Caphouse Colliery
Encyclopedia
Caphouse Colliery, originally known as Overton Colliery, was a coal mine in Overton
, near Wakefield
, West Yorkshire
, England. It was situated on the Denby Grange estate owned by the Lister Kaye family, and was worked from the 18th century until 1985. It reopened as the Yorkshire Mining Museum in 1988, and is now the National Coal Mining Museum for England
.
and James Milnes who mined coal at Emroyd and Old Flockton. Some coal was supplied locally, but much more was sent to distant markets to the east of Pontefract
via the Calder and Hebble Navigation
. Smith's coal pits were under the contol of Sir John Lister Kaye by 1817 and were managed by estate managers including John Blenkinsop
of the Middleton Collieries who oversaw the enlargement of the enterprise in the 1820s. His son, Sir John Lister Lister Kaye took over the lease for getting coal from the Overton Colliery on his own estate from the executors of James Milnes in 1827 and began to expand the colliery. Milnes' pits were linked to the Calder and Hebble Navigation
at Horbury Bridge by a wooden wagonway
which was later laid with iron rails.
Hope Pit was sunk close by in 1827 and the Blossom Pit on the opposite side of the Wakefield to Austerlands
turnpike
road, the A642
, was sunk by 1840. Hope Pit's shaft descends 215 yards and produced coal after 1829. The coal was wound by horse gins until the 1920s. It was one of the earliest Yorkshire coal mines to use electrical coal cutters. The Inman Water Shaft was sunk to 97 yards in about 1840 to pump water from Hope Pit and its beam engine
house survives. The shaft was later later deepened to the New Hards Seam. The pits were originally ventilated by furnaces at the shaft bottoms.
Caphouse Colliery was again developed in 1876 when the steam winding engine
house, boiler yard, chimney, stone heapstead
and ventilation shaft
were completed for Emma Lister Kay, the sole proprietor. The headframe is built of pitch pine
with steel braces, a late survivor of its type. The Caphouse shaft is 11 feet in diameter and although it had been deepened and widened may have been the oldest working mine shaft in the country in the 1980s. In 1892 colliers were paid 4/6d. per day and 13/6d. in 1938. In 1901 the colliery employed 93 workers and this total rose to 206 in 1911, and 240 in 1918.
The colliery was sold in 1907. After the sale, the name Denby Grange Collieries referred to Caphouse and the Prince of Wales Colliery (locally known as Wood Pit) situated near New Hall in Flockton.
Pithead baths and an administration block were built around 1937 and surface buildings upgraded between 1943 and 1946. The colliery became part of the National Coal Board
on nationalisation in 1947.
A drift mine opened in 1974. In 1978 the colliery employed 230 men winning 4,000 tons of coal per week from the Beeston Seam. The coal reserves were exhausted by 1985 and the colliery closed. It reopened as the Yorkshire Mining Museum in 1988.
's Barnsley branch and Calder and Hebble Navigation at Calder Grove after 1852 by a private mineral line that began near Hope Pit with a tunnel under the turnpike. Two rope-hauled inclines the second partly in a tunnel were needed before the line reached the navigation or the railway. Two locomotives, four-wheeled Solferino and six-wheeled Balaklava were bought to operate the line.
The mineral railway fell out of use apart frm the end section when road transport was favoured over rail in the late 1940s.
Overton, Wakefield
Overton is a small village in West Yorkshire, England, between Wakefield and Huddersfield. It lies about south west of Wakefield, south of Ossett, west of Netherton and south west of Horbury....
, near Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. It was situated on the Denby Grange estate owned by the Lister Kaye family, and was worked from the 18th century until 1985. It reopened as the Yorkshire Mining Museum in 1988, and is now the National Coal Mining Museum for England
National Coal Mining Museum for England
The National Coal Mining Museum for England is based at the site of Caphouse Colliery in Overton, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was granted national status in 1995.-History:...
.
History
The colliery was on the Denby Grange Estate, home of the Lister Kayes, in an area where coal had been mined for many years. Coal was close to the surface and the Flockton Thick Seam was mined in 1793. Leases for mining coal were held by Timothy Smith who leased the original Denby Grange Colliery north of FlocktonFlockton
Flockton is a village in the Kirklees district of West Yorkshire, England halfway between Huddersfield and Wakefield with a population of 1,410 ....
and James Milnes who mined coal at Emroyd and Old Flockton. Some coal was supplied locally, but much more was sent to distant markets to the east of Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
via the Calder and Hebble Navigation
Calder and Hebble Navigation
The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a Broad inland waterway in West Yorkshire, England, which has remained navigable since it was opened.-History:...
. Smith's coal pits were under the contol of Sir John Lister Kaye by 1817 and were managed by estate managers including John Blenkinsop
John Blenkinsop
John Blenkinsop was an English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive....
of the Middleton Collieries who oversaw the enlargement of the enterprise in the 1820s. His son, Sir John Lister Lister Kaye took over the lease for getting coal from the Overton Colliery on his own estate from the executors of James Milnes in 1827 and began to expand the colliery. Milnes' pits were linked to the Calder and Hebble Navigation
Calder and Hebble Navigation
The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a Broad inland waterway in West Yorkshire, England, which has remained navigable since it was opened.-History:...
at Horbury Bridge by a wooden wagonway
Wagonway
Wagonways consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam powered railways. The terms "plateway", "tramway" and in someplaces, "dramway" are also found.- Early developments :...
which was later laid with iron rails.
Hope Pit was sunk close by in 1827 and the Blossom Pit on the opposite side of the Wakefield to Austerlands
Austerlands
Austerlands is a suburban area of Saddleworth, a civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies a hillside amongst the Pennines, between the villages of Lees and Scouthead. It is traversed by the A62 road....
turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
road, the A642
A642 road
The A642 is an A-road in West Yorkshire, England which runs from Huddersfield to the A64 near Leeds. It connects with the M1, M62 and A63.The road begins at Waterloo east of the town centre before going on via Lepton, Grange Moor, Middlestown, Horbury into Wakefield City Centre.The road then goes...
, was sunk by 1840. Hope Pit's shaft descends 215 yards and produced coal after 1829. The coal was wound by horse gins until the 1920s. It was one of the earliest Yorkshire coal mines to use electrical coal cutters. The Inman Water Shaft was sunk to 97 yards in about 1840 to pump water from Hope Pit and its beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
house survives. The shaft was later later deepened to the New Hards Seam. The pits were originally ventilated by furnaces at the shaft bottoms.
Caphouse Colliery was again developed in 1876 when the steam winding engine
Winding engine
A winding engine is a stationary engine used to control a cable, for example to power a mining hoist at a pit head. Electric hoist controllers have replaced proper winding engines in modern mining, but use electric motors that are also traditionally referred to as winding engines.Most proper...
house, boiler yard, chimney, stone heapstead
Headframe
A headframe is the structural frame above an underground mine shaft. Modern headframes are built out of steel, concrete or a combination of both...
and ventilation shaft
Ventilation shaft
In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air....
were completed for Emma Lister Kay, the sole proprietor. The headframe is built of pitch pine
Pitch Pine
The Pitch Pine, Pinus rigida, is a small-to-medium sized pine, native to eastern North America. This species occasionally hybridizes with other pine species such as Loblolly Pine , Shortleaf Pine , and Pond Pine The Pitch Pine, Pinus rigida, is a small-to-medium sized (6-30 meters or 20-100 feet)...
with steel braces, a late survivor of its type. The Caphouse shaft is 11 feet in diameter and although it had been deepened and widened may have been the oldest working mine shaft in the country in the 1980s. In 1892 colliers were paid 4/6d. per day and 13/6d. in 1938. In 1901 the colliery employed 93 workers and this total rose to 206 in 1911, and 240 in 1918.
The colliery was sold in 1907. After the sale, the name Denby Grange Collieries referred to Caphouse and the Prince of Wales Colliery (locally known as Wood Pit) situated near New Hall in Flockton.
Pithead baths and an administration block were built around 1937 and surface buildings upgraded between 1943 and 1946. The colliery became part of the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
on nationalisation in 1947.
A drift mine opened in 1974. In 1978 the colliery employed 230 men winning 4,000 tons of coal per week from the Beeston Seam. The coal reserves were exhausted by 1985 and the colliery closed. It reopened as the Yorkshire Mining Museum in 1988.
Mineral line
The colliery was linked to the Lancashire and Yorkshire RailwayLancashire and Yorkshire Railway
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...
's Barnsley branch and Calder and Hebble Navigation at Calder Grove after 1852 by a private mineral line that began near Hope Pit with a tunnel under the turnpike. Two rope-hauled inclines the second partly in a tunnel were needed before the line reached the navigation or the railway. Two locomotives, four-wheeled Solferino and six-wheeled Balaklava were bought to operate the line.
The mineral railway fell out of use apart frm the end section when road transport was favoured over rail in the late 1940s.