Saturday presented a very British problem: an actual summer’s day, filled with sunshine and calling for hats, lotion and shade. Friends Chair Steve, and Director Glen were on site ‘early doors’, accompanied by volunteer and ecologist Antony who was conducting a survey of the wildlife in the pit’s boundaries.
Summer’s here and the weather is…very British.
When the clouds signally fail to roll by, and the heavens descend, it can certainly put a dampener on plans and postpone progress on site. Being chased indoors by the elements may prevent the pit gates from opening, but it also gives the Friends chance to delve deeper into the history of the site; open days become research and volunteer days. So, on to writing up research, raising awareness of the group’s activities and generally carrying on regardless!
Saturday 25th June marked the 2nd Birthday of the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery – that is two full, colourful, fun, eventful and challenging years since the Friends first took over the pit, and started the long and steady process of salvaging, clearing, conserving and researching the history of Hemingfield Colliery, from its earliest days in the 1840s, through the end of coal winding in May 1920, and into its life as a pumping station. Surviving Nationalisation in 1947 and Privatisation in 1994, its two shafts, winding engine house and Cornish engine house overlooking a purpose-built canal basin are a unique survival. And in celebrating all that’s been achieved so far, the Friends, volunteers and supporters are looking forward to the year ahead to make further progress and continue the mission of saving the site, and sharing its stories with the local community.
The Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership are preparing to launch a new community engagement project, “Archaeology and Geology of the Dearne” which will offer opportunities to learn more about the setting, development and history of key heritage sites through the Dearne Valley.
Read more about the project on their website
http://discoverdearne.org.uk/projects/preserving-past-protecting-future-dearne/
Common Hawkweed is just one of the many beautiful wild flowers thriving on the Hemingfield Colliery site this June
Elsecar Heritage Railway steam loco Birkenhead shuttling up and down the line, with Hemingfield village across the fields in the background.
The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery returned to the pit on Saturday at the start of a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend. The sun was shining and it was a great day to be outdoors.
Site Director Glen and Friends’ Chair Steve were on site early ready for work, trimming back the lush grass which has shot up over the past couple of weeks. They were joined by Peak volunteers John, Eric and Chris, with regular volunteer Chris arriving later in the morning.
Hemingfield Colliery in its glorious setting. A lovely photo by Chris Jones.
Saturday 14th May was a particularly bright and sunny Spring day at Hemingfield Colliery. Other than the chirping and twittering of happy birds, and the whisper of a light breeze gently swaying the lilac trees on Pit Row, the morning was quiet. As the working day wore on, the rural peacefulness would be lightly broken by the occasional phut phut, hiss and whistle, as steam trains slowly chuntered past on the Elsecar Heritage Railway line below.
Beautiful bright sunshine smiled down on the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery as the crew arrived to open up our Victorian colliery site, and continue the work of unraveling a little more of its past with a spot of industrial archaeology.
Meanwhile, down the road in Elsecar, Barnsley CAMRA and Elsecar Heritage Railway were holding a Beer Festival, which means even more steam engines passing by beneath the Friends as they set about their work. Fantastic!
ELR Steam engine Birkenhead on the first of many Footplate Experience and passenger trips on Saturday
A team of local volunteer researchers have revealed a higher death toll for 1866 Oaks Colliery Disaster, than previously thought.
Read about the work of the Oaks memorial group, supported by the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership.
http://discoverdearne.org.uk/research-reveals-higher-death-toll-1866-oaks-colliery-disaster/
Steam engine Birkenhead passing beneath Hemingfield Colliery
There’s nothing more inspiring than arriving at Hemingfield to find a steam engine on the move and already at work. The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery are lucky to have the Elsecar Heritage Railway right by our site, on a branch line first laid in 1850 as part of the the South Yorkshire Coal Railway (enabled by the 1847 South Yorkshire Doncaster and Goole Railway Act). Built to serve Elsecar’s collieries and ironworks, the line transformed the market for Earl Fitzwilliam’s coal, opening lucrative markets beyond the reach of the Dearne and Dove canal. Barnsley and silkstone seam coals were soon on their way down the Great Northern Railway to London coal merchants at the Kings Cross coal depot.
Friends of Hemingfield Colliery 