Choppington Colliery - Pit Heap

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

This image has been posted within a couple of previous topics within this group :-

On the Choppington Remembered Facebook group the image has also been posted an few times and Brian Jenkinson, Admin of the group, has commented that the row of house in the photo is Single Row.

I Have checked a few, between 1900 & 1940, of the old maps but I can't find a Single Row named on any of them.

I know in the early 1960's I used to visit, on bike, a school mate who lived in Richardson's Buildings and we did ride up towards the Choppington 'A' pit = turning off the main road just before the Travellers Rest pub. What I can't remember is ever seeing a Pit Heap in Choppington. It might have been that as I grew up in Bedlington and passed the Bedlington Pit Heap almost every day that I just didn't take any notice of a one, I might have seen, at Choppington, as it was just part of everyday life. 

So a question for @HIGH PIT WILMA, and anyone else in this group - @Pete, @James - Where was the Choppington Colliery Pit Heap?

I have add some possible sites, A - B - C - D or E, to this old map that might help anyone say where there was a Pit Heap.   

Edited August 20, 2022 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Oooops - I hadn't saved the bits marking the location of the A & B pit

[James]

I cannot remember anything about The Low Pit (Choppington ‘A’) other than the pit heap that could be seen from miles around. I have attached a better photo of the pit heap and on the plan I have indicated where I think it was taken. I believe it was from behind North Front Row with Fourth Row on the right. The pit headgear is just out of sight to the right of the photo.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

21 minutes ago, James said:

I cannot remember anything about The Low Pit (Choppington ‘A’) other than the pit heap that could be seen from miles around. I have attached a better photo of the pit heap and on the plan I have indicated where I think it was taken. I believe it was from behind North Front Row with Fourth Row on the right. The pit headgear is just out of sight to the right of the photo.

 

Cheers @James - so my attempts - A,B,C,D & E - to identify where the pit heap was were all wrong. 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi folks,aam still alive!,just fully taken up time-wise..noo,aa luk oot me sitting room and kitchen Windaes ivry day of me life,at the remains of the Choppington Low Pit heap!..it's still big enough not ti be missed,but luks a lot nicer than it did many yrs ago!! On the great photo of the mountain,ye can see where the Bogies have been re-sited ti start tipping onto another part of the land adjacent ti the Mother heap! If the pit had still been ganning,tha wudda been Twin Heaps by noo!!

My Uncle Tommy Cadwallender and his family lived in them hooses,and when my Parents lived doon on the Willow Bridge,in Storey's Buildings,me Mutha used ti tek us bairns through the pit yard ti see them.

A distinctly remember,in aboot 1947,aged three yrs,seeing this massive pipe gushing filthy stinking black watta inti a greet big pond..[the pit ponds!!],and me Mutha frightening me by warning me not ti gaan and play near them ponds cos tha was a laddie droonded in them..a just canna remember the laddie's name.

Aa nivvor forgot the noise and smell of the waata gushing..it was terrifying ti a wee bairn like me..then we went through the yard,passed the screens and the rail sidings..loads o knocking and bangin from the tubs up in the Heapstead,the tipplers,the creepers,the cages rattling up and doon..steam blaan off wi the steam winders,black smoke from the boilers,AND the tankies shuntin' the trucks under the screens and being teemed inti ...Noise,Smells,loads of locomotion constantly..wat a dangerous environment it was!!..but that was pitwark..and we aal knew nowt else!!

The heap was on the right of the rail line wat went up ti Choppington High Pit,which was used ti bring the High Pit Coal doon ti join the main line.

It is noo knaan as Choppington Community Wood Walk..and a lovely walk it is..well done to the friends of Choppington Woods Project!!

Cheers,Bill.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Hi folks,aam still alive!,just fully taken up time-wise..noo,aa luk oot me sitting room and kitchen Windaes ivry day of me life,at the remains of the Choppington Low Pit heap!..it's still big enough not ti be missed,but luks a lot nicer than it did many yrs ago!! On the great photo of the mountain,ye can see where the Bogies have been re-sited ti start tipping onto another part of the land adjacent ti the Mother heap! If the pit had still been ganning,tha wudda been Twin Heaps by noo!!

My Uncle Tommy Cadwallender and his family lived in them hooses,and when my Parents lived doon on the Willow Bridge,in Storey's Buildings,me Mutha used ti tek us bairns through the pit yard ti see them.

A distinctly remember,in aboot 1947,aged three yrs,seeing this massive pipe gushing filthy stinking black watta inti a greet big pond..[the pit ponds!!],and me Mutha frightening me by warning me not ti gaan and play near them ponds cos tha was a laddie droonded in them..a just canna remember the laddie's name.

Aa nivvor forgot the noise and smell of the waata gushing..it was terrifying ti a wee bairn like me..then we went through the yard,passed the screens and the rail sidings..loads o knocking and bangin from the tubs up in the Heapstead,the tipplers,the creepers,the cages rattling up and doon..steam blaan off wi the steam winders,black smoke from the boilers,AND the tankies shuntin' the trucks under the screens and being teemed inti ...Noise,Smells,loads of locomotion constantly..wat a dangerous environment it was!!..but that was pitwark..and we aal knew nowt else!!

The heap was on the right of the rail line wat went up ti Choppington High Pit,which was used ti bring the High Pit Coal doon ti join the main line.

It is noo knaan as Choppington Community Wood Walk..and a lovely walk it is..well done to the friends of Choppington Woods Project!!

Cheers,Bill.

Bill

@Alan dickson - often posts photos, from when he is out with his dog, of the wood on the Bygone Bedlington group :-

[Canny lass]

9 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Hi folks,aam still alive!

I'm very pleased to hear it!! You can further my mining education here by explaining what "tipplers" and creepers" are.

[James]

 

On 07/09/2022 at 21:37, Canny lass said:

I'm very pleased to hear it!! You can further my mining education here by explaining what "tipplers" and creepers" are.

Photos showing ‘creeper’ and ‘tippler’ attached.

The photo of the ‘creeper’ was taken at Crofton Mill colliery that was in Blyth

The ‘creeper’ was an endlessly circulating chain driven by a motor that conveyed tubs from one level to a higher level. In the photo the chain is in the middle of the tub rails and had steel hooks spaced throughout the chain that would hook onto the axle on the underside of the tub and raise the full tubs to the tipplers. The full tub would then be pushed into a tippler that emptied the coal out of the tub onto the screens.

The ‘tippler’, as the word suggests, tips the coal out of the tub. The full tub would be placed in the tippler and by pulling on the handle, the tippler would rotate 360°. At the Doctor Pit, the empty tub then ran down to the ‘creeper’ that raised the tub to the cage level ready to be sent back underground.

[Canny lass]

Thanks James! And, an extra thank you for the Crofton Mill Colliery photo! Many of my relatives lived in Cowpen Square and worked there and that's the first picture I've seen.

I have to admit my idea of a "tippler" was something quite unrelated to mining!

Edited September 11, 2022 by Canny lass

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh!CL,ye would hae ti hae a canny gob ti swalley one of these!!

James,a hate ti soond like a nitpicker,but ivrybody on here knaas aam a stickler for correctness,where humanly possible!,[like...aa nivvor mek a mistake ...like!!!hmmm...!],but ye contradicted ya description,even though ye described the process better than aa cud o dun!

The FULL'NS are pushed oot the cage by Chummins gaan in,wi the help of the Banksman/Men.

They run stryght ti the tipplers,ti be tipped doon onti the Shakers,[Grids with several different sized sets of holes,which separate out the different sized pieces of coal and "shake" them onto different conveyor belts..called Screening belts..or "The Screens"],then the empty tubs..["Chummins"..or ."Chumtubs"],are pulled back up to the cage level by the Creepers.The difference in levels has to be like that or the tubs would have to be pushed aroond the whole circuit by hand!![caaled "The Heapstead Circuit"].

So the circuit is...Oot thi cage...run gently doon a slight gradient ti the tipplers..tipped...doon a slight gradient,after being pushed oot thi tippler by anither full'n...doon ti the creepers...up the creeper ..slight gradient and run aroond a curve and doon ti the cage..and away back doon the pit ti be filled at the Loader End..and start the circuit again.

...And aam gett'n aad a think...James...is it J.H. or aam a mixed up wi K.J...?..[BOTH aad Friends enywheh!!]

Hope ye dinna mind me interfering James!!

Cheers! Bill.[Great pics by thi way!..brings back memories of being a 15 yrs aad laddie stryght from me school desk..and daeing monotous,soul-destroying jobs like this..and tekking Jockey's oot on the kip aal day at the shaft bottom area..!afore gettin onto thi Fyess!!]

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

CL,see the handle next ti thi tippler?..whey ye had ti pull that handle back towards ye ti tip the tub ,by setting the rotating tippler in motion.

Noo,ye see where the youngin wud hae ti stand?..next ti the rails what set the next tub ti thi tippler behind ti youngin stannin theor!![cos tha wud be three or four tipplers aal gaaning at thi syem time at a big pit..Choppington High Pit ownly had one tippler cos we had single decker cages wat ownly tuk two tubs at a time..as opposed ti big pits wat had double,triple or even quadruple decks..thus winding more tubs aal at once.]

If Health and Safety had been aroond in the aad days ..aal thi pits wudda been shut doon as soon as the Inspectors went through the Heapstead doors!!...that reet James?!

At thi High Pit,that Handle was across at the other side of the rolleyway,[thi rails],and it had a 6" square plate welded onti it,and wat ye did was even mair scary..ti the uninitiated!

After ye pushed thi full'n inti the tippler,ye had ti larn thi knack of actually KICKING.. the plate on the handle ti set thi tippler away..![why thi hell thi handle was across thi otha side of the way beats me!]

Many a time us young kids from scyuul wud literally loss wa balance and faal backwards wi the reverse thrust of not being  strong enough,or heavy enough,ti set thi tippler away..[mind it didn't tek lang ti larn thi knack!!]

It was certainly an aad Tetty pit!..the coal washer was ancient..and primitive,but it worked!.it was a 40-ish feet lang heavy,a mean massive..Shaker..which had water sprays overhead washing the coal,and was driven by a wheel and belt system,with a massive crankshaft and conrod..which pushed and pulled this lang heavy shaker.

The coal was graded into different sized pieces after falling through varying sized mats of holes on the shaker,and aal the stones fell owa the front end onti steel flat sheets.

They had a bloke ["light wark"!!!]...wheeling the stones away ,in a wheelbarrow,and tipping them doon a chute and into waiting coal trucks below the screens.

It was like that in 1929,when me Faatha started  there as a 14 yrs aad laddie,and it was STILL like that when aa started in 1959.!!

A wasn't there five minutes,when a asked the aad timers why it was like that..a bit hillbilly-like!!

They said ,whey Son,it's aalwis been like that..!

Me Faatha telt me the same ,when a telt him..[He was now working at Linton Pit..]

So one day,a said ti the Engineer,"Why dinna yi burn a hole through the steel flatsheets,rig up a chute,and feed the styens stryght inti thi trucks doon under thi screens..tha theor ti start wi..meks sense ti me!!!

A day or two later,they were up wi the burning gear,and did wat a suggested..and the stones went inti the trucks directly till thi pit closed!![a was a fifteen year aad kid!!]

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Ye can see the edge of the next tippler at the reet side of the pic,the youngun wud hae ti stand in that wee triangle of space atween the two sets of way.[rails]Dangerous or wat?!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Just remembered,the creeper shown in thi pic isn't for pulling tubs aroond the circuit,this one is pulling tubs and trams of materials such as timber planks and pit props,girders,rolls of conveyor belts,and owt else from the timber or stock yards,ti gaan doon thi pit.

Ivrything like that ,at thi High Pit,was put inti the cages at thi Horse-hole,at grund level.

Just for reference!!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@HIGH PIT WILMA & @James

Bates - 'Pit Bottom Tippler' photo - posted on the Blyth Remembered & Memories Facebook in 2015 by Bill Riley. 

Unfortunately Bill Riley is no longer a member of the Blyth Remembered Facebook group so I can't ask him if it was he that took the photo but he did comment that it was from his collection of photos.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Alan,me last comment was short a bit,a had meant ti say this creeper pulled tubs and trams of materials and timber pit props and planks etc,up to the Heapstead,to go down the pit.

Aam studying this Tippler at thi pit bottom pic,and aam puzzled as hell!!

Why wud ye want ti tip mine cars oot underground?..they were just filled an hour before reaching the shaft bottom!..even if there was a drift conveyor to the surface like Lynemouth...why would they use mine cars being filled and tipped? beats me!

A wasn't at the pit in them days,so a canna fathom it oot..and if they used Skip Winding,the conveyor belts would run straight to the cages/Skips...and a canna mind Bates ever having a skip winder!

Bill Riley,where are ye?!!...please explain![unless they were tippling into a staple shaft..like they had at Bedlington Aad pit,in the High Main seam..the coal  came ootbye on the conveyor belt and went doon a chute into a Staple shaft aboot 60 feet doon,ti the Loader end,which was at a lower level.

The Staple was filled like a reservoir,if there was a stoppage at the Shaft bottom area,for any reason,tubs off the way or owt like that.

It meant that coalwork could still proceed until the Staple was full.

Ashington pit had a Staple shaft as weel..that's the only thing a can think of as ti why a tippler wud be at the shaft bottom..ti draw aal the coal from different seams in one place..noo that meks sense!!

[James]

10 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Aam studying this Tippler at thi pit bottom pic,and aam puzzled as hell!!

Why wud ye want ti tip mine cars oot underground?..they were just filled an hour before reaching the shaft bottom!..even if there was a drift conveyor to the surface like Lynemouth...why would they use mine cars being filled and tipped? beats me!

Bates Colliery was completely reorganised after nationalisation in 1947. This is described in the following link:

http://www.dmm.org.uk/colleng/5910-01.htm

The massive reorganisation was carried out without any loss in production and this required temporary coal handling arrangements and one of these was to have, for a short time an underground tippler. The following paragraph is taken directly from the article in the link.

“No. 3 shaft pit-bottom has been completed, but until a new heapstead is built it will not be suitable for coal winding, consequently the 3½-ton minecars are tipped in the pit-bottom and the coal is reloaded by conveyor into tubs for winding up Bates shaft.”

p.s. There is also a "creeeper" in the photo - it is at the end of the rails at the right of the photo.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, James said:

Bates Colliery was completely reorganised after nationalisation in 1947. This is described in the following link:

http://www.dmm.org.uk/colleng/5910-01.htm

 

 

Cheers @James - can't remember me ever clicking on the Archives>Coll. Eng. link 👍

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

11 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Bill Riley,where are ye?!!...please explain!

Unfortunately @HIGH PIT WILMA I can't contact Bill Riley - he's no longer on the Blyth group and I also checked the Friends Of Bates Colliery Facebook group but he has never been a member of that group. 

Fortunately @James has sorted it so you can click on the link he supplied and read away 

Bill Riley did post some other photos of Bates pit  and I will post them for you. Do you think I should add Bill's photos to your album in the Gallery?