Mining History

Many Happy Returns! – Come and join us on our first birthday on Saturday 27th June

/ The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC) / Leave a comment
Photo credit: Christine Cameron

The sun always shines in Hemingfield

Saturday 27th June 2015 is a very special date – the first birthday of the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery.

To mark the day we will be opening the site as a Open Day, enabling visitors to learn more about our work and future plans for the site. The site will be open from 10am until 5pm, so come and see us at any time during the day.

  • Visit the pit yard, with its two shafts down to the Barnsley seam, and see the 1840s winding engine house.
  • Meet the Friends who helped to save the site and are working hard to secure its future.
  • Join our current volunteers and supporters in celebrating what we have learned so far, and reflecting on what the future has to hold.

Please share your memories, photographs and any questions with us.

On the day you’ll find a diverse range of experienced specialists and people passionate about the site, its history, machinery, working life and its people.

Continue reading →

Working Party Weekend 30th-31st May 2015

/ The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC) / Leave a comment

wpid-20150530_154337.jpg

The Friends returned to Hemingfield ready for another busy weekend of site clearance, material reclamation, and more than a dash of industrial archaeology. Discussions on everything from future developments, the history of the site and the physical structure of cast iron could be heard around the pit yard as the volunteers continued to get stuck into the work of bringing life back to the site.

Continue reading →

Working Party weekend 9th-10th May 2015

/ The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC) / Leave a comment

N.M.R.S. visit

Just visiting

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.

Continue reading →

Preserving the past, securing the future – thanks to the NMRS

/ The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC) / Leave a comment

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.

20150124_151430

 

DSCN0432

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.

20150124_151305

 

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.

 

20150124_151316

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.

20-21st December 2014. The clearance continues – new volunteers

/ The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery (FoHC) / Leave a comment

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.

Clearing the bottom end - 'the ramp' looking over at Pit Row

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.

Continue reading →