General

General blog posts and updates.

Flat out – volunteer work at Hemingfield

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Chasing the clouds away. The main headgear at Hemingfield Colliery

Sun shine after the rain

After a week of, well let’s say ‘changeable’ weather, the Friends and regular core volunteers were keen to recoup some of the time lost to site maintenance since March and the beginning of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this an extra Saturday when the weather looked set fair was seized on 11th July to continue the weeding, cleaning and tidying the site so that it is back in good order for what the future may bring as the world, or the UK at least, takes its first steps back towards a new normal.

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In sickness and in health…

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Local Authority

At the end of the Nineteenth and beginning of the Twentieth Century, Hemingfield came under the local governance of Wombwell Urban District Council. The body oversaw most local services and reported on the health and welfare of the population, numbering an estimated 17,764 souls.

Detail of area from Ordnance Survey Quarter inch, Second Edition, 1914
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From Pit to Pump: 100 years ago today, 15th May 1920

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View of Hemingfield Colliery in May 2020: the 2 concrete headgears over the old winding pit and the pumping pit and the 2 engine houses can be seen
View of Hemingfield Colliery, May 2020

100 years ago…

A hundred years ago today, on the 15th May 1920, the last corf load of coal was raised from Earl Fitzwilliam’s Hemingfield Colliery. It marked the end of an era for the pit, as silence fell, albeit temporarily, at the main winding shaft.

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Impact of COVID-19, Coronavirus Pandemic on currently planned FoHC events

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The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery

Given recent Government announcements and based on the advice of Public Health England on the extraordinary steps needed to achieve effective social distancing and shielding vulnerable groups, the Friends have decided it would be prudent to temporarily close the site to the general public and so cancel publically advertised open days for the immediate future.

This will be regularly reviewed in line with the latest guidance.

However all online actvities will continue, and even expand, with social media posts, Twitter facebook and website updates.

Please continue to get in touch to learn more about the site, its history, surviving built heritage and future plans.

Stay safe everyone!
The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery

Storm force from Hemingfield, or the Shipping Forecast.

/ The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC)

What with Storm Ciara (pronounced keera) threatening proceedings, and suggestions of Storm Dennis barely a week away, the Friends threw caution to the – admittedly light – wind on Saturday 8th February 2020, and ventured down to site for a surprisingly storm-free open day at Hemingfield Colliery.

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Bright, shiny and new, Saturday 18th January 2020

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Wath Road entrance to Hemingfield Colliery

2020! The first Open Day in the new year and what a beautoful day. Bright blue skies above, clear views all around, and a quickening coldness which suggested frost, but was soon chased away by getting to work as the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery and the regular volunteers returned to the pit for another year of activity, in a new decade of life for the colliery.

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