Having started research in my own area there is just NO way on earth the Coal Authority can possibly investigate every shaft and adit site known in the old coalfields... I know for certain just in the area around here (Ripley - Heanor) there are hundreds of old adits and shafts even soughs going back to the 1500s and nobody knows exactly where they are only roughly and certainly no one knows how they were treated if at all. There are shafts below parks, house, even a hospital, etc etc.... In the last few months I have seen subsided shafts revealing brick linings etc just up the road and certainly on Cannock chase I've seen holes that have just opened up previously.... I dont see how the CA stands a chance as most the old old coal mines are a total unknown quantity.

EDIT- Added a pic typical of a few sites around here...
🔗Monkwood-No-2-Colliery-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-47972[linkphoto]Monkwood-No-2-Colliery-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-47972[/linkphoto][/link]

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Having started research in my own area there is just NO way on earth the Coal Authority can possibly investigate every shaft and adit site known in the old coalfields... I know for certain just in the area around here (Ripley - Heanor) there are hundreds of old adits and shafts even soughs going back to the 1500s and nobody knows exactly where they are only roughly and certainly no one knows how they were treated if at all. There are shafts below parks, house, even a hospital, etc etc.... In the last few months I have seen subsided shafts revealing brick linings etc just up the road and certainly on Cannock chase I've seen holes that have just opened up previously.... I dont see how the CA stands a chance as most the old old coal mines are a total unknown quantity.

EDIT- Added a pic typical of a few sites around here...
🔗Monkwood-No-2-Colliery-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-47972[linkphoto]Monkwood-No-2-Colliery-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-47972[/linkphoto][/link]

The CA have regional officers who's job it is, is to find any drifts/shafts that have opened up for whatever reason. They rely mostly on "Joe public" to report any that appear, they also actively search the internet/ flickr and sites such as this to see what people are upto. :thumbdown: So the moral is if you do coal - don't name it :thumbsup: :tongue:

The CA have regional officers who's job it is, is to find any drifts/shafts that have opened up for whatever reason. They rely mostly on "Joe public" to report any that appear, they also actively search the internet/ flickr and sites such as this to see what people are upto.

From what I've seen, unless it's in a built up area, they just throw a fence up around it, and put a mis-spelt sign on it. Though as ICLOCK says, I think they will be doing a bit of a King Canute.

Still, I can't imagine that anyone would be foolish enough to explore collapses into old workings. :angel:

I already know that and report such things accordingly for just the reason this post exists... I have no problem with the CA and would always involve them if it was obviously dangerous to the public. The pic here was just a surface soil dip, the shaft having been filled years before and was on their list.
The CA I have found to be quite pragmatic and helpful in my research.

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Still, I can't imagine that anyone would be foolish enough to explore collapses into old workings. :angel:

:tongue:

You'd be surprised how daft the good old British public can be!!

A point that worth noting here is that there is no duty on the authorities to prevent entry to a disused mine, only to prevent accidental entry, ie if you choose to go into an old mine so be it, but the authorities must prevent your accidental entry, such as falling down an open shaft while going for a walk. There is no requirement on them to fill shafts; fences, caps, grilles & gates are perfectly acceptable and probably a better long term solution in many cases

Seems the council has been peering under the local buildings in the area!!.http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/192990-school-forced-to-close-after-mineshafts-uncovered/
My partners children used to attend the school, she used to live just around the corner... Think she's glad she sold up and moved, property blight sets in fast when it turns out your garden can drop into the ground any day!!! 🙂 I suspect if the council looked hard enough, a good chunk of Ayrshire could have similar problems...

In Cornwall a lot of mining land was sold off to local authorities for building schools on in the latter half of the 19th century.
Mostly because it was cheap and the shafts could be filled with the material from the dumps. In the latter half of the 20th century the authorities embarked on a systematic search of school properties after a number of shafts were discovered opening up under class rooms etc. There are still places that have not been treated and workings that are uncharted/unrecorded.

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Roy I am sat here with a map of where I grew up showing shafts in the town in question and lets just say alot of people wood have a fit .... some workings are probably 10 feet below their house footings and the shafts god knows where exactly... afraid to say I bet its pretty much the same everywhere that has seen intensive mining. I can cite one example of a late (post 1900) Victorian house which is sat square over a 160ft deep shaft of a colliery closed in 1823 due to ... wait for it unstable shaft issues 😮 ... do you think it was capped.... ahem... ok!

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I wonder if the miners 'capped' it in the 1820s by the old trick of jamming a thorn tree in it and chucking rocks on top, if so the owners may find one day that their cellar has significantly enlarged itself......

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You are probably right Mr AR 🙂

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The common practice of capping shafts in most parts of Cornwall was firstly to span the shaft with logs or tree branches. The gaps were then 'blinded' with clay and then a layer of clayey earth or mud about 6 inches thick, thrown over the lot. Next was a good layer of stones ranging from fist size to the size of a swede and then topped off with spoil and backfilled to surface. These 'Caps' seemed to adhere to a standard format as far as the thickness of the cap and averages about 12 to 14 feet in most large shafts.
Generally the shaft cap is laid on the rock head ledge where the surface lagging stops and the competent ground begins.
Unfortunately in good ground (granite moorland is classic) where the rockhead is just a few feet from the surface the caps tend to be somewhat thin. 😢
Long periods of dry weather followed by a few days torrential rain works a treat for opening up old shafts.

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