Photograph:

🔗Doe-Lea-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-57474[linkphoto]Doe-Lea-Coal-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-57474[/linkphoto][/link]

A trip by Tony Jarratt in 1991 to Doe Lea is described in his log books. The two relevant pages can be found at:

http://www.mcra.org.uk/logbooks/index.php?display=jrat%2FVolume%2004%20%281988%20to%201992%29%2FPage%20179.JPG 

http://www.mcra.org.uk/logbooks/index.php?display=jrat%2FVolume%2004%20%281988%20to%201992%29%2FPage%20180.JPG 

fascinating stuff.

I was working for Foraky Ltd of Nottingham in the very early 80s, mainly on the drilling side but occasionally with the last remnants of their once-extensive mining side.

HMIM required Doe Lea to sink a shaft at the far extremity of their workings for ventilation purposes. Foraky were awarded the contract - probably the last new mining contract they undertook - and I was transferred there for three or four weeks as site agent/engineer.

From recollection the actual shaft was simple, segmental concrete linings around 2m diameter built by underpinning. They may have been surplus rings from a previous contract. Shaft depth was around 40 ft ( 20 rings) with excavation by drill and blast methods.

Doe Lea were at that time owned by SPO Minerals and then informed Foraky that they had no money to pay them! This was the last nail in Foraky's mining coffin, having been overtaken and marginalised by Thyssen and Cementation in the UK and the fall-out from this contract provoked the outright closure of the remnants of the mining division, already imminent and inevitable.

I'm interested that Doe Lea seems to have been working as late as 1991. The drift yard is long closed and the yard served as a recycling depot for the council, last time I looked.

The shaft site, I have no idea. It was a quite out-of-the-way spot and I don't recall its location. It had a small but elaborately-specified stone house but no headframe.

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I was working for the company that owned Doe Lea - Great Row Colliery Company - up until 1990 and it was certainly still running then.

I was in the area in 2004, one of those odd tunnelling jobs that come in from time to time... site agent sinking a pumping shaft at the Shirebrook renovation site, just of J28 on the M1. I saw the former drift site, but couldn't remember sufficiently where the shaft was.

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The late lamented JRat - I recall some very pissy evenings in the Hunters back in the 90s chatting about mines. We'll not see his like again.

I was much amused by the casual reference to 'chemical caving' on the same journal pages. Couldn't do that now...

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I was much amused by the casual reference to 'chemical caving' on the same journal pages. Couldn't do that now...

Still a fair bit of "chemical caving" done on Mendip, we've blown up the end of our dig in Whitepit a few times, and Caine Hill gets regular attention from Dr Nobel, there are other digs that use the chemical hammer along with capping and traditional plug and feathers methods!

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Tony came down Coed Talon Colliery in the early 1970s one sunday afternoon with me. I was fireing shots in two of the headings so that there was coal ready for monday morning.
I dont think that Tony was overstruck with the fumes after fireing. I let him fire the shots, the look on his face was good.
Many good memories of Tony RIP.

I worked at Doe-Lea colliery for 10 years and was there when the shaft was built and used to exit through it when there was a bad roof fall,it was a climb up a metal ladder to a grilled metal platform,I think there were 2 levels altogether then through a metal door at the surface.The cover of the shaft was a stone building in character to the surrounding farm buildings and was situated at Stainsby to the left of the entance to the road to Hardwick.I don't know if the building still exists I will check it out this W/E.

I drove past that junction yesterday, as it happens, but didn't have time to stop and look...

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