I am researching the history of the Saltom Pit Whitehaven Cumbria for the National Trust and am looking for anyone who has memories of "The Castle by the sea" or had relatives who lived there
Thanks
Saltom pit was the first deep undersea pit in England

I'm sure the Haig Pit museum will have much on it, perhaps they'll also tell you of some other people you can speak to.
Went there once, a very lovely setting that it's in. The sea wall was also very impressive I thought.

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There is quite a bit of material on Saltom at Haig - just make sure you ask the right person if you want to get it all.

And beware of anyone who tells you the "castle" is a Cornish engine house - it's not. The pump houses vanished under the land slip 30 years ago and the building that remains housed a Crowther engine (like the one at Beamish).

The last families moved out of the cottages there during the war and some of the younger ones are still around -again Haig has some tales from them on file somewhere.

Like all the Whitehaven pits you'll find, if you dig deep enough, that the research will overlap with a number of others.

Thanks for the information. We have been at this project for nearly 8 months now, with long visits to the Haig museum The Lowther archives at Carlisle and Whitehaven. My particular interest is the people's memories of visiting the site as children and any families who can trace their families to the Saltom Pit and cottages [/img]

I think most people from Kells would have memories of going down to Saltom to swim or picnic, but they would need to be over 70 to have much memory of the cottages being lived in.

I can recall odd times, before the days of orange overalls when we still wore pit "rags", coming up the pit and taking towels, soap and clean clothes down there. Washed ourselves and the "rags" in one go. But that was in the days when there was something called summer between winter and autumn. 😉

"Pit Rags" can you describe? When were you down the pit? I take it was Haig any more detail would be appreciated 😉

Can I take this opportunity to recommend a DVD on the market called 'At the Coal Face' -The Cumberland Story 1947. Filmed by the Crown Film Unit in 1947 it tells the tale of the Cumberland Coalfield in 1946 and attempts to drive into the Mainband Seam from Haig under the flooded Saltom workings. A dramatic reconstruction of the accident at Saltom is included. Other scenes include pits in Cumberland above and below ground. Some of the people involved play themselves including the Cumberland Miners Leader Tom Stephenson and Mine Manager and Engineer James Nimmo. I picked up a copy recently on E-bay for a song - Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Cumbria's mining history.

Thanks for the information. Have located a copy and have ordered it

Hi again
do you have any information on Sarah (Finn) Skelly who married William Skelly in 1887 and lived in the cottages at Saltom? we have photos but are trying to piece together he life and also if any of her descendants still live in the whitehaven area? We have a copy of her taken in 1925

Seem to have missed this topic recently.

Yes, staringowl, Haig was one of the pits I worked in in over 40+ years in mines. The "rags" were the old clothes (sequence = best, casual ,garden, pit) we wore before NCB decked us out in those glorious orange uniforms in the 70s. ::)

Re "The Cumberland Story". The theme was actually the development of Solway Colliery, driving under the flooded workings of Chapel Bank Colliery to reach the Main Band seaward of them. The inrush occurred at Lady Pit on 28th July 1837 (holed into sea-bed about 400yds offshore of Salterbeck Cemetery) and quickly flooded that pit and the connected Isabella and Union pits leading to the loss of 27 lives. (Of more concern to the owners was the loss of 28 horses and all three pits).

Some pit top scenes were filmed at Lowca (Harrington No 10) and some "underground" ones in the training gallery at Siddick (St Helens No 3). The scene where the man runs into the pub to tell of meeting the Main Band was, I was told, shot in "Minnie's" - the George IV in Stanley Street, but that was never confirmed.

There are still Skellys around Whitehaven but I don't know which ones would be related to those who lived at Saltom. Again, there are contacts at Haig who might know better.(I'm not a jameater - I only worked there). 😉

Hi This really helps. I will try to get to the mining museum soon