Hi Pete,
The large concrete structure which I presume you are referring to is a tower-mounted Koepe winder. A Koepe winder depended on friction to drive the ropes over the drum. Typically, there would be 3 or 4 ropes used in the shaft, and these would pass over the drum without being wound around it. There were two sorts of Koepe winders - floor mounted and tower mounted. Latterly tower mounted winders were the vogue. The winder was in the box at the top of the headgear and the cables came up from the cage and over the drum, and then back down again. The drum itself would be clad in a highly frictional material, and the action of the winder depended on this friction. In shafts with a single skip winder it was usual to have either a second set of cables which went around a pulley system in the shaft sump and then back up to the drive drum, or a counter-balance system.
At one time you could find many examples of Koepe winders around - in the 60's as an apprentice I had a tour of the Koepe winder at Shirebrook Colliery which was driven by a D.C. motor. The arcing that was produced by the valve-type rectifiers (and please don't ask me what exactly these were) was mighty impressive.
As a matter of interest, the first Koepe winder to be installed in the U.K. was in your part of the world at Plenmeller Colliery.
Dave Williams