SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

A curiosity. My grandad used to tell a tale that an ancestor had been a colliery owner in Osmondthorpe, but that, following a death and a dispute over a will between three brothers, the business was lost.I once found a reference to a similar story in a book in Leeds library, but that related to the Fenton family, and I can find no Fenton's on our family tree. Perhaps a female ancestor of mine married one of the brothers.I'll keep looking.

I hope you find what you want Jonny. As a child in the early to mid 1950s the Osmondthorpe Colliery spoil heap was a regular playing area. There used to be some concrete bits on the top that provided a small spot to hide. I never knew what they were the remains of (if they were remains) but assumed they went deeper into the spoil heap. Watching steam trains on the railway line go by from the top was also great fun.

Where are you talking about? I used to know an elderly gentleman who was very much into East Leeds history - especially local mining history, and wrote regularly on the subject in local papers - including the YEP. He told me that the 'Black Hills' between Nowell Mount and York Road were spoil heaps from Osmondthorpe Colliery and that the spoil had been carried there by a pit railway that followed the alignment of the current footpath that (in several sections) goes from Skelton Road to Halton Moor Avenue. On the other hand, he said that the spoil heap behind Neville Place/Wykebeck Mount was put there as part of the construction of the railway and was spoil from the Richmond Hill Tunnel (now opened out into a deep cutting).

Hi York Road Lad.The spoil heap I am talking about was behind Rookwood Road bounded by the railway and that current footpath down to the railway bridge. I've always assumed that the spoil heap I played on was related to Osmondthorpe Colliery. Apologies therefore if the spoil heap had no connection to that.

Leodian wrote: Hi York Road Lad.The spoil heap I am talking about was behind Rookwood Road bounded by the railway and that current footpath down to the railway bridge. I've always assumed that the spoil heap I played on was related to Osmondthorpe Colliery. Apologies therefore if the spoil heap had no connection to that. I'm not saying it hasn't! But the local historian I referred to in my previous post (Ernest Cheetham) certainly reckoned that spoil heap (a continuation of the Neville Place spoil heap) was put there as part of the railway construction (early 1830's) and came from further down in Richmond Hill.

Leodian wrote: Hi York Road Lad.The spoil heap I am talking about was behind Rookwood Road bounded by the railway and that current footpath down to the railway bridge. I've always assumed that the spoil heap I played on was related to Osmondthorpe Colliery. Apologies therefore if the spoil heap had no connection to that. I'm not saying it hasn't! But the local historian I referred to in my previous post (Ernest Cheetham) certainly reckoned that spoil heap (a continuation of the Neville Place spoil heap) was put there as part of the railway construction (early 1830's) and came from further down in Richmond Hill.