Welcome to Hemingfield – just visiting?
On Saturday the Friends were delighted to host a visit from a number of members of the Northern Mine Research Society. It was a pleasure to introduce visitors to Hemingfield and our colliery site; the two shafts, the 1840s pump and winding engine houses and later machinery and buildings.
Saturday was another bright day to open what would be a very busy working party weekend with Friends, volunteers and visitors in and around the site on both days. As usual Friends Glen (Director and Site manager) and Steve (Chair of the Friends) were the first to appear, opening up the colliery gates and preparing the plan of action for the first of two days of volunteer work as the site comes alive once more.
Hemingfield basin – with Hemingfield Colliery above
Springtime showers marked the beginning of the first working party in April, but they quickly cleared, and as bluer skies returned the Friends and volunteers got to grips with another weekend of site clearance.
Spring is in the air. In practice, that means ‘cloudy with some suggestions of sun’. After the solar eclipse this week, the changing seasons marked another significant weekend of progress on site at Hemingfield Colliery.
The Friends had a very busy time over the weekend of 21-22nd February, with volunteers hard at work on site in Hemingfield on both Saturday and Sunday.
Welcome to Hemingfield Colliery
Directors Steve and Glen were joined by a number of regular volunteers on what was another cold, but beautifully bright day on Saturday.
Read it online here:
OR download it here: 2015_01_Riddle_and_Pick
Our best thanks go to the Editor, Mo Tucker for doing a great job.
At the beginning of January 2015, The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery were delighted to be joined on site by contractors who completed the installation of 4 roller shutters and a security door.
Over the course of two days, the site’s historic buildings had their security enhanced with metal security shutters and doors. These installations were made possible through the generous support of the Northern Mine Research Society (NMRS), via their Project Grants scheme.
The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery offer their sincere thanks and gratitude to NMRS for this assistance which marks a great start to the new year for Hemingfield.
NMRS is dedicated to the preservation and recording of mining history. Through its Project Grants scheme the society seeks to advance the education of the public in, and encourage the study of, all historical and technical aspects of mining and associated subjects.
Securing the standing structures and controlling access to the site is crucial to ensuring the long-term preservation of the buildings. By helping to safeguard the unique features of this rare survival, NMRS are directly supporting the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery build a firm future for the whole site and the stories it holds.
Happy New Year from the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery, to volunteers, partners, our local neighbours and all interested followers of our progress near and far – here’s hoping 2015 is a busy and productive year for all of us!
Saturday and Sunday 24th-25th January saw the first official Working Party event of 2015, and we were pleased to welcome old friends and new to the site over the course of the weekend to get stuck in to more site clearance work.
The final working party of 2014 saw further progress with site clearance work as the Friends and volunteers got to grips clearing leaves and more of the vegetation that has built up around the site.
Photo credit: Steve Grudgings
A number of new visitors passed through the site over the weekend to visit and learn about the standing buildings from the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, and to get a sense of the history of the colliery from its origins in the 1840s through to the present day.
Visitors often share their own memories and experience – and we hope they will consider becoming volunteers themselves – whether getting stuck in to the digging, chopping, carrying, and brick reclamation, or by sharing their own professional skills and experience in helping the Friends take their plans for the site’s future a step closer to reality.
On Friday evening, the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery were privileged to be present at the unveiling of the restored Newcomen beam engine at Elsecar. The engine – a Scheduled Ancient Monument, No. SY1146, since June 1972 – is the only atmospheric engine in the world still in situ; still working in its original building and over the original mine shaft. Built in 1795 as the Dearne and Dove canal drew nearer, and the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam’s Elsecar collieries and industrial enterprises were being expanded, the engine has pumped billions of gallons of mine water during its working life – a run which officially ended in 1923 when electric pumps were installed by the the South Yorkshire Pumping Association – the same body that maintained the pumping stations at Hemingfield and over at Westfield in Rawmarsh.
Friends of Hemingfield Colliery 