Pits Around Nottingham.


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Any of the older members work "dahn pit".??? I worked for Lord Robens during the 60's at Clifton, then when it closed on to Cotgrave.

Remember all those headstocks around Nottingham? Babbington, Gedling, Wollaton, Radford, Linby, Hucknall no1 and 2, Clifton, Cotgrave,Bestwood, then all those around the north of the city to the borders with Yorkshire, all gone now. There are kids now who won't know what a headstocks looks like, or the chugging of the steam engine as it raised coal, men and materials.

Nottingham had a proud mining heritage going back hundreds of years, gone with the lace industry and relegated to the museums now.

John ex Clifton Check number 360

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Any of the older members work "dahn pit".??? I worked for Lord Robens during the 60's at Clifton, then when it closed on to Cotgrave. Remember all those headstocks around Nottingham? Babbington, Gedl

Funny I was gonna post a thread on Pits. Thanks Anyone got an image of the old Clifton Colliery? I can remeber it being there when I came to Nottingham in 63

Funny I was gonna post a thread on Pits. Thanks

Anyone got an image of the old Clifton Colliery? I can remeber it being there when

I came to Nottingham in 63

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Ayupmeducks

My dad was at Clifton, Patrick Lunn is his name, although his nick name was Sol, it started out as Sally (as in Sally Lunn) but eventually turned into Sol. After Clifton closed he went to work at Gedling. Hated every minute of it, always said that Clifton was 'best little pit in town' !!!

I see if I can pry a few memories out of him.

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Ayupmeducks

My dad was at Clifton, Patrick Lunn is his name, although his nick name was Sol, it started out as Sally (as in Sally Lunn) but eventually turned into Sol. After Clifton closed he went to work at Gedling. Hated every minute of it, always said that Clifton was 'best little pit in town' !!!

I see if I can pry a few memories out of him.

It sure was, stayed just a few months at Cotgrave just to finish me apprenticeship then left the industry.

Don't recall your Dad, what was his job, might help me to shake the cobwebs from the loft!

I was an electrical apprentice there, started in 1964 and was in the second lot to be "moved out", Did a bit of drawing off and on to Cotgrave in May 1968.

Was a a real shame after the NCB had spent so much money on the drift develepments from 51's main gate area, ready for the driving of the two drifts down to the next seam, which they told us would last 50 years!!!!

I do have some JPEG photos of the pit Mick, including some from the 1890's taken underground, also I'm sure it was Jean who sent me one of the pit after closure. Also managed to get Wollaton Hall to send me some they had, including the diarama photos the feller took for me and emailed me. Managed to get some pland of the underground workings off the Coal Authority a couple of years back of the Deep hard, Tupton and Piper seams.

John

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Hear Hear

I saw Maggie destroy one of our finest industries.

I nearly went down pit after leaving school.

Ended up as an Electrician for the Coop, based on Abbey Street,

the Yard was next to No.1 store. Anyone remember them?

Both now gone :angry:

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Yep and it were'nt nowt to do with uneconomic pits either!

I was reading an article a short time back by the UK governments advisor on energy, and he was advising the government to rethink opening up many of the close pits. It appears the government is neglecting to plan ahead and North Sea oil and gas are running out!!!

Pray tell me as an ex pitman how one can reopen pits that have been close twenty years or more and flooded with water? The simple answer is, you can't! The coal reserves are sterilized for ever! I spent over 25 years of my life underground and know the problems associated with old workings.

Not to mention the longer the government waits, the less skilled miners are available. Those that were made redundant in the 80's are all nearing retirement age or are retired.

They have a lot to answer for, them damned politicians.

Just as an example, it costs somewhere in the region of $60million to install a new coal face with equipment, not taking into account the cost of roadway drivage's. If someone doesn't make a decision soon on Selby, it will be lost forever, billions of tonnes of high quality coal!

:blink:

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  • 2 months later...

We still have a Woodburning stove here for heating. When we can't get wood we use coal.

The last lot was Crap! When I complained to the coalman he said the rubbish coal was British? At that time they could not get Columbian. :o

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I can't believe the government are importing coal from Columbia,tell me it isn't so?? That is the stupidest thing I have heard for ages,they must be getting it at no cost to them, surely it can't be cheaper than using British coal or is that all dead & gone now? I've lost touch since leaving the UK i'm afraid

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  • 4 weeks later...
Funny I was gonna post a thread on Pits. Thanks

Anyone got an image of the old Clifton Colliery? I can remeber it being there when

I came to Nottingham in 63

I have come across loads of piccies of Clifton Mick. When I've loaded them back into the puter I can send you some if you want... I also have some very old ones dating back to when it first opened, a few underground, and some of the "old pit" before the baths were built in the 50's.

I managed to get a bloke at Wollaton Hall to send me piccies he took for me of the old diarama they used to display of Clifton years back.

What memories of wastage at Clifton! Thousands spent to start the roadway drivage from the tupton sean to the lower seam below tupton! What promises they gave us, another 50 years of life at the present rates of extraction plus a conveyor drift to the surface and modernisation of the screen/washery.

Problem was, Cotgrave had a manpower problem, and Clifton was old. I often wonder how many stayed at Cotgrave after I left, I know of a couple who didn't stay there long.

A couple of the blokes I worked with, who had worked at Radford until it closed then went to Wollaton and then on to Clifton after Wollaton closed, all said, wait until they put a new electric crane in the electrical workshop, then you know when they are going to close the pit!!!! How bloody true it was, we had a new crane, then not long after, they closed us!

John

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Was it Babbibgton pit that had the hot spring in the yard ? if my memory serves me well.

My dad was down the pit all his life. He was an Overman at Babbington. The Staley side of the family were mostly down the pit or in the police force, strange combination.

A :P

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It was not unusual in North Notts and other areas in 1984. To have different members of the family on opposite sides of the picket line. Be it Miners or Police.

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Wouldn't change any of it fpr the world! I'm talking pre 1960 and my dad never went on strike anyway. He always remembered when they wanted to work and there wasn't the work to be had. Changed his perspective on strikes quite a lot, the 1926 slump.

A :P

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Even during my time with the NCB, we were reluctant to strike. Whenever anyone from the Yorkshire coalfield came down to request us follow them the answer...well, it's unpostable her :o

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BTW, if there are any ex pit lads who read the posts, or anyone with any mining input, be it actual history, or anything to do with the mining industry, my chat forum is http://coalmine.proboards23.com/

John

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Ey Up! Ayupmeducks

Gis a Link on your site for the Notts lads :P

http://coalmine.proboards23.com/

Thats the mining forum...

John

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Nah Fork Andles... ;)

I meant place us a link on your forums :P

No probs Mick :blink:

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Yer linked Mick ;)

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  • 1 month later...

That ski lift was gone when I started at Clifton Barnzey. I started there in 1964 and I think it was taken out a couple of years before then. Trev Shaw, who is a few years older than me and who's Dad and Uncle worked at Clifton as Electricians remembers it from his trips down there.

It ran from no2 pit bottom down the South Main Returns drift.

BTW, don't know if anyone remembers the Shaws??? I think there are seven of them, all lived in the Meadows, Wilford Road end.

Trev and a Brother live in Canada now, all the others still live in Nottingham, I'm in touch with Trev and "Dicko" keeps in touch with most of the others.

John

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  • 3 months later...

Ayup all, me sites now over 50 members, so hot on the heals of Mick :rolleyes:

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