Minnie Pit Halmer End Capping The Shaft 1998

[@Magdalena76h]

Thank you for sharing this - I have always imagined that there is an empty shaft plunging to the depths of the earth under that cap, but it appears to be flooded almost to ground level! What an amazing job they did back then! (I say back then, but it doesn't seem very long ago!)

[@DaveBarber-cm6kr]

Just short 1100 ft to the bottom. Surveyors were on site in April 2024 with a camera suspended through the inspection borehole let into the concrete cap. Visibility centred in a 16ft diameter shaft full of turbid water and in total darkness was not great, but masonry and pipework could be made out. Amazing.

[@peter-smith]

Evocative to think my grandfather went down that shaft in 1918

[@gb5uq]

Apparently it was 359 yards or 1077 feet deep. 155 men and boys were killed there in an explosion on the 12th January 1918. There had been previous explosions resulting in loss of live in the years prior to the 1915 disaster. I'm surprised it wasn't back filled before it was capped.

[@bronoun8884]

Theres another way in/out somewhere or at least one was found.
If not I wouldn’t be here .

[@philglover2973]

Thanks for the video I live not far from this memorial regards from an ex miner rest in peace one and all 🕊️🙏🕊️ 🙏🕊️🙏

[@bronoun8884]

First thing that happened when the disaster kicked off was .. tallyman wanted all the tags back
Noone was getting paid for being trapped
Ive got a tag from this pit Grandfather age 12 fought the guy and made his own way out sniffing for fresh air
He never worked pits again age 12 !
Its mental he’d already done about 4 years down there so 8 .

[@philglover2973]

@@bronoun8884 thanks for your reply I did 23 years it's like a band of brothers

[@bronoun8884]

@@philglover2973 a fella called Roy described to me in detail the inside of Silverdale sounded absolutely terrifying : he used to walk 12 miles to work along the route of mine on the surface to check for see if anything had changed/ moved etc
You lads must put carpet tacks on your cornflakes instead of sugar or something. Ive done some tough jobs before but mines . No ta very much

[@philglover2973]

@@bronoun8884if they opened up again I'd be there like a shot 😄🛠️🔧🇬🇧

[@bronoun8884]

@@philglover2973 the way things are going you never know

[@seeul8rwaynekerr]

Wow. What a find. So all that old telephone pole stuff and the old I beam girders and the like were from previous attempts to cap the shaft temporarily previously?
Good job the water table was/is so high or else that hole could've been really deadly to nearby walkers.

[@haznkaz]

That’s Titch Dougmore driving the Ashley Plant machine.

[@margaretsmallallan28]

And an old Tich reading this!

[@thomasdonald3291]

How deep is it?

[@seeul8rwaynekerr]

335 metres deep.