Mining History

2nd Anniversary Open Day and celebration

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Happy Birthday to us!

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.

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Open Day and Working Party Weekend, 28th May 2016

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Elsecar Heritage Railway steam loco Birkenhead shuttling up and down the line, with Hemingfield village across the fields in the background.

Bank Holiday Weekend fun

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.

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New research reveals higher death toll for 1866 Oaks Colliery Disaster – Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership

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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/

Open Day and Working Party Weekend, 19th March 2016

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Bird’s-eye view: Hemingfield Colliery [Photo credit: James Marshall]

Springing into action

The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery and volunteers assembled on site at Hemingfield on Saturday,  on the cusp of the vernal equinox, marking the official start of Spring. The morning was grey, with no sun shining through, though the cold edge to the air was soon seen off as the crew got to grips with the working party tasks.  Continue reading →

Open Day and Working Party, 20th February 2016

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Site Clearance and Teamwork

The Friends and volunteers arrived on site early on Saturday, hopeful of getting a few hours of work done before the impending doom of the forecast rainclouds. In the event, however,  the weather held out long enough to make significant progress and the friends were joined by some very welcome visitors with stories to share.

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Open Day and Working Party, 6th February 2016

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Falling Skies

The Friends and their doubty volunteers looked skywards this past weekend as the heavens opened and the water descended. There was every likelihood that the weather would indeed stop play. However, our volunteers are most definitely made of sterner stuff, and donning waterproofs and not a modicum of plucky determination, they set forth to Hemingfield, to get stuck in to another day of site clearance activity. Continue reading →

Open Day and Working Party, Saturday 23rd January 2016

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THE FIRST WORKING PARTY OF THE NEW YEAR!

A grey, but mild, Saturday morning saw Friends Chair Steve catch the attention of an inquisitive, passing dog walker, as he opened up the heavy steel gates to the Hemingfield Colliery site in readiness for another productive working day. Steve duly treated the gentleman and his four-legged friend to an impromptu tour of the site and an explanation of the archaeological and reclamation work underway.

The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery warmly welcome visitors and are always happy to showcase and explain their work to interested guests and to share their exciting plans and aspirations for the future of the site.

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Out-bye 2015: the last shift

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Nunnery Colliery 1897
Nunnery Colliery 1897
Hewers leaving work 1896
Hewers leaving work 1896
Trammer 1896
Trammer 1896

Year’s end

The year ended quietly at Hemingfield; with strangely mild temperatures but constant rain, bringing floods to the North. Our final open day in December was, unfortunately, rained off, but the Friends continued with their current research projects, and set to planning events and identifying new opportunities to pursue in the new year. Elsewhere bigger events dominated the news… Continue reading →