Spent much of my childhood there. Playing with friends around the site. We watched the whole strike and the gradual transformation into a wasteland . Still my favorite place to visit.
Once met an old miner on there when I was walking the dog. He was looking for the shaft. We were right on it he said but couldn't find it. Was more nr the ponds . The roundabout had a really small bridge like one car at a time and a parallel green iron footbridge. Was a real bendy road. The main bit at the top was massive flat open cast with big slag heaps great for bikes when I was a kid. That abandoned road was called monkey devil. Sure it had a farm on it..forgot more than I can remember. Nice video
Hiya .. brilliant to see something about Brookhouse Colliery .. somehow it seems to get neglected, but was a brilliant pit to work at .. I worked there on the surface from 1977 to 1984 ... as with all the other collieries in the area there is not a lot left to see at all so you do have your work cut out, the tarmac area just off the roundabout was constructed by contractors working on the site when it was landscaped ... it had a temp. fence around it and they parked their earthmoving machinery on it and had their workmens cabins on there so they were secure at night... The tarmac was just left when the left the site.
I bet you knew my Dad. He was the training officer in 1977. He took me down and along the coal face. As an office worker, if was an eye opener for me to see the conditions. Full credit for all those that worked down there.
When I was about 20 years old, so1974, I worked for a steeplejack company in Sheffield . They had their depot on a street at the top of West Street, Company was W.E. Harrison. We did some work at Brookhouse Colliery on the site of the coking plant, which was a large open structure with several floors. We did all the painting of the structure. I don't remember a great deal of the actual colliery but it stirred up a few memories of my time working as a contractor, industrial painting. Great video, thanks for sharing this.
A brilliant video, local to where i live. The Brookhouse site has completely changed. I've walked the area but found nothing relating to Brookhouse. It was opencasted around the 1990s. You are obviously exploring much more intimately than I ever did.
Another great video Joe, more Papa Oscure too please 😁 I wonder if anyone knows about the pit ponds, which were down towards where you started the video, they were there in the early 80s, but not sure if they got filled in as part of thr redevelopment, as they were popular for fishing at one time?
Pit pond....used to fish it in the 80s one side u had to climb down to it, the other side was railway track was a decent little pond till they filled it
Another fascinating look into some urban archaeology. Nicely done again. One thing you overlooked, you were looking at that cast iron manhole cover and trying to speculate its use in the colliery's past but there was a ruddy great website URL embossed on it so that bit of hardware cannot date from much before 1996/7 because that's when the UK started to take the internet seriously and put URLs on stuff. So whatever that dam/reservoir thing was, it obviously postdates the closure of the mines. Also as a personal aside, that lamp post you showed looks like it may be a Concrete Utilities Ltd made one, my dad may well have cast the aluminium access door on it, as a foundryman in the day. You can date a lot in the English urban setting from the "street furniture" so for notes, keep your eyes on that kind of thing for clues if you're doing more of this kind of social and industrial 'archeology' :) Onto the next one, mate. Stay well.
@@tourobscure It’s behind the petrol station at Holbrook, there’s the base of the headstocks in the woods, the shaft cap and over the far side near EMR there’s what used to be an ventilation adit that now acts as an overflow of mine water into a murky looking pond. It’s all chained off but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Used to walk it was all slag heaps and rubble at the time,used to come out at the side of the houses on the road that leads to rothervalley near petrol station
Potentially - the old OS maps I saw didn’t show any railways on that particular section, however could have been an internal rail system? I’m no expert on the industry, just an admirer but I’m sure they’ll be someone commenting on this with the info you’re after!
and i have a large slab of sandstone with a fossil imprint of a tree in it. was a bugger getting it home up the hill at lodge lane. good thing its only around 10 minutes from my place
Brilliant interesting videos and it's nice to see a young person interested in history. Keep them coming.
Spent much of my childhood there. Playing with friends around the site. We watched the whole strike and the gradual transformation into a wasteland . Still my favorite place to visit.
Brilliant, informative and very local! Fantastic!
Once met an old miner on there when I was walking the dog. He was looking for the shaft. We were right on it he said but couldn't find it. Was more nr the ponds . The roundabout had a really small bridge like one car at a time and a parallel green iron footbridge. Was a real bendy road. The main bit at the top was massive flat open cast with big slag heaps great for bikes when I was a kid. That abandoned road was called monkey devil. Sure it had a farm on it..forgot more than I can remember. Nice video
Hiya .. brilliant to see something about Brookhouse Colliery .. somehow it seems to get neglected, but was a brilliant pit to work at .. I worked there on the surface from 1977 to 1984 ... as with all the other collieries in the area there is not a lot left to see at all so you do have your work cut out, the tarmac area just off the roundabout was constructed by contractors working on the site when it was landscaped ... it had a temp. fence around it and they parked their earthmoving machinery on it and had their workmens cabins on there so they were secure at night... The tarmac was just left when the left the site.
I bet you knew my Dad. He was the training officer in 1977. He took me down and along the coal face. As an office worker, if was an eye opener for me to see the conditions. Full credit for all those that worked down there.
When I was about 20 years old, so1974, I worked for a steeplejack company in Sheffield . They had their depot on a street at the top of West Street, Company was W.E. Harrison. We did some work at Brookhouse Colliery on the site of the coking plant, which was a large open structure with several floors. We did all the painting of the structure. I don't remember a great deal of the actual colliery but it stirred up a few memories of my time working as a contractor, industrial painting. Great video, thanks for sharing this.
Brilliant! I get a cameo even when I misbehave.
act yer age not yer shoesize ;)
A brilliant video, local to where i live. The Brookhouse site has completely changed. I've walked the area but found nothing relating to Brookhouse. It was opencasted around the 1990s. You are obviously exploring much more intimately than I ever did.
Another great video Joe, more Papa Oscure too please 😁 I wonder if anyone knows about the pit ponds, which were down towards where you started the video, they were there in the early 80s, but not sure if they got filled in as part of thr redevelopment, as they were popular for fishing at one time?
Pit pond....used to fish it in the 80s one side u had to climb down to it, the other side was railway track was a decent little pond till they filled it
Another fascinating look into some urban archaeology. Nicely done again. One thing you overlooked, you were looking at that cast iron manhole cover and trying to speculate its use in the colliery's past but there was a ruddy great website URL embossed on it so that bit of hardware cannot date from much before 1996/7 because that's when the UK started to take the internet seriously and put URLs on stuff. So whatever that dam/reservoir thing was, it obviously postdates the closure of the mines. Also as a personal aside, that lamp post you showed looks like it may be a Concrete Utilities Ltd made one, my dad may well have cast the aluminium access door on it, as a foundryman in the day. You can date a lot in the English urban setting from the "street furniture" so for notes, keep your eyes on that kind of thing for clues if you're doing more of this kind of social and industrial 'archeology' :) Onto the next one, mate. Stay well.
Another class vlog mate. Nice to have papa obscure come along for the journey. Nice one mate, keep it up!
Very interesting thanks for this... you and wobbly runner are great
Have you ever explored down the old Holbrook Colliery site down on Station Road? Loads of old bits left over from the Mine.
No - but it’s 100% on the list now!
@@tourobscure It’s behind the petrol station at Holbrook, there’s the base of the headstocks in the woods, the shaft cap and over the far side near EMR there’s what used to be an ventilation adit that now acts as an overflow of mine water into a murky looking pond. It’s all chained off but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Used to walk it was all slag heaps and rubble at the time,used to come out at the side of the houses on the road that leads to rothervalley near petrol station
That path was very flat, I wonder was it a former railway line? Maybe for the colliery? It looked like a railway path to me.
Potentially - the old OS maps I saw didn’t show any railways on that particular section, however could have been an internal rail system? I’m no expert on the industry, just an admirer but I’m sure they’ll be someone commenting on this with the info you’re after!
That road to the roundabout was originally going to be the exit from Gullivers, that’s why the services are there.
That road was designed so they could access an extension to Rother Valley, never materialised so it was left a dead end.
Next to the gullivers park entrance on the walewood end, theres an old wall and fencing that looks old , was that the mine drive in entrance ?
Thats where the pit head baths for Waleswood Coliery. On the right roughly where the entrance to Gulivers Valley is.
So many mines closed, a whole community destroyed.
Aye destroyed many communities
Just added it to google maps!
i might have taken a few pieces out of the big stones in the place at the intro.....a few years ago.
and i have a large slab of sandstone with a fossil imprint of a tree in it. was a bugger getting it home up the hill at lodge lane. good thing its only around 10 minutes from my place
Mu uncle use to work there called cooperman
Super Cooper ...I knew him from Darnall. Good lad!
Just checked on google maps, its not on there as an historic site...should be
Brookhouse pit was where Costa coffee is now you are on waleswood pit
Do you have Instagram page pal? Great content btw 👌
Have a Facebook page, but no Instagram. 👍 thanks for watching