this has been niggling at me for a while now.... see what going on web sites does for you!

does anyone have any info about the shaft house for Doe Lea colliery ventilation shaft? I worked on the sinking in ( I think ) 1982, and we had to build a highly elaborate shaft house to pelase all the tree huggers and 'wooly pullie' people from the various environment bodies, despite the farmer being allowed to build a huge corrugated-iron machinery shed a few hundred metres away.. 😢

seeing as it is quite a recent structure, I'd like to think it survives. Doe Lea itself closed in the early 90s and the main site ( between M1 J29 and the A617 to Mansfield ) is quite derelict.

the building is quite small ( the shaft was about 2.4m in diameter ) so it was about 4m square, single story, stone with a slate roof. I remember it being immediately adjacent to a farm access track, in an arable field.

anyone?

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Is it likely to be anywhere near the MEGZ J29a or the coal stocking yard down the road?

Actually, I think I'm barking up the wrong tree. I was thinking Doe Lea Bridge near the Erin Remainder site (now landfill).

I had a butch round at West side of Mway and also Nth of the Junction... zero found!

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looks as though it has been demolished and the shaft capped.

Land has probably been returned to agriculture, it was at the edge of a ploughed field

I believe the incline was around 1.5 to 2km long, if anyone knew the direction it would be fairly easy?

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Hi Mate

The adit was driven due SE, will have another look

regs ICLOK

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the quoted co-ordinates of the drift are under the SE slip road for J29, but I believe there were in total 3 drifts, all from the same yard

ok in that case, and from recollection of the site, it was somewhere SE of Hucknall Wood.

site was off an unadopted road, slightly lower than the surrounding fields and large enough for HGVs; there was a claim for compensation from the farmer during construction ( who'd have thought it? ) involving a 40-footer which had passed the site and then turned in a field to get back.

there was a view of a large, isolated farm with a then-new machinery shed or similar structure ( which was actually built during construction of the shaft ).

there's a track leading up into Hucknall Wood which seems to fit all the above and is in the right sort of location. There's a field entrance there, but no sign of a building, so I guess it was returned to agriculture when the ine closed in the early 90s and ( presumably ) stopped paying whatever rent or duties it was liable for.

there was much dispute at the time about payment for the shaft itself, I don't believe it was ever paid for and I would easily believe the farmer was also owed money

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