ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
I did a trip on 10.12.08 to the area of Whitehaven etc.
Wellington mine interested me as the so called Lodge (Castellated and White) is more reminiscent of an engine house avec corner chimney, nearby was also a small cottage with attached buildings which struck me very much as like a winder due to the grouping of the buildings and style.
🔗Wellington-Pit-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-005[linkphoto]Wellington-Pit-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-005[/linkphoto][/link]
🔗Wellington-Pit-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-013[linkphoto]Wellington-Pit-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-013[/linkphoto][/link]

Does anyone have any further detailed history.. I may be completely wrong but would like to know for definate, not being familiar with the features of the area.

Thanks All

ICLOK


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
toadstone
16 years ago
A quick search came up with this photo which shows the pit when it was working. http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/wellpit.htm  Down the page.

Link on the page goes no where. Also saw a link on Google to Durham Mining Museum re: Whitehaven's worst mining disaster by the Mines Inspectorate. Didn't follow it up.

Have to say it looked a spectacular building in its day.

Peter.
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
The black and whites a cracker off the link, thanks for the link and the position of the White building in the old pic def shows no engine, so thats one question answered.;D

It looked a fascinating mine stuck there on the harbour edge and the architecture is great! Just wish there was more left today. 😞

EDIT: Just had a chat with Spitfire and a friend who is in to Winders and both agree the Lodge could even be a winder. Afew PM's on this today and general consensus is it would be a very large lodge and why 3 storeys??
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
carnkie
16 years ago
"toadstone" wrote:



Link on the page goes no where. Also saw a link on Google to Durham Mining Museum re: Whitehaven's worst mining disaster by the Mines Inspectorate. Didn't follow it up.

Have to say it looked a spectacular building in its day.

Peter.



136 died in the disaster. Full account.


http://www.haigpit.com/page46.html 
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
Fascinating stuff and pics add some credit to the theory that what is now called the lodge actually being the winding engine probably of a vertical type. 🙂
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
simonrail
16 years ago
Don't get carried away, fellas. Because it's tall and near a colliery site doesn't automatically mean it's a winding house for a vertical engine. I'm not sure what the Lodge did, it may have been pit offices, but Wellington Colliery was further round the corner to the west and I can't see this building having been a winding house.
Similarly, there is (or was?) another likely looking building near Redness Point, N.W. of William Pit at Bransty, but it's on the seaward side of the railway so presumably did something else.
The remaining building at Saltom Pit did house a vertical winding engine, however. It was built about 1823 and original drawings still exist of the engine to prove it.
Simon.

Yes, I'll have it - what is it?
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
You appear to be right.... Having looked at the pics our Lodge has single windows and angled sides, and in the photo below we are west of lodge as SR says judging by the chimney.
🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-048[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-048[/linkphoto][/link] In one of the accident pics you can see the lodge in the background where the guys are all gathered.
Be great to see a map of the site!

Regards

ICLOK
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
spitfire
16 years ago
With the aid of a glass i'm sure I can see a rope below the top cat-walk leading to the top of the lodge
spitfire
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
Thats what fooled me.... on close inspection its not the lodge. The lodge is behind the engine house around the corner!
Easy mistake as architecture nearly same. So you are right this is an engine house ... unfortunately it appears the lodge is behind and cannot be seen in this view.

Oh Well ::) worth a try
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
Buckhill
16 years ago
Just seen this topic tonight.

The lodge was at various times the mine offices - the gates were just to the right on the photo - and also the undermanager's house. It wasn't ever an engine house (the nearest shaft being No 3 along the path under the candlestick chimmney). One feature of the lodge, now obliterated by the works down there, was the tunnel staircase leading from the basement down to the harbourside level about 60 feet below. At the botom used to stand the Wellington PH - handy for stressed clerks or undermanagers. I haven't been along there since the "improvements" were done but it was possible until this year to see where the engine house (demolished post-war to provide the embankments at Whitehaven RL ground)abutted the retaining wall and the positions of Nos 1 & 2 shafts could be located on the car park. There were also some really interesting features underground at Wellington which I always regret never being able to photograph.

The "cottage" buildings were never connected to mining (except as a place to quench a collier's thirst). They are what is reputed to be the oldest house in Whitehaven and still, amazingly, occupied. It used to be a pub, one of the earliest "Bowling Greens", the remains of that feature still visible to the west side of it. Later on it was a coastguard lookout station the danger signal flown there giving the next use as a pub the name "Red Flag".

Nowadays it is known as "Jonathan Swift House" from the as yet unproven theory that this was the house where he spent some of his childhood years, the distant view of people on the harbourside giving him the idea for Gulliver's travels.

The building at Redness point was associated with the Lonsdale Ironworks which occupied the area between the railway and cliffs north of William.
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
Thats brilliant gen indeed.... don't suppose you have any old maps of the site... Thanks and regards

ICLOK 🙂 :flowers:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
Buckhill
16 years ago
I have a pit top plan somewhere and old OS sheet which shows the layout. Will have a ratch for them in the next day or two.
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
You're a star... cheers.... it just looks a fascinating site. 😎
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
Buckhill .... thanks a million for the maps..... superb and answers virtually all my questions... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!
Buckhill
16 years ago
I've just added a 1925 OS extract and a 1933 pit top plan to the photo archive (haven't quite got the hang of pdf conversion yet so it's better than nowt for now).

You should be able to pick up the layout from the pit top plan as some of the features are still there - the chimney, lodge, No 3 pit and the water tower (base now a flower bed on the area under the chimney).

Just one point re the chimney - that's exactly what it is. You must have met one of those locals who continue to mislead everyone with the myth of it being a vent (er..which, actually, it is now.....) :confused:

Originally the winder house (the large castle keep structure) stood where "5 -ruins" is on the plan. The boiler house was to the north of it ("open") and the flue ran east to the "candlestick". It was in use until about 1888 when the new boilers were built on the south-west side of the shafts (22 on plan) with a new chimney (18). The winder in latter years was in the shed 17. No 3 pit is still open under the cap and vents methane from the workings (since 1969). A pipe leads from the shaft through the old boiler flue and gas vents from the chimney. Sorry to come the :smartass: but it's a fallacy which I've been trying for years to bury and I'm still at it!!
ICLOK
  • ICLOK
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
16 years ago
Top man.... there is something very enigmatic about the site.... I was fascinated, this just finishes off the visit nicely so ta much for maps... had hear the vent thing 5 times so far ta for clearing that one up! 😉
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh Creeper!!!!!

Disclaimer: Mine exploring can be quite dangerous, but then again it can be alright, it all depends on the weather. Please read the proper disclaimer.
© 2005 to 2023 AditNow.co.uk

Dedicated to the memory of Freda Lowe, who believed this was worth saving...