Long Lee Coal Mines

[eric]

Talking to a chap about 50ish today about Long Lee, and he mentioned Coal Mines and a tale he'd heard as a lad that, behind the Druids Arms, there was a shaft driven into the hillside, and it was here that several miners were trapped and died when the shaft collapsed, he has no idea of when this happened, but was told that the mines ceased working after this accident. Can anyone throw any light on the subject?

[parkwoodgirl]

I lived in Long Lee from the age of 6 to 38 ( apart from the war yrs., when I lived on Parkwood) - the land behind the house which became the Druids Arms was fields with marshland - we used to go catching tadpoles I don't recall any hills in that particular area. Further down Thwaites Brow Rd., there is an old quarry at the top of the twine but whether it was ever mined I have no idea.

[barcrofter]

Take a look at this. There is reference to Thwaites Brow

archive.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/1998/8/15/172364.html

[eric]

Many thanks for that Sir! it shows that there may be some substance to the tales. I wonder if there are any family historians with legends of ancestors dying in the coal mines?

[alumpot]

dont know about any coal mines, but I know that in Parkwood Quarry you can see a coal seam about 2/3rds of the way up the cliff face. I was once told that this was the end of the Barnsley seam. I seem to recolect that when Keighley Rifle Club were turning the quarry into a rifle range they used to collect coal from the seam to burn on a fire for warmth in the winter months.

[maryb]

I think the mines are shown on a ordanace survey map,I seem to remember seeing them.

Maryb

[parkwoodgirl]

my apologies Eric - my closest friend still lives in Thwaites Brow and we keep in contact by phone once a week. I asked her last night if she knew anything about the mine. She told me that when she was a little girl (80 yrs., ago) her neighbour Miss Burgess once told her that before the first world war open cast mining had been attempted in #~Smiths Field off Moss Carr Rd., but wasn't successful. Maybe this is why Smiths Field was always boggy and full of bull rushes before they built the new houses. I remember it before and after the war as just a field full of cows... Apologies.................

[malcolm]

Here goes -

Page 66 - British Mining - No 74 - Keighley Coal - Page 66 - ISBN - 0-901450-57-X - published 2004

Quote
"The Thwaites outcrops north of a fault, starting near the junction of Park and Hog Holes Lane, runs round Parkwood Bottom and North of Thwaites village before turning south to end against another fault near Currer Laithe. The 1841 Tithe Map shows two fields called Coal Pit Close at SE06484051, and there were two adits to the west of Thwaites Brow, where the coal was 8 inches thick"

So everyone, off to your modern maps and books to check it out!

M ;D

[danmoorhouse]

There are a few local mentions in the 1842 Royal Commission report on children working in the mines. Certainly a lot on Wilsden and Denholme - if anyone knows the name of the pit / shaft in Long Lee that may also be mentioned. The Royal Commission reports can be downloaded from this site - www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/literature/royalcommissionreports/index.html (Yorkshire 2 and 3 are the ones with local information in them).

[andy63]

Last year when Lewis and i where on one of our walks of discovery we came accross this old mine workings at the top of parkwood ,there are plenty of bits of old keighley history lying around we just need to open our eyes,as Jan will tell you we have shown her many things that we are recording for the archives.

Andy

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[Admin]

WOw - that is impressive Andy - looking forward to the Parkwood walk, when we are on back on top of things..........

I have the book British Coal by Mike Gill - will add it to our book list.....

" A group of six shafts shown as the "Long Lee Coal Pits" on the 1st edition OS sheet are more problematic. The surveyors of the 1876 geological map added a note that the coal was said to be 2' thick here. The 1936 map shows a small outlier of Guiseley Grit, but modern mapping shows it to be two small areas of Guiseley Grit, split by a fault and one of Woodhouse Grit.

Can scan pages if required..........

(c) M.C. Gill -

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[fsharpminor]

My father lived in Quarry Street for a short time in the 30's, before moving to nearby Harcourt St. I wonder if the Quarry was for open cast coal. He will surely know, and I will see him next Tuesday.

[eric]

I was looking at the book Keighley Coal in the library earlier this week,and it mentioned there were something like 6 shafts on Moss Carr Road, and in the 1600's a gentleman wrote a letter complaining about the shafts as travellers were allegedly going missing in the area!
Apparently, Moss Carr Rd used to be the main road to Bingley before the valley bottom route was opened up, presumably joining up with Altar Lane abit further on.

[upwood]

"Keighley Coal" by M.C.Gill of The Northern Mine Research Society is available on line from The British Library

[susan]

would love to know more about the road, interesting stuff here