Day Hole Miggy Colliery
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Hi Parksider. The picture is of Dayhole END, in other words the end of the valley/railway near the dayhole. The actual dayhole was situated west/left of the picture, slightly higher up. When I saw it in the 1960s/70s it was already partly filled with rubble, but the entrance arch, lined with white glazed brick and carrying an inscription, could still be made out. The drift led downwards from it at a fairly steep gradient, and appeared to have two narrow gauge parallel tracks in it, presumably worked as a balanced incline from an engine house of which there was no remaining sign.
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jim wrote: Hi Parksider. The picture is of Dayhole END, in other words the end of the valley/railway near the dayhole. The actual dayhole was situated west/left of the picture, slightly higher up. When I saw it in the 1960s/70s it was already partly filled with rubble, but the entrance arch, lined with white glazed brick and carrying an inscription, could still be made out. The drift led downwards from it at a fairly steep gradient, and appeared to have two narrow gauge parallel tracks in it, presumably worked as a balanced incline from an engine house of which there was no remaining sign. Cheers Jim....I did not want to seem dumb by suggesting the rails entered what could be construed as the day hole mouth, happily you rescused me from my embarrassment.....BUT I'm prepared to risk a dumb question.... Why is there a dead end bit of track running back to the day hole area......Yuu can se this clearly on OS maps.
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Hi Parksider. I'm not sure I understand your query - it's a little ambiguous. Looking at the various OS sheets brought up by googling "old-maps" and entering coordinates 430700, 429000., I find I am on very shaky ground myself!The 1921 1:2500 sheet shows the dayhole I refer to, somewhat north of the "end" site, but with the narrow gauge rails running north from the dayhole and then swinging east to an overhead loading area. There are buildings to answer my search for winding equipment for the drift, and the inscription "Day Hole End" is placed here on the map, rather than up the headshunt at Conyers Spring, the area of the photograph leading to this set of questions. The remains of the dayhole area can be seen as a depression in the ground, still labelled D.H.E. on the 1953 map.BUT - there is absolutely no sign of this dayhole in the 1908 map, and the D.H.E. title is given to the headshunt! There is also a reverse siding leading round in nearly a semi-circle and heading back south to the foot of a small reservoir dam nearer to the woods. If this is the siding you enquire about, I would suggest without evidence, that the siding was probably involved with the construction of this reservoir. If your question refers to the headshunt itself, rail operations at most collieries were usually designed round a set of parallel loops with a headshunt, allowing easy shunting from both ends of the system. Often this allowed locomotive working without passing under loading devices etc.
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jim wrote: Hi Parksider. I'm not sure I understand your query - it's a little ambiguous. Sorry Jim, it was basically, if the line was running towards a drift that was run in, then why? But you answered that and provided more to boot. Thanks as always.I was going to see if I had another question. I have the Miggy Railway history and the archeological survey of the mines so I thought I'd have a look at them and see if any other question crops up. But as usual the darn things are nowhere to be found......
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Hi Parksider. In a roundabout way I was suggesting that at one time there MAY have been a dayhole at the valley end at Conyers Spring - the "movable" title, the appearance of the glazed brick lined dayhole with the early 20th century date by the map date and inscription etc. lead to such a possibility.Then again, that could have been a re-opening of an earlier working, and mapping of industrial sites was a bit hit or miss in the past. Hence my reference to "shaky ground".Mysteries like this must be why this is called "Secret Leeds"!
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GentsIf you take a very close look at the First Series OS 1:10,560 sheet (dated 1854) you will see why Middleton Broom Colliery headshunt was known as the Day Hole EndSee old-maps or here:http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapshe ... 33&y=337At the junction of the mineral railway where there appears to be either a small industrial complex or building called "Day Hole End" which I estimate must be approximately 400 - 500 m south of Middleton Broom CollieryBy the time of the 1894 1:2500 OS sheet the area is wooded but still known as the Day Hole End It appears that the Day Hole pit was sunk sometime in the first decades of the 19th Century as it appears in the company's accounts from 1816. If you refer back to the 1854 OS sheet you will note the line of the outcrop of the Middleton 40 Yards Coal is shown crossing the mineral line. The Day Hole pit was sunk as an adit at a gradient of 1:40 to intersect the Middleton Main and Middleton Little Coals and connected to the Gosforth Pit and acted as the principal means of ventilating the Gosforth workings. I would hazard a guess that the drift dipped to the north to intersect the underlaying Middleton Main and provide a haulage route to the existing railway infrastructure of Middleton Colliery. The Middleton Main and Little were the main economic interest at this time. The Middleton Main (known further east as the West Yorkshire Silkstone and still being worked at Kellingley) was worked as a good house coal and the lower part was highly regarded as gas coal. The Middleton Little though thinner was very highly regarded for its bands of hard steam coals. The afore mentioned Middleton 40 Yard coal was little regarded at the time due to its high sulphur content (damaging to boiler plant) but I think it time it was worked from Middletin Broom
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Hi Grumpytramp. Thanks for your clear interpretation of the 1854 OS map - I couldn't make head or tail of it as it appears on my computer screen, and now the light shines forth!Do you think it likely, in view of the construction of the wagonway, in 1758, that perhaps your estimate of "the first decades of the 19th century" might stand pushing back to the mid-18th century? There must have been some considerable mining activity in the area to warrant the outlay in wagonway construction, and, in this case, an Act of Parliament. I would also think that the drift dipped south, the ground falls away to the north from this area at close to 1-in-40, and an above ground dayhole would be something of a novelty. The later dayhole runs south.
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jim wrote: 1. Hi Grumpytramp. Thanks for your clear interpretation of the 1854 OS map - I couldn't make head or tail of it as it appears on my computer screen, and now the light shines forth!2. Do you think it likely, in view of the construction of the wagonway, in 1758, that perhaps your estimate of "the first decades of the 19th century" might stand pushing back to the mid-18th century? There must have been some considerable mining activity in the area to warrant the outlay in wagonway construction, and, in this case, an Act of Parliament. 1. He's good isn't he!2. I'm not sure what you mean here (dumb mode again). Miggy pits and waggonways abounded even before 1758, I am really gonna see if I can find that archeological survey today!!!