113. Snowdown Colliery
Like most collierys this place is steeped in history. Being ignorant I thought Kent Coalfield was a newsreader, and had only assumed the geology of the county to include chalk. So if you want to bone up there are loads of helpful resources like the History of Kent forums, or even good old Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Coalfield
To sum up the history in 5 sentences:
*Work commenced in 1908, and coal was first brought to the surface on November 19, 1912.
* The first shaft sunk hit water at 260 feet (79 m) and 22 men were drowned.
* Snowdown was the deepest pit in Kent, reaching a depth of 3,083 feet (940 m).
* In 1945 the workforce was 1,876, with 1,523 being employed sub-surface and 353 above.
* The colliery closed in 1986 and the shafts were capped in 1988.
Luckily enough, I was hanging around in November 1912, so managed to capture the first load of coal coming out…You can tell its November as they all have moustaches.
Joking aside they’re pretty impressive statistics. The amount of coal mined was only a fraction of what is under here, and the mines were simply ‘capped off’. The mines are just under here, all ready to go again.
I didn’t really take and decent externals of the place, its so vast, and so spread out. Plus there was a security team on site, and I wanted to spend as least time possible in open ground . First stop then, the weighing station at the side of the tracks.
I couldn’t believe all the logbooks from the 70’s are still sat here rotting away:
Next stop, the brain of this monstrous beast, the admin offices.
Hand stencilled reminder of staff holiday dates from the 80’s:
Staff memos from 1976:
Safe innit:
Cheers for looking
To sum up the history in 5 sentences:
*Work commenced in 1908, and coal was first brought to the surface on November 19, 1912.
* The first shaft sunk hit water at 260 feet (79 m) and 22 men were drowned.
* Snowdown was the deepest pit in Kent, reaching a depth of 3,083 feet (940 m).
* In 1945 the workforce was 1,876, with 1,523 being employed sub-surface and 353 above.
* The colliery closed in 1986 and the shafts were capped in 1988.
Luckily enough, I was hanging around in November 1912, so managed to capture the first load of coal coming out…You can tell its November as they all have moustaches.
Joking aside they’re pretty impressive statistics. The amount of coal mined was only a fraction of what is under here, and the mines were simply ‘capped off’. The mines are just under here, all ready to go again.
I didn’t really take and decent externals of the place, its so vast, and so spread out. Plus there was a security team on site, and I wanted to spend as least time possible in open ground . First stop then, the weighing station at the side of the tracks.
I couldn’t believe all the logbooks from the 70’s are still sat here rotting away:
Next stop, the brain of this monstrous beast, the admin offices.
Hand stencilled reminder of staff holiday dates from the 80’s:
Staff memos from 1976:
Safe innit:
Cheers for looking
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