The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC) are pleased to announce that their application to become members of NAMHO – the National Association of Mining History Organisations has been successful.
Mining History
28th November 2015 – Open Day and Working Party
With the festive season fast approaching, it was guaranteed to be a suitably wintry end to November, and so it proved to be as Site Director Glen opened the gates to another open day and volunteer working party at Hemingfield Colliery.
Joined by regular volunteers John, Chris and Phil, the team picked up where the last active working party left off – by continuing the logging of the felled trees, and generally tidying the site.
Thanks to a recent grant from South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation, the Friends and volunteers are now well-equipped with the tools to tackle these tasks.
Open Day and working party – Saturday 31st October 2015
Autumn comes to Wath Road
After a week of miserably wet weather, Saturday arrived with bright sunshine and spookily unseasonal warmth, as Site Director Glen unlocked the pit gates ready for our last Open day in October. Just after ten o’clock a keen group of volunteers arrived on site ready for what would be a busy day of clearing the west end of the colliery, an area hidden by silver birch trees which sprang up over the last 20 years as the pit site was neglected and became overgrown. We certainly like a challenge!
Working Party Weekend 3rd and 4th October 2015
Headgear in autumn sun
Autumn had arrived at Hemingfield Colliery and the rustling silver birch leaves were glistening golden-ochre as regular Friends and volunteers Alan, John, Phil, Chris, Nigel, Amanda and Site Director Glen met at the start of another working weekend.
Working Party Weekend 19th-20th September 2015
Cornish Engine House (c.1843) and concrete headgear (c.1934), viewed from Pit Row on Wath Road
This weekend was a quieter one on site; a time for reflection and planning. On Saturday site manager Glen and volunteer Chris met and discussed further insights from the wonderful Beedan Collection. The Friends are arranging the papers and hope to share highlights from the material over the coming months. On Sunday the Friends Directors discussed current plans and worked on proposals to secure an economically viable future for the site.
Working Party weekend 5th-6th September 2015
Lighting up the past – Bright sunshine on the pumping engine house.
As reported elsewhere, the weekend of the 5th-6th September 2015 was the occasion of ‘Elsecar by the Sea’ – a celebration of all things Elsecar and a chance for the Friends to get out and about and meet local people and visitors to raise awareness of the site; however the work on site must go on, and a working party gathered on Saturday to continue the clearance activity.
150th Anniversary of the Oaks Colliery Disaster
Oaks Colliery Disaster 1866-2016
Thanks go to the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership the following logo is available to users free for non-commercial use in materials relating to the disaster.
December 2016 will mark 150 years since the Oaks Disaster in which over 360 miners died.
Working Party Weekend, 8th-9th August 2015
Summertime in South Yorkshire
Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day in Hemingfield, and the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery were delighted to welcome a group of extra volunteers on site to get stuck in to tidying things up, but also continuing the gentle archaeology of the site – peeling back the top layer of soil and roots to reveal some of the former colliery’s features beneath.
Working Party Weekend 25th-26th July
Digging deeper
The Friends assembled for another working party weekend, bringing tools, talent and talk of recent research, together with a hint of excitement at the prospect of uncovering more features of the industrial archaeology of the site. Site Manager Glen, and Chair of the Friends Steve opened the gates to welcome volunteers Alan, John, Keith and Phil to the pit for what would be a fascinating day.
Working Party Weekend – 11th-12th July 2015
Summertime had certainly arrived in Hemingfield, with the village Gala taking place at the Ellis Church of England Primary School, over the canal, across the valley from the colliery at the top of Tingle Bridge Lane. Friends Director and Site Manager Glen opened the pit gates and put out the signing-in sheets ready for what would be a bright and busy, somewhat muggy, but memorable day.
Friends of Hemingfield Colliery 