I went looking for a shaft marked on an OS map in a forest but couldnt find anything obvious, then I realised there were no trees growing on a patch of ground about 20 feet in diameter. I got a stick and did some prodding and concluded that there was a concrete cap immediately below a thin layer of soil and leaves: I had found the shaft because trees cant get established on thin soil. This is the sort of thing that preoccupies me too, that and other industrial archaeology. Did you find it in the end?
Been doing some digging myself online since I came across this video a few days ago....having looked on Google maps (satellite view) directly opposite one of the capped shafts, in the trees it looks like there is a clearing roughly around the same diameter as the other 2 shafts?
My uncle lived in 1 Stanley Street, John Young. My Gr grandparents owned most of Stanley Street and ran a shop. Love Houghton -Le -Spring. I was later brought up in Fence Houses.
Sometimes a colliery would start a 3rd shaft but due to a war etc it never finished. The 6 inch os maps go back to 1860s, earlier records may be hard to find
JCBAirmaster73 I got told that after demolition, they sealed the shaft and put a pipe in, for years tankers drove into the old pit site emptying their waste from the tankers into the pipe filling the pit workings
If you visit both the Coal Authority and British Geological Survey interactive sites, it may reveal more.
I went looking for a shaft marked on an OS map in a forest but couldnt find anything obvious, then I realised there were no trees growing on a patch of ground about 20 feet in diameter. I got a stick and did some prodding and concluded that there was a concrete cap immediately below a thin layer of soil and leaves: I had found the shaft because trees cant get established on thin soil. This is the sort of thing that preoccupies me too, that and other industrial archaeology. Did you find it in the end?
Been doing some digging myself online since I came across this video a few days ago....having looked on Google maps (satellite view) directly opposite one of the capped shafts, in the trees it looks like there is a clearing roughly around the same diameter as the other 2 shafts?
And it also appears to be in roughly the same location as where his map shows it as being
National library of Scotland maps? There's about 7 different old map layers you can layer on top on Google earth. Makes locating shafts extremely easy
My uncle lived in 1 Stanley Street, John Young. My Gr grandparents owned most of Stanley Street and ran a shop. Love Houghton -Le -Spring. I was later brought up in Fence Houses.
Sometimes a colliery would start a 3rd shaft but due to a war etc it never finished. The 6 inch os maps go back to 1860s, earlier records may be hard to find
The third shaft was revealed when site redevelopments started in 2023 for a retail development. Looked like a drift.
Maybe the missing shaft is a much older mine workings, sunk well before the main colliery?🤔👍😎
I've seen old mineshafts that look like what was at 6.03
Is it true the shafts at houghton got filled with liquid waste??
JCBAirmaster73 I got told that after demolition, they sealed the shaft and put a pipe in, for years tankers drove into the old pit site emptying their waste from the tankers into the pipe filling the pit workings
Could the missing shaft be Mitchells Main This shaft was capped at around 200meters down and pumping shaft to
protect Houghton colliery
Patrick Moran
No because this isn’t about Houghton main . It’s Houghton Le Spring up Geordie land
Can't wait to see mining make a return as our industry is dead and needs reviving