Woolley Colliery
Copyright © Heritage Shunters Trust and used with their kind permission
The mine was started in 1869. There were three shafts, and three seams are producing coal from five faces. In the past workers had to travel up to 4800 metres from the shaft to the coal face, but later the furthest they needed to travel is 3700 metres. The seams are called Lidgett, Fenton, and Thorncliffe. Lidgett seam is only 0.90 metres thick.
When the mine was nationalised in 1947, 2400 men produced 650,000 tons of coal. In 1969 one million tons of coal was produced by only 1900 men because machinery and conveyor belts had been installed. Almost all the coal went for the production of electricity (65%) or coke (25%).
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