JohnB57
Member
Cheers Matt. Look forward to the piccy.
Mine working can extend radially miles beyond the pithead of course, so yours is probably a vent for one some distance away.
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Britain From Above
- Thread starter Tiny Tim
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Mine working can extend radially miles beyond the pithead of course, so yours is probably a vent for one some distance away.
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eastdyke
Established Member
I have a list of Mines in Derbyshire 1896.
One of the entries is for:
Bretby Nos 1 & 2
Owned by: Earl of Caernarvon.
Workers: 408 underground, 120 above ground.
That would be one of the larger Derbyshire Mines of the time and I believe that Bretby is quite close to Burton.
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Thank you very much. I will have a look tomorrow.
Cheers!
Harbon 1
Member
Bretby could have reached that vent, although, would they mine under a river?
They mine miles out to sea in other places so I wouldn't have thought a river posed much of an obstacle.
eastdyke
Established Member
Deep mines are invariably below the water table. Water ingress would be controlled by pumping (on an economic case).
Harbon 1
Member
Fair enough, I stand corrected
Could it not be that this is some form of mine, where the raw materials are processed and shipped out by train?
Just in front of the steam train is a signal (for trains going the opposite way). Would this relate to the sidings (I'm assuming not but don't know how sidings were signalled) so might it be a distant signal indicating there might be a station or junction out of picture on the right?
Also, is there a general consensus whether this is a double or single track line? Is the train in the picture actually on part of the sidings? If you go right it looks like it may go down to a single track near the bridge over the lane.
Also, is there a general consensus whether this is a double or single track line? Is the train in the picture actually on part of the sidings? If you go right it looks like it may go down to a single track near the bridge over the lane.
Harbon 1
Member
I think it's just the colour of the track/sleepers, eg: the older and oilyer the track, the darker it gets, so my guess, the nearer track is newer,,and doesn't show up as clearly as the other track
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Maybe that is what the hut is for, setting the points into the sidings?
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Ok, here's what i have in the field opposite me:
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JohnB57
Member
That looks more like a landfill vent. I think the ones on the BfA shot are quite a bit larger - similar in size to tunnel vents.
eastdyke
Established Member
Well, have spent a couple of hours and have made no positive progress. Been up and down the A5 a couple of times and scoured South Staffordshire.
Those historic maps - been using the 1:25,000 - are really fascinating (thanks again to SussexMan for the link) - very difficult to stop looking!
Harbon 1
Member
Ah, cool. At the risk of sounding silly again, I don't know of any landfills near Burton at all, apart from recycling firms..
But anyway, back to the topic
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Tiny Tim
Member
I think I've got it. It's the Gildersome Foundry of Robert Hudson Ltd, near Leeds. If I'm correct, the road on the right of the works running under the railway is Nepshaw Lane. The vent shafts are the Gildersome railway tunnel. Both railways are abandoned.
Please could other people check it out, I've half convinced myself it's correct.
Please could other people check it out, I've half convinced myself it's correct.
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BlythPower
Member
According to Wikipedia, Robert Hudson manufactured light railways. That would make the circular track a test/demonstration line.
Looking at the OS map (the 1:25,000) for Gildersome, it looks like a direct fit. The course of Nepshaw Lane fits the photo and the road which parallels the railway is dead straight and embanked where it passes over Gildersome (railway) Tunnel. The map shows a ventilator in the right place.
Looking at the OS map (the 1:25,000) for Gildersome, it looks like a direct fit. The course of Nepshaw Lane fits the photo and the road which parallels the railway is dead straight and embanked where it passes over Gildersome (railway) Tunnel. The map shows a ventilator in the right place.
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Indeed, after all, the first practical steam engines were static ones for pumping water out of mines.
Got to be. Glidersome tunnel even has 2 air shafts!
A pic from T'Internet
(more at http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/22824-Gildersome-tunnel-Leeds-(welcome-to-hell) )
A pic from T'Internet
(more at http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/22824-Gildersome-tunnel-Leeds-(welcome-to-hell) )
eastdyke
Established Member
Thank you for putting me 'out of my misery'!!
Looking at the picture in the last post and the current OS map it just goes to show how much of our industrial past has been all but obliterated.
At least the disused tunnel and its vent shafts still survive, alas apparently nothing of the foundry.
JohnB57
Member
You've nailed it TT - nice one.
The embarrassing thing is that from 1988 to 2001, we lived in Birstall, less than two miles from this location, which is now completely unrecognisable from the 1928 shot. The whole of the site is, as you can tell from Bolli's post, now a large industrial estate. The embankment top left is Asquith Avenue and the terraced houses are still there.
You wouldn't imagine that even in 1928, somewhere so close to Leeds would have appeared as rural as this.
Mystery solved.
The embarrassing thing is that from 1988 to 2001, we lived in Birstall, less than two miles from this location, which is now completely unrecognisable from the 1928 shot. The whole of the site is, as you can tell from Bolli's post, now a large industrial estate. The embankment top left is Asquith Avenue and the terraced houses are still there.
You wouldn't imagine that even in 1928, somewhere so close to Leeds would have appeared as rural as this.
Mystery solved.
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