Harehills Colliery

[The Parksider]

Si wrote: I think you're right about the Brick Fields, Parksider. There were two in what is now New Wortley. As for Calverley Colliery. My guess is that it would have been in the woods behind the church. There are some shallow depressions in the ground down there. At the other end of the woods, it's all millstone grit. I'll have a look! We'll go for that until someone knows better!Spoil heaps esp. of shale are a good indicator of course. I read in a local history book that many were dug up and used for hardcore especially for local footpaths! So the remains of pits sometimes are a small "undulation" and sometimes not even that!

[The Parksider]

jf wrote: The Parksider wrote: Which is the five ways roundabout? How would the product get from the colliery light railway staithes onto the tramway system - would it have to be loaded across do you think?Plus are you suggesting Gipton Pit maybe referred to as Harehills?Which thread is you summary on?thanks again.... Hi Parksider,The thread was this one:http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... age=45This was more concerned with the Wortley end of things. I'd recommend having a look at the book - some of the other folks on here probably know the correct title/volume. I'm sure 'Gipton Pit' was the title given in the book.There's a brief reference to "Gipton Pit" here:http://www.leodis.org/display.aspx?reso ... 296023Five ways roundabout is here:http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.78838 ... src=gglThe line from the fireclay works came from the northwest (along the boundary line between the gardens of the houses, though I think they were built after the line closed) and crossed the tramway which from memory was running east-west through the middle of the junction, before heading south-east, bearing south, again along the boundary line between gardens, diagonally across the back of the cemetary, with a spur towards Busk Pit on Wortley Rec and the main part of the line continuing towards dragon bridge (again, along the line of gardens, look at the curve where the white cross is in the centre of this map: http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.78489 ... =0&src=ggl ), crossing the main railway at Dragon Bridge then running parallel to it towards the west.The line at the Gipton end (again from memory, not having a map) started at the colliery about here:http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.81535 ... src=msland ran westwards, along the line of the back garden boundaries of Amberton Road (follow the curve), then I think there is a track/footpath on the alignment:http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.81658 ... rc=mslThen ran behind the allotments and to the staithes by Harehills Lane. There are details of the connection to the tram system in the book, electric 'tippler cars' (a sort of self-propelled hopper wagon, mainly used for tramway maintenance) worked the line throughout.      Fabulous past thread - thanks.Very big thanks.The ariel shot of the houses above dragon Bridge really does give the tramway away as the garden borders all follow the line in some way - in fact did they leave parts of the trackbed alone?The old 1906 map shows the line curving in field 775 so when it was taken up and the field sold why not level the field and put the housing on top - any idea how the line manages to stay intact in the modern day setting of house boundaries? Or was the field sold in two lots either side of the line??? Strange phenomenon, but great to be able to trace history in this way!What do you think??

[Riponian]

Of those searching for the Moortown Colliery, on the BGS website there are a large number of boreholes on Falkland Rise on their mapping link. I guess that it's currently under the car park.

[chameleon]

Riponian wrote: Of those searching for the Moortown Colliery, on the BGS website there are a large number of boreholes on Falkland Rise on their mapping link. I guess that it's currently under the car park. Perhaps you could post a link to the map for us Riponian? The only ones i've seen on the site cost an arm and a leg and more these days!.A bore hole doesn't necessarily mean mining though I'm afraid - but wouls like to see none the less

[Riponian]

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/ and look for the Geomap link. It's a bit like Google Earth. Zoom in and select the boreholes.Okay so lots of boreholes won't necessarily mean a mine, but it seems likely as it's in the target area and hasn't had any building one it. It's a car park now.I compared the two with multimap and bingo!Go past it twice a day on the bus.

[chameleon]

Riponian wrote: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/ and look for the Geomap link. It's a bit like Google Earth. Zoom in and select the boreholes.Okay so lots of boreholes won't necessarily mean a mine, but it seems likely as it's in the target area and hasn't had any building one it. It's a car park now.I compared the two with multimap and bingo!Go past it twice a day on the bus. That's an interesting find - fairly new I think, not seen it before, thank you. Shame they don't have the historical shafts as well as boreholes though

[grumpytramp]

Riponian wrote: Of those searching for the Moortown Colliery, on the BGS website there are a large number of boreholes on Falkland Rise on their mapping link. I guess that it's currently under the car park. I am a bit suprised at your suggestion that there is a colliery here or that there is even likely to have been.I have checked the BGS 1:50,000 solid geology sheet. It shows that the only coal outcropiing in the vicinity was the Soft Bed which sits right at the bottom of the Lower Coal Measures which outcrops in a large semi-circle following approximately Street Lane before crossing Harrogate Road before cropping out against a large fault (trending east west) somewhere in the vicinity of the west side of King Lane.The Soft Bed is recorded as being "a seam of trifling thickness, 3"at the outcrop northwest of Roundhay Park and represented by only coal traces in Leeds" in Geological Survey's "Geology of the district North and East of Leeds", HMSO 1950.The borehills in Falkland Rise are according to the BGS database as being sunk in 1995 at shallow depth, probably relating to the construction of a non-standard structure (? Google Street View shows some modern flats in the approximate position of the boreholes)

[chameleon]

grumpytramp wrote: Riponian wrote: Of those searching for the Moortown Colliery, on the BGS website there are a large number of boreholes on Falkland Rise on their mapping link. I guess that it's currently under the car park. I am a bit suprised at your suggestion that there is a colliery here or that there is even likely to have been.I have checked the BGS 1:50,000 solid geology sheet. It shows that the only coal outcropiing in the vicinity was the Soft Bed which sits right at the bottom of the Lower Coal Measures which outcrops in a large semi-circle following approximately Street Lane before crossing Harrogate Road before cropping out against a large fault (trending east west) somewhere in the vicinity of the west side of King Lane.The Soft Bed is recorded as being "a seam of trifling thickness, 3"at the outcrop northwest of Roundhay Park and represented by only coal traces in Leeds" in Geological Survey's "Geology of the district North and East of Leeds", HMSO 1950.The borehills in Falkland Rise are according to the BGS database as being sunk in 1995 at shallow depth, probably relating to the construction of a non-standard structure (? Google Street View shows some modern flats in the approximate position of the boreholes) I must say Grumpytramp, I was surprised at the number of boreholes recorded - far more and in such close proximity to each other, than you might expect for simple BGS purposes - they do seem to cluster close to significant development or possible and proposed sites too.We've looked at the cut-off for mining in North Leeds before I think haven't we? Not to hand but I recall the major deposits shown on the map run more or less west - east with a prety well defined boundary before Moortown.

[Hector]

York Road - this was the iron works.The mineral line from Osmondthorpe Colliery still exists as a ginnelI remember being told that a railway line ran from the pit down towards Harehills Corner, presumably this was to a staithe for local sales.    

[The Parksider]

grumpytramp wrote: Riponian wrote: Of those searching for the Moortown Colliery, on the BGS website there are a large number of boreholes on Falkland Rise on their mapping link. I guess that it's currently under the car park. I am a bit suprised at your suggestion that there is a colliery here or that there is even likely to have been.I have checked the BGS 1:50,000 solid geology sheet. It shows that the only coal outcropiing in the vicinity was the Soft Bed which sits right at the bottom of the Lower Coal Measures which outcrops in a large semi-circle following approximately Street Lane before crossing Harrogate Road before cropping out against a large fault (trending east west) somewhere in the vicinity of the west side of King Lane.The Soft Bed is recorded as being "a seam of trifling thickness, 3"at the outcrop northwest of Roundhay Park and represented by only coal traces in Leeds" in Geological Survey's "Geology of the district North and East of Leeds", HMSO 1950.The borehills in Falkland Rise are according to the BGS database as being sunk in 1995 at shallow depth, probably relating to the construction of a non-standard structure (? Google Street View shows some modern flats in the approximate position of the boreholes) The coal seams of course get thinner and thinner as we go northwards, hence big mines in south leeds and none in north leeds beyond Gipton and supposedly Moortown.Shafts were recorded as being sunk in Moortown, and as I say the only area I can trace is the brick fields.But in Leeds we see how fireclay mining and coal mining were heavily intertwined (with ironstone extraction into the bargain).What were in early victorian times coal mines in later victorian times became brickworks - Blue Hill, and Harehills where the mosque is now.So if I was to offer a theory as a solution to Moortown Colliery (and something for Chameleon to shoot down??) can I guess that the primary reason for digging down in Moortown may have been to access local fireclay, and that if there was a small 3" seam of coal down there why not have it whilst you are at it, thus giving the mine the ability to be called a colliery??By late victorian times it seems to me that the coal industry had abandoned working from small local pits, to working large pits and getting the distribution infrastructure right, hence the tramway networks that snaked around the main coal mining areas of Leeds.But how did they deal with the demand for brick as the late victorian building boom kicked in and stone gave way to brick as we can see in parts of street lane, moortown and chapel allerton with grand stone houses juxtaposed with red brick terraces.Was the situation in the brick industry such that producing the brick locally was more cost effective than importing loads of bricks from the established suppliers in Harehills, Wortley. Middleton etc? That a Moortown Colliery is listed as existing, and that there was a brick field in Moortown seems to make the above thoery plausible, but then I don't have the full grasp of industrial archeology that Cham and Grumpytramp do so I look forward to their thoughts?