A Proud History

As the last in a long line of Colliery Managers at Allerton Bywater Colliery I feel deep sadness to have seen the Colliery close. However, my four years stint there as Manager has left me with many fond memories and I suspect anyone, who has been privileged to be accociated with Allerton in the same way.

Allerton Bywater Colliery has a long and proud history, spanning one hundred and seventeen years. This commemorative gives a brief outline of the history. Thousands of former employees formed a complex part of Allertons past, so it is inevitable that much, that could be considered important has been left out. I feel this commemorative brochure will still be a valuable momento to remind people of the part of there lives which was Allerton Bywater Colliery.

I give special thanks to Glyn Edwards, Unit Surveyor and Melvyn Watson, Deputy Unit Surveyor, For all their work that went into writing, researching and producing this brochure.

It is perhaps typical of the Allerton Bywater work force, that even in the closure year they went on breaking their own output and productivity records, every one can feel justifiably proud that the Colliery went out with a bang, not a whimper, as often happens.

Finally I would like to wish everyone that left Allerton last year, best of luck with future endeavours, whether it be British Coal, some other venture, or even retirement.

All the best

Ken Westmoreland

By Nicholas Eames

The Present Allerton Bywater Colliery

In the late 1860s, with the advances made in, shaft winding facilities and ventilation of mines, shafts were being sunk to greater depth to gain access to the lower good qualty seams of coal in the area, Silkstone and Beeston being the prime seams. Sometime in the mid 1870s, with his present colliery nearing the end of its working life in the Haigh Moor Seam, Thomas Carter decided to exploit the lower this

Methods of Mining

The methods of mining have changed dramatically during the 117 years of coal mining

at Allerton Bywater Colliery.The methods of coal getting cannot be related to precise

periods,but from 1875 to 1934 it was solely stall working. The longwall system of

working was phased in until,by 1944,all the production was by this system.The longwall

system progressed from hand filing to the fully mechanised systems which we know today.

The Stall System

The stalls system of working was exremely hard and dangerous work,demanding men

of courage and resource.The coal faces were organised in stallsof about eight yards in length and there were usually three stalls between each gate.

In each stall a small team of men,probably two colliers and a filler,worked by hacking

coal away from the base of the seam.This invoved the collier lying on his side,taking

about a foot of the coal and gradually working his way underneath to a distance of

five or six feet,setting short wood sprags to support the coal above him.

In this uncomfortable and dangerous position the collier`s body would often become

cut and bruised,and most colliers would bear on his body for the rest of his life,dark

blue marks under the skin.When the wood sprags were knoked out,the top part of

the seam would fall and break up or have to be broken up and was then loaded

into tubs for transporting out of the mine.

In the early days the only coal that could be sold was of cobble size,and it was not unusual for the coal to be loaded into the tubs using a long pronged fork,or sometimes riddles so all the small coal was left behind.

The Longwall Method

Th year 1934 was an important one in the evolution of mining methods at Allerton. It was then that the first longwall face was introduced. The longwall system of working, involved the the driving of two roadways varying from 100 to 200 yards apart, working the coal between the roadwaysso the coal face was like a wall of coal at rigt angles to the two roadways. one of the main advatages with the long wall system was that the ventilation of the mine was easier to control then it was with the multi-gate stalls system.

The early longwall faces were worked by hand filling, the general sequence of working being: Day shift fill out the coal; Afternoon shift rip the gates forward and put gate side packs on;Night shift turn the face over and under-cut the coal.

On the coaling shift the face was divided into sints approximatley seven length, a stint being the part of a face worked by one man who would dig out the coal and fill it onto the conveyor, and advance the props and bars to support the roof.On average each man would fill about 14 tons of coal during his shift.

Coal & Materials

The transport of coal from the pick point to the surface has evolved through many stages to reach the high standard of the 1990s . In the earley days of mining , whenthe workings were quite close to the shaft , coal was loaded by hand into baskets, or onto sledges with slides with sides which were draged along the floor to the shaft bottom .

Coal Preparation

Mention has already been made of the fact that for many years small coal was left in the pit, and it was not sometime until the turn of the century that the first washer was built at Allerton Bywater.

On the 26th April 1900, H.F. Smithson, the colliery surveyor, recorded in his notebook that "a steam engine with double purchase gears has been fixed for drawing wagons to and from the washer" and "80 wagons of coal dirt were filled from the stacks and brought back to be washed".

The present washery building was erected in 1918 by Germen prisoners of war and housed a Baum washbox, capable of handaling 80 tons/hour. It was used for washing coal below 3"

Transport to the Customer

Transport of coal along the Navigation, by keel boat and then barge, remained a major method of customer supply right up to the 1950s, but then began to tail off until by 1970 only 5% of the colliery output was transported in this way.

by Nicholas Eames