh but that was before Hauxley came into being.
The last seam worked at Hauxley was the Brockwell, this was through the Hauxley fault to the North of the colliery and extended as far as Coquet Island to the East, just past the pier ends to the North and as far West as just past the filling station out side Amble. This seam was worked for 10 years before the closure of the pit in November 1966. There was a considerable difference in depths between Hauxley and Shilbottle, Hauxley being just under 500 feet while the Shilbottle shafts were sunk to a depth of 1000.
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Old 07-02-2012, 03:52 PM
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Quote:
There was no connection between Broomhill shaft and Hauxley. All of Broomhill workings to the N E were from surface drifts namely East Togston,Dawsons and Coldrife, the coal from these was transported overland to the colliery on tubways.

Didn't know that. Assumed there would be a connection back to the shafts for ventilation/2nd means of egress. So they worked like a series of separate unconnected mines around a drift eastwards.
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Old 07-02-2012, 06:56 PM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Broomhill colliery.

We are beginning to wander from this site, this should possibly be on the Broomhill site. If you want to move it over I can give you more info ref. the layout of the colliery which would perhaps fit in better there.
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  #6  
Old 14-02-2012, 07:00 PM
rovert98 rovert98 is offline
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Talking

Just found the site today and immediately signed on. I was born and bred in Deputys' Row next to the colliery yard. My father was back overman at Broomhill Colliery until it closed, then he was supply overman at Hauxley and Whiittle. I never went down the pit, I went to sea instead.
Amble is Amble, Broomhill is Broomhill, different
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Old 15-02-2012, 01:01 AM
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Just found the site today and immediately signed on. I was born and bred in Deputys' Row next to the colliery yard. My father was back overman at Broomhill Colliery until it closed, then he was supply overman at Hauxley and Whiittle. I never went down the pit, I went to sea instead.
Amble is Amble, Broomhill is Broomhill, different

Welcome to the forum rovert98, the pit was, I bet, the most influential industry by a long chalk on our area. It's nice to have family connections to it.
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Old 03-03-2012, 08:20 PM
williamtheyounger williamtheyounger is offline
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Default Broomhill colliery.

My dad worked at Broomhill colliery and he drove the haulage engine at Coldrife Drift where he hooked the line of tubs up to the wire rope which stretched from Coldrife Drift to the colliery at Broomhill. As a family we used to visit him at his work, watching him drive the engine. I used to be sent to pick up his wages at the colliery on a Friday, which came in a small brown paper envelope. Many times was called out in the early hours of the night to go to work to assist to clear the snow from the rolleyway which stretched accross a few fields, before getting to Broomhill. When the pit closed he was sent to Whittle from where he retired.
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Old 13-01-2013, 07:04 PM
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Default Broomhill Colliery

My first job was at the Broomhill Colliery. Born and raised in Six Cottages, now gone and rebuilt as semis and bungalows. Six Cottages ran down the south wall of the Co-op store. My family were allocated a new 3 bedroom semi council house at Hadston in 1954. In 1955 I got a job at the colliery but had to travel to Ashington Mines Training School for six weeks. I was then assigned to a underground gang who were responsible for guiding airflow underground. Sometimes I got into old workings, perhaps closed for thirty or more years after air was found escaping into them. Some of the colourful sights I saw will remain with me though it wasn't always safe. Following that I had spells in the Prince seam, going underground at Moorhouse near Radcliffe, going down quite a number of steps to reach the level the seam was on. I used to think of it as 'The Stairway to Heaven' at the end of my shift. I was working there the day Man. Utd had the aircrash in Munich. A sad day. I worked at various jobs underground - conveyor belt heads, with ponies leading roof supports to the coal face, landings where you handled all coal out and empty tubs in at the end of a hauler run. Tubs were changed from one line to another and were the lifeblood of the underground world. Without tubs to fill miners couldn't earn money. Not a lifetime career for me though. I saw so many men with fingers missing, eyes out, skin covered in the blue scars of coal getting into cuts and leg injuries. I decided that I would be healthier in the forces and so it has been, despite everything. 1959 and out.
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Old 14-01-2013, 10:57 AM
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Hi Derilda, welcome to the forum. Does this mine plan ring a bell? can you remember why there was there a dog-leg at the bottom of the Moorhouse drift?

Image from the Alan J. collection.

I've inked out everything but the deep mine workings, there's some opencast shown which just overlaps the old workings from the south. The blue circles are Radcliffe shafts.

The years are marked 1950 - 1959, surface contour of the coal in feet referenced from ordnance datum is shown - numbers like 9850 (= 150 feet below sea level), even the coal seam composition is shown such as C 19" B 1" C 18" (19" of coal, 1" band, 18" coal)
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File Type: jpg prince_seam_moorhouse_surface_drift_amble.jpg (112.1 KB, 114 views)
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Old 14-01-2013, 11:45 AM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Moor House drift.

As I was never down there I would guess that the dogleg was where the drift bottom met the end of the haulage road from the East Togston drift. The squared area would possibly be the loader where the tubs were filledfrom the conveyor which came from the faces.You'll notice tha last faces are 1959, that was when the North side of Broomhill finished, the South side went on until 1961.
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Old 14-01-2013, 12:04 PM
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Any idea where the roadways to the west going deeper, 1 in 36 (dated 1950) end up Alan ? - those must connect with another seam but can't find them on the other plans. They head back to the East Togston drift incline near where it cuts the Acklington Dyke.
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Old 14-01-2013, 02:20 PM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Roadways to West.

Due to the incline and length I would guess at them bisecting other seams on the way down which would be then worked and the coal brought up to the East Togston engine plane to come to the surface that way. I don't know the seams in descending order at Broomhill.
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Old 14-01-2013, 03:53 PM
Derilda Derilda is offline
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Default Re Moorehouse Drift

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coquet View Post
Any idea where the roadways to the west going deeper, 1 in 36 (dated 1950) end up Alan ? - those must connect with another seam but can't find them on the other plans. They head back to the East Togston drift incline near where it cuts the Acklington Dyke.
Remember that Moorhouse was the entry to both the Prince and Albert seams. If my memories are correct the Prince landing was almost at the bottom of the drift steps, turning left. The Albert was a little further in then turned right through old workings then fell away. Prince had one active coalface and Albert, I think, had two. The only miners who didn't use Moorhouse to enter/exit thier work were two timber laddies, one worked in Prince , the other in Albert. They entered via Coldrife Drift with thier ponies (Gallowa's) because the stables were on the surface on the east side of the colliery. As I mentioned yesterday I worked with ponies for a while and went to work that way, via Coldrife. I never did like following the full set up the gradient to the surface as it wasn't unknown for a hauler rope to snap.
Other ponies worked in both North and South sides with stables underground. They only came to the surface for the pit holiday fortnight, or if they were unwell.
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Old 14-01-2013, 04:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Derilda View Post
Remember that Moorhouse was the entry to both the Prince and Albert seams. If my memories are correct the Prince landing was almost at the bottom of the drift steps, turning left. The Albert was a little further in then turned right through old workings then fell away. Prince had one active coalface and Albert, I think, had two. The only miners who didn't use Moorhouse to enter/exit thier work were two timber laddies, one worked in Prince , the other in Albert. They entered via Coldrife Drift with thier ponies (Gallowa's) because the stables were on the surface on the east side of the colliery. As I mentioned yesterday I worked with ponies for a while and went to work that way, via Coldrife. I never did like following the full set up the gradient to the surface as it wasn't unknown for a hauler rope to snap.
Other ponies worked in both North and South sides with stables underground. They only came to the surface for the pit holiday fortnight, or if they were unwell.


I've got it now. This seam illustrated above, the 'Prince', has the NCB letter G1. the Albert is G2 ( next deeper). On the G2 plan there are loads of workings in the area of that 1 in 36 roadway to the lower seam (your right turn off the East Togston arterial) those Albert seam faces were being worked 1944 - 1951.
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Old 14-01-2013, 04:57 PM
Derilda Derilda is offline
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Default Re Albert seam-Broomhill colliery

Maybe they were 'stealing' coal but the Albert was still drawing coal when I left in 1959.(Unlikely that they were doing anything untoward as there were surveyors putting in detailed plans. When the colliery was privately owned there were some illegal draws from unmapped coal faces and old roadways)
Albert was a reasonably wet workplace. If the water didn't drip onto your neck you were already standing in a couple of inches!! Prince was dry but both seams were good quality coal but not economical to work,with seams below 24 inches each. New mechanical loaders were being introduced but were too large for any seam at Broomhill, and probably Hauxley too.
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Old 14-01-2013, 08:54 PM
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I am of a later generation and find all this fascinating, a lost history from only 50 or so years ago. This forum is becoming a very valuable resource to record the rich heritage of this area.
As an aside, I was able to have a few hours on a "Marion" in 1982 deep down in the hole just west of the Moorhouse drift. It was very interesting to see a 100 metres of coal seam exposed with rubble from above filling the old mine workings. It was striking how little coal had actually been extracted by the underground mining. Pit props and metal etc were very evident, as was a circular metal shaft further west past Hope House farm.
Wish I had taken more pics now!!
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Old 15-01-2013, 11:23 AM
janwhin janwhin is offline
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For you mining enthusiasts, here's a Broomhill Colliery teaser. The attached photo is of my uncle, at Dawsons Drift Broomhill. It would have been taken early to mid 1930s as he had left the pit before the war.
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File Type: jpg JAck Whinham, Dawsons Drift, Broomhill, 1930s.jpg (45.2 KB, 91 views)
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  #19  
Old 17-01-2013, 05:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hollydog View Post
I am of a later generation and find all this fascinating, a lost history from only 50 or so years ago. This forum is becoming a very valuable resource to record the rich heritage of this area.
As an aside, I was able to have a few hours on a "Marion" in 1982 deep down in the hole just west of the Moorhouse drift. It was very interesting to see a 100 metres of coal seam exposed with rubble from above filling the old mine workings. It was striking how little coal had actually been extracted by the underground mining. Pit props and metal etc were very evident, as was a circular metal shaft further west past Hope House farm.
Wish I had taken more pics now!!

Sounds very interesting. I feel the site operators should be obliged to record a representative selection of what the opencast uncovers for posterity. Just photographs would be better than nothing.

Quote:
Pit props and metal etc were very evident, as was a circular metal shaft further west past Hope House farm.

Could have been a staple shaft. That's a shaft wholly underground between two working levels. We had one at Ellington that had a spiral staircase in it, Although its primary function was storage. That is it had large hydraulically operated metal doors at the bottom that allowed the shaft to be closed and filled from the top with coal (more correctly 'run of mine') during stoppages on the conveyor system.
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Old 17-01-2013, 05:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by janwhin View Post
For you mining enthusiasts, here's a Broomhill Colliery teaser. The attached photo is of my uncle, at Dawsons Drift Broomhill. It would have been taken early to mid 1930s as he had left the pit before the war.

Nice photo.
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