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Six seams are ticked off on the bottom pit shaft section chart, I presume the tick means worked, they are, High Main, Main Bright, Top Hazles, (High Hazles???) , Top Hard, Deep Soft and Blackshale.

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Yes. Education, education, education - remember that absolute bollocks from the prophet Tony Blair ? Get all the school leavers to go to University (to get them off the un-employment figures). Rena

I know most of you have probably seen this tribute to the Hucknall colliery miners but I thought it was worth posting all the same, unfortunately our coal heritage has all but gone and all thats left

That's right - and in one to the best demonstrations of poetic justice I have ever come across, Shipley Hall, home of the Mundy family who owned many of the coal mines in the area, had to be demolishe

Oh yeah, Moorgreen worked Tupton/Low Main, Piper & Waterloo, there was a road off Waterloo main return with a sign pointing up it saying "Watnall upcast shaft" & Watall brickyard was just behind our house (till they blew the chimneys up, nearly poo-ed my knickers that day) so I pressume the upcast shaft was near here. I think Babo worked Deep Hard so that could have gone under here as well. Not sure which pits worked 1'st & 2'nd Ell though. Thanks John I think you've solved my mystery..

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Hmm, I rode the hucknall upcast skip shaft a few times & there was a lit up inset for Main Bright & about three or four disused insets in darkness. Deep Soft & black Shale shared the pit bottom, (cross measure drifts down to Black Shale) so I presume the other seams had their own insets. There were two tandem downcast shafts, one of them had an inset for main bright where you got out the side of the cage (scared me to death, lol), in the other shaft there were about four or five normal disused insets. It all makes sense now as I'd forgotten Hucknall had worked High Hazels, I think my brains staring to fade. :)

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I came for Hucknall (mucky ukna) - I was born at Westville in September 1945, near the aerodrome and was bought up on Station Terrace........a few doors away from the Station Hotel pub, played on the street, the Rec and Titchfield Park, roller skated on the Market Square, went to the baths, the Scala and Byron Cinemas, the fair came twice a year on the Rec, there were dances everywhere at all the Social Clubs, we had a great time growing up there......My dad worked at Linby pit until the shaft caved in around1953/54 when he was badly injured, he had lighter jobs still at the Coal Board, Hucknall, Bestwood and Newstead pits........I left there years ago and visited a few weeks ago and was surprised at all the changes now........ No Pits, no welfare, all the old shops gone and housing estates everywhere.........Many of my relatives worked at the pits too...........Oh, happy days.............

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Hello Blondie,

Welcome to Nottstalgia. I don't know Hucknall very well but reading about the changes you have described, echo my feelings for the changes I see at Gedling when I go back to visit. So many things have changed for the better, but there are a few things that meant alot to me that have dissappeared. The Pit, The Local Pub, The Blacksmiths Forge. The view across the fields up to the Woods, which is now a Housing Estate. I hope you enjoy Nottstalgia, I am sure there will be someone on site soon who can remember some of the places in Hucknall that you mention. Have Fun.

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Just a couple of points.

On nationalisation in 1947 there were 950 collieries in the UK

Since 1850 over 100,000 miners have lost their lives working in the coal industry.

Then there are the thousands who were either maimed(lost a leg/arm) or seriously injured.

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# 55, Blondie ........ My Great Grandparents kept the Station Hotel in the early 1900s. Apparently it was a very busy pub, opening up very early in the mornings for the Hucknall miners to go and get refreshment after their night shift. When G.Grandfather passed away G.Grandmother wasn't allowed to stay on there as a man had to be the licensee in those days. She moved to Long Eaton and ran a 'Beer-off'. The licensing trade figured big in the family (alcoholics!) .... their daughter and her husband were licensees of The Horse and Groom at Linby for many many years until they were too old to deal with the barrels and quality of beer. The next generation, my Uncle, then took over that pub and was there for probably 25 years until his retirement about years ago.

Is the Station Hotel still there? I've never been to look.

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Yes the Station Hotel is still there, I went to a funeral wake there not long ago................It has all changed, all the rooms are now one big room, there was an old photograph framed on the wall with children playing skipping outside and I am one of them, made me feel all nostalgic - I lived on Station Terrace in the 1950's, my name was Lynn and I lived at number 3.................I can remember Fisher's and Smith's being the owners in the 1950's and then a lovelly guy called Hector taking over in the 1960's, was one of the best pubs in Hucknall, did lots of weddings and functions........My family used to walk around Linby and Papplewick on Sunday nights in the summer, when we were children, we called in at the Horse and Groom in Linby then walked into Papplewick and called at the Griffin's Head.......They were and still are lovelly pubs and are eateries now.......

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Blondie, when my Uncle and Aunt had The Horse and Groom they only offered cheese or ham cobs in the way of food. He didn't stand any nonsense either, if he caught a couple kissing in the pub he threw them out!!

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Peak of the industry was 1913, after that, production was declining, pits closing manpower dropping.

In 1913 the UK was the worlds largest producer of coal!!

And for Steve, at bottom pit, seams in the shaft High Main, no information on depth or thickness, Clowne at 430ft and 48ins thick, Main Bright @740ft and 37ins, Abdy, no info, High Hazels, no info, Cinderhill, no info, Top Hard @1160ft and 7ft 9ins!!!! Thick seam!! Dunsil, no info, 1st Waterloo. 2nd Waterloo, 1st Ell, 2nd Ell, no info... Deep Soft, 1130ft 34ins thick, Deep Hard, @1680ft 72ins, 1st Piper, 2nd Piper no info, Tupton/Low Main no info, 3/4 no info, yard, Blackshale, Mickley, Kilburn, Winfield Flags, Horton, Alton...No info, most of those were too thin to work anyway.

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I was thrown out of there one Sunday evening, maybe it was your aunt and uncle, it was around 1967..........I was courting a fella called Joe, we went for a Sunday evening walk and called there for a drink......we were laughing, joking and kissing, the landlord told us off, I was wearing a mini skirt and was told to cover up my knees as it was supposed to be off putting to the customers.........We were then told to leave...........Was always a nice pub in a lovelly village.......

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Peak of the industry was 1913, after that, production was declining, pits closing manpower dropping.

In 1913 the UK was the worlds largest producer of coal!!

And for Steve, at bottom pit, seams in the shaft High Main, no information on depth or thickness, Clowne at 430ft and 48ins thick, Main Bright @740ft and 37ins, Abdy, no info, High Hazels, no info, Cinderhill, no info, Top Hard @1160ft and 7ft 9ins!!!! Thick seam!! Dunsil, no info, 1st Waterloo. 2nd Waterloo, 1st Ell, 2nd Ell, no info... Deep Soft, 1130ft 34ins thick, Deep Hard, @1680ft 72ins, 1st Piper, 2nd Piper no info, Tupton/Low Main no info, 3/4 no info, yard, Blackshale, Mickley, Kilburn, Winfield Flags, Horton, Alton...No info, most of those were too thin to work anyway.

at Newstead it was around 245yds deep, it dipped toward Hucknall and rose toward Kirkby to 100yds and caused a load of subsidence, sorry it me who caused it noblue

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Like all seams, the farther you go eastwards, the deeper they get. Several seams actually join up under Lincolnshire to form an extremely thick seam, trouble is, it's too deep to work by known methods safely.

There is agreement that all seams extend way into the European mainland, but, on saying that, I doubt the bottom measures we worked in Nottinghamshire would be worked in say Germany, my guess is they work the upper measures that Yorkshire had and we didn't, and their collieries are very deep.

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Re #63

Thanks for that info John... There was a roadway (with air doors) in the Low Main/Tupton seam linking the Deep Soft to Black Shale cross measures intake & return drifts. There was speculation that they planned to work the Low Main/Tupton seam off the drifts, but the quality wasn't very high. They used part of the roadway near the return drift to house a methane drainage pump, it vented into the return air-stream back then & was wasted. Later on the methane was pumped to the surface & used to heat the baths, offices, workshops ect. Not sure if they sold any to the Gas Board..

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Tupton coal was very poor quality Steve, Cliftons last three faces were in the Tupton seam. It was alright when being blended with Deep Hard, but on it's own is dirty.

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Both my brother and my sister had their wedding receptions at he Station Hotel in the 1960's............Didn't go in many Hucknall pubs myself, was always in Nottingham dancing, partying and at nightclubs, 99 Club was my favourite...........I did enjoy the Hucknall Welfare and the Social Clubs though.....

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Had to believe that there is only 1 colliery left in Nottinghamshire & that is to close shortly.

In 1974 there were 27 working collieries in Nottinghamshire and many collieries had already gone

How many other jobs went with the jobs of the miners.

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It's been estimated a ratio of 10:1, that's ten outside coal industry workers to support one mine worker. Sounds a lot, but break it down, steel workers to produce the steel for roadway arches, cable companies to make and supply armoured and trailing cables, steel rope companies for the haulage ropes and winding ropes, electrical switchgear and transformer manufacturers, coal cutting machine manufacturers, conveyor belting, conveyor structure and drivehead manufacturers, ventilating fan manufacturers, winding engine manufacturers, cap lamp makers.

And hundreds of disabled people in sheltered workshops making tool bags, webbing, detonator and explosives canistors, kneepads, belts..List goes on and on.

Then there were companies that sold and tested equipment out in UK mines and exported millions of pounds worth of equipment a year....ALL GONE!!!

Examples, Anderson Strathclyde, coal cutting equipment and road heading machines, owned no by Catapillar USA, most components of $20 million machines are made in the USA now. British Jeffrey Diamond of Wakefield...GONE.... Huwood Conveyors....GONE...Dowty, Dobson, Gullick roof support makers, mostly a shadow of their former selves...Engat Fans...GONE....Wallacetown Engineering, owned by a US company, Baldwin Francis, still going strong and exporting.

Dozens of companies that flourished as suppliers of machinery GONE. Plus thousands and thousands of highly skilled jobs, plus all those apprenticeships.

Sickening, isn't it.

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What ever happened to the concept of clean-burn coal ?

If there's one thing we still have a lot of left in this country, it's coal.

The infrastructure is all laid in. Instead of just closing down power stations, putting up wind turbines and investing in gas, why not investigate this idea - as stop-gap at least.

At the end of the Labour era they vetoed the investment to develop this new carbon-capture technology, preferring instead to leave it to the energy companies who are quite content close perfectly good power stations They simply pass on the cost of gas-fired stations, make enormous profits and make us pay through the nose.

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And don't forget BRUSH here in Loughborough I worked for Brush Transformers July 1971 - April 1995.

I was a storeman for all that time and the money was good.

Transformers were not the only Brush company that made mining equipment and many hundreds of jobs went with the MURDER of the coal industry.

I have a book "Guide to the coalfields 1974"

and the companies advertising mining equipment is quite interesting

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