One was used to move men and materials, and the second to move coal from the Beeston seam, at a rate of up to 900 tonnes an hour. Its workings extended into West Yorkshire. After the vast Selby mine closed in 2004, many travelled the 12 miles down the road to work at Big K, including Webb and his colleague Graham Whiteford, who is originally from Ayrshire. Snowy, they are called abandonment plans, each colliery had one plan for each seam. This page was last modified on 20 January 2016, at 12:08. After a concrete lining sealed the shafts, the cooling brine was stopped and the frozen ground allowed to thaw. We meet some of the 450 miners who will lose their jobs. NUM official Keith Poulson has been at Kellingley for 28 years. Only his eyes and teeth are untouched. If you’re 55, who wants to invest in somebody who might have only 10 years’ more working life? The sinking of the two shafts was started in 1960 following exploratory boreholes that were drilled in the 1950s, revealing seven workable seams. [8] From January 1985 onwards, some miners returned to work, with the first coal since the strike began produced on 8 January 1985, and the strike formally ended on 3 March 1985. In all, there are 30 million tonnes of it – enough, in theory, to keep Big K going for another 15 years.

All images were taken with permission on the 7th January 2016, the site is dedicated to the last Deep Coal Miners of Kellingley and all the generations of miners past and present. Other stations are shutting. In the Kellingley car park I spot a number of snazzy cars: an Audi Q3, a Range Rover Sport, quite a few BMWs. [15], With the closure of Kellingley, the company made 450 miners redundant. Webb’s accent is a surprise – not the elongated vowels of Castleford or Pontefract. ‘It was just after Tebbit told us all to get on our bikes and find a job. Spread out on the sturdy boardroom table in Shaun McLoughlin’s office is a large surveyor’s map. [11] On 27 September 2011, Gerry Gibson was killed and another miner injured after an underground roof collapse. Jack Robertson, 23, is moving to where his girlfriend lives, near Sunderland, to find work. ‘It’ll be difficult. And this pit does make its own money.’ File:Kellingley Colliery from the M62.jpg, List of collieries in Yorkshire (1984-present), "Sadness tinged with relief for miners as Kellingley Colliery closure date set", "Miners Return to Kellingley Pit After the 1984 Miners Strike", "Bradford and West Yorkshire – A Sense of Place – Coal mining in West Yorkshire: The end of an era", "Sculpture memorial to dead Kellingley miners", "Kellingley Colliery production resumes after blast", "Miner killed in Kellingley Colliery roof fall", "Lights Out in Britain for the Coal Industry", "Coalmining has breathed its last but working life can still be the pits", "Two pits to close after government refuses further aid", "Last Kellingley coal miners will receive severance pay", "Kellingley mining machines buried in last deep pit", "Thousands march through Yorkshire to mark end of deep coal mining at Kellingley", https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Kellingley_Colliery&oldid=700759664, Pages with citations using unsupported parameters, Commons category link is defined as the pagename, 1965 establishments in the United Kingdom, 2015 disestablishments in the United Kingdom, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, About Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core.

'But apart from the police, I can’t think of anywhere that has such camaraderie as here. [7] A miner from Kellingley, Joe Green, was killed after being hit by a lorry on 15 June 1984. The shafts reached at depth of about 2624 feet. The colliery was owned and operated by UK Coal. I got on my bike and came up here. In the canteen I meet Martin Hunt, 52, sitting at one of the chipped Formica tables. The club runs football and rugby league teams as well as boxing and dancing classes for the children. Demolition then starts on the surface buildings and the site will be levelled out before ownership is transferred to Harworth Estates for future redevelopment. The coal industry that fuelled a revolution and an empire will come to an end. With reserves of around 50 million tonnes the annual output for 2008 was around 1.2 Million tonnes. Kellingley Colliery is located at Knottingley in West Yorkshire. Kellingley, one of the country's last deep coal mines, is due to close in 2015. Find more features at Telegraph.co.uk/in-depth/. [17], On Saturday 19 December, thousands of people turned out for a march in Yorkshire to commemorate the end of deep coal mining in the UK and, specifically, Kellingley's last shift the day before. Read more from the Telegraph News The shafts were eventually sunk to a depth of around 870 yards (800 m). It was expected to extend the life of the colliery until at least 2015.

You’ll never hear them swear in here. There’s a lot of humour underground". The top of the shaft, where the ‘cages’ take miners down to the seams. To keep the shafts to the correct alignment, plumb lines were used. [3] The sinking of its two shafts started in 1960. But Big K miners argue coal is still being used at many stations for the next few years – why can’t it be British? ‘It’s a bit hard at the moment.

UK Coal’s sister company, Harworth Estates, which owns the site, is likely to turn it into housing, the fate of most former collieries that didn’t end up as shopping or leisure centres. Miners relied on one another down the pit, and they looked after one another". Those annotated with a number 1, were closed before 1974. All the men wear shorts to help them cope with both the more than 30C heat and the humidity, frequently over 90 per cent; many strip to their underpants when it gets really bad. Coal reserves accessible in the Silkstone seam were anticipated to extend its life to 2019. "Some of the conditions are really bad at times. Because of updated methods and machinery, only about 2,000 men were employed there at any one time. ‘My fear factor has been knocked out of me, working underground for all these years.’ No future generation will be able to say the same again. She gets emotional about the closure, speaking with moist eyes. It’s what we know,’ he says.
It is the biggest deep mine remaining in Yorkshire and as at 2009 employs approx 600 people. I can’t think of anywhere that has such camaraderie as here". [18], From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core. It also produced some housecoal-quality coal: larger-sized coals of higher calorific value. Some of the conditions you work in – loads of dust, nearly 100 per cent humidity, the heat – are really, really bad at times. It is difficult to decipher: a series of numbers, lines and blocks of colour cover the large sheet of paper. At least there’s heavy industry up there.’, Workers at the Kellingley coalface in 1973. As a senior electrical engineer he is confident about getting another job, but on ‘nothing like the sort of money’ he is currently on. © Northern Mine Research Society | Registered Charity Number - 326704. [14] UK Coal had first proposed its extension by three years, alongside a similar extension to the life of Thoresby Colliery in Nottinghamshire, which closed in July 2015, but business minister Matthew Hancock argued that the £338 million said to be required for this plan "does not represent value for money".

"That’s the end of a certain breed of men. I came up to Selby as a missionary – to educate the northerners. After a concrete lining sealed the shafts, the cooling brine was stopped and the frozen ground allowed to thaw. This page was last edited on 19 October 2020, at 11:30. Based on the results of exploratory boreholes sunk in the 1950s, it was established that up to seven workable seams of coal could be accessed from a new colliery, especially when it could be strategically located in the heart of a network of power stations.
I can remember them officially saying they will not shut a place that’s making its own money. Her father was a miner, her brother and husband too. Miners head for the showers at the end of a shift. When it set, most of the water leaking into the shafts was stopped and the ground around the upper part of the shafts was stabilised. They then take a train for about five miles, before travelling a further two miles lying prone on a conveyor belt. There will be a search fee and a charge for each plan. Kellingley Colliery, the last deep coal mine in Britain, closes down for good next week, finally shutting the book on a trade that stoked the industrial revolution and helped fuel an empire. It is the biggest deep mine remaining in Yorkshire and as at 2009 employs approx 600 people.

Poulson is the branch secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.

Jon Tonks. [12], As of 31 October 2015, 17 people were listed on the memorial to people who died during the operation of the mine. I was over the moon.’ He will miss ‘the people I work with, the friends I’ve made.