Hauxley Colliery pumping station.

[Alan J.]

I notice this has recently been removed. I never found out why it was necessary to pump all those years. Since pumping stopped there does not seem to have been any adverse affect on the surface.

[Coquet]

I'm not sure why they pumped it for so long either. Perhaps there was an agricultural user with a borehole nearby and they were obliged to prevent salt contamination of the water table? That would be a bit extravagant though, probably be cheaper to pay his mains water bill!

[Northern Light]

Hauxley pumps were used to pump the water out of the workings to keep the opencast sites dry. I don't think they have pumped anything since Togston site finished in 1985.

[hollydog]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

Hauxley pumps were used to pump the water out of the workings to keep the opencast sites dry. I don't think they have pumped anything since Togston site finished in 1985.

I can remember water gushing into the sea from the beach outlet long after 1985 upto at least 2008.Someone out there will have the answer to why the pumping continued.

[hollydog]

I have spoken to an engineer directly involved. The pump was originally put in as Northern Light stated, to keep the opencast dry. It was sunk just behind the pit shaft down to the roadways below. Initially, when the pump was fitted, the water did not go down and my engineer friend looked into it and pointed out that actually about 110 million gallons were down there! as it was drawing water from not just Radcliffe but Togston, Broomhill and across beyond Red Row. They therefore had to install a much larger pump. I presume that when the opencast finished at Maidens Hall a couple of years ago UK Coal decided it was no longer necessary.
Hope his sheds some light on the subject, and makes sense, considering the earlier threads on inter-connection between the various pits.

[Alan J.]

I too can remember pumping at least within the last 3 to 4 years and was also once told the reason for pumping was to keep the water down in the opencast workings. I wonder whether the whole exercise was effective or not. My reasoning is that the depth of the Hauxley shaft was 500 feet and the Brockwell, the seam which generated most of the water, was another 200feet below shaft bottom level. This would , I imagine, to be far below that which the opencast could reach, also it is hard to think that the workings as far away as Maidenshall, about 5 miles or more would be threatened. Coquet, your reference to salt water contamination suggests the Hauxley water was sea water. It was pure fresh water which was prefered by the ponies for drinking as opposed to that on offer at the stables. If it had been salt water we would have had much to worry about.

[duddy1984]

I have noticed that since they stopped pumping water out at hauxley the road on approach to amble from radcliffe at the conways farm is dipping dramaticaly.it was fixed a while back but is just about back to what it was.

[hollydog]

Originally Posted by duddy1984

I have noticed that since they stopped pumping water out at hauxley the road on approach to amble from radcliffe at the conways farm is dipping dramaticaly.it was fixed a while back but is just about back to what it was.

There was a drilling rig there last time it was fixed, would be interested to know what they found.

[Alan J.]

As has been mentioned in a previous post this may or may not be attributed to Radcliffe workings, Hauxley not to blame. I have also noticed this subsidence which has become more pronounced this last few weeks. It would be interesting to see the results of the boring.

[Coquet]

They drill then pressure grout into these subsidence areas as well which might explain a drill rig. (If they did it didn't work!)