Huncoat Colliery
- Thread starter Mog
- Start date
Was he a large gentleman with grey hair and glasses.
My dad worked there as an electrician Bryan Yates.
My Gt. grandfather John Floyd came up from Cornwall when the tin mines closed and helped to sink Huncoat pit and then worked there for many years.He had a big family almost all girls but my grandfather did not follow in his footsteps and left Huncoat with my mother about 1912 to move to Accrington.It's not quite your time at the pit Mog,but still part of it's history.
I am pretty sure Thorny Bank was a drift mine. It was just Accrington side of the Hapton Inn and not far from Rose Grove. I drove a coal tipper for a short while and loaded there a few times, A NCB man showed me the entrance to the drift once and I vowed that if I had to starve I would never venture down a coal mine. Silly me went down Hapton Valley one shut down with a mate who was an engineer. The men who work underground deserve every penny they get, and more.
You are quite right, Thorny Bank was a drift mine. But there was also a drift into Hapton Valley mine. This was used as a conveyor system to bring coal out of the mine. I worked mainly at Huncoat and here are a few names of the young timber lads as we wetre called before we did our coal face training. Tony Boardman, Malcolm Taylor, Roy Tattersal, Alan Macnamara, Pat Varley, Dave and Mick Higgson, Brian Stevenson,
Ian (Pocket) Powers, Billy Baron. Will have think of some more.
was at Bank Hall training pit meself, best job i ever got sacked from.
knew most of the lads yeh mention Mog, Pat Varley was a good mate of mine, croaked a good few years back. another yeh may know who was a good mate of pats n mine was "Trev"-Brian Trevithick? your kids in that list aint he?
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dont know much about pits im glad to say but about 60 yrs ago yes i can remember that far back just a trip was arranged from all saints church clayton to go down hapton valley pit i dont remember much about it but about 40 yrs ago i went down huncoat pit with a group of women from the meter testing station in clayton i do remember a bloke called brian maden & others took us down i was quite impressed at the bottom of the lift shaft quite high with strip lighting that was the best bit until we finished up in a local pub about 90 min later i couldnt believe men worked in such awful conditions they deserve every penny they earn violet
One side of my grandmothers family were tin miners in Cornwall before moving up here. I wonder if it was for the same reason
Whilst digging around I found this if it's of any interest
Hapton Valley and other North East and Mid Lancashire Collieries.
Hapton Valley and other North East and Mid Lancashire Collieries.
Knew Brian Maden very well. He used to be on Mechanisation. Bringing the mine into the 20th century. He was also in the first aid team along with a few of us. Maybe I was there when you had your pit visit. Brian Trevithick, Yes I knew him as well. Did his family have hotel or bed and breakfast on Blackburn rd somewhere. Also yes that was our kid Brian Stevenson, He lives in Swindon. Doing ok.was at Bank Hall training pit meself, best job i ever got sacked from.
Worked down the pit from 1962 until 1992. Maggie then said that she didnt want me any more, so I moved to the channel Tunnel as Technical Advisor for Eurotunnel. On the day of the opening I had to escort Maggie and Dennis into the tunnel via our train. I had to hold her hand as a support whilst she boarded the train. If my dad could have seen it he would have turned in his grave.
