I'm guessing that's the Somerset coal field. I caught a bit of Titfield Thunderbolt on telly a couple of weeks ago and got a glimpse of a conical tip like that – mind you, that film is sixty odd years old.
Posted by Roderick Jenkins on 26/05/2017 14:09:46:
I'm guessing that's the Somerset coal field. I caught a bit of Titfield Thunderbolt on telly a couple of weeks ago and got a glimpse of a conical tip like that – mind you, that film is sixty odd years old.
Rod
Much warmer than Neil Rod. I 'm pretty sure the colliery was on the same line, but I don't think any of the Titfield Thunderbolt was filmed nearby.
Hope you dont mind me showing these photos of boilers that used to be nearby to where i live ,though slightly before my time. Powered by the blast furnaces. I miss all the industrial past that was still around my area when i was a child. All but vanished.
V8Eng got it right. The 150' high spoil heap is the product of two nearby collieries (Springfield and Old Mills near Midsomer Norton).
Old Mills opened about 1860 and Springfield in 1872. By linking the mines underground it was possible to meet legislation demanding that mines have at least two exits after the Hartley Colliery Disaster. The Old Mills shaft was 11' in diameter and 1098' deep. Springfield's shaft was 9' 6" in diameter and 965' deep. The two mines merged in 1935 and finally closed in 1966. The Old Mills Winding Engine went to Bristol Museum for preservation and I don't think it's been seen since.
That claim to be the best preserved conical tip in Britain obviously has serious competition!
Here's another example. This pub has an impressionist's version of Stephenson's 'Rocket' outside. I particularly like the corrugated boiler.
However, on the other side of the road are the gateposts of the old railway station. They are real antiques being genuine repurposed Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed Broad Gauge Railway line. It could be original GWR 7' gauge circa 1840.
Mark's Lancashire Boilers are fascinating. I wonder if there are any of them not in a museum yet?
We used to live in Radstock, and worked in Bath, so we went through Dunkerton every day…twice. On a sort of related note, in 1970 I lived near Madeley in Shropshire. I was told that in the late 1800's the local cricket players decided that they needed a ground. So the top of a local slag heap was sliced off until a suitably sized ground was revealed. This story was told during a match after I commented that the boundary ran around the edge, and the back of the players shed was stood on piles.
cheers
Bill
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