Welcome

My name is Chris and I have worked in mining all my life from the age of sixteen. I grew up in a village surrounded by pits in the 60s, with family members who all worked in the local coal mines, New Monckton Colliery and Royston Drift Mine.
I am the sixth generation of miners in my family going back to mining in the Black Country and Catcliffe so I suppose you could say mining is in my blood. I was always interested in mining history and my mining heritage from early in my career. Around the same time I had the urge to research my family history as I was told miners were in my family as long as anyone could remember.


I am obviously the last generation of coal miners due to the sad closure and demise of the industry so this gave me the idea of researching the Selby Complex, the last big mining project undertaken in this country. I worked at Riccall Mine, one of the Selby pits, which was a huge advantage to starting my research. It is my intention to research all aspects of this marvel of mining and civil engineering and will include the history, concept, geology, mines rescue provision, planning, including the public inquiry, design and social impact that the Selby Superpit had on the 110 square miles of villages and on the town of Selby.

All information and memories are correct to the best of my knowledge. Sorry if the information about Riccall Mine seems more in depth but that is where I worked as a coalface and H.V. installation electrician so most the information is from my own experiences. Anyone who has further information about any of the Selby Mines please let me know and I will edit accordingly. 


So … let’s get started.

My grateful thanks to Eddie Downs for his permission to reference his book ‘Yorkshire Collieries 1947 – 1994’ which has proven to be an invaluable resource and an inspiration for this blog.
Downes, W., n.d. Yorkshire Collieries, 1947-1994.

Photographs of Dosco tunnelling machinery kindly provided by my mate Rich Teasdale ( Rich Tea ) who worked as a field service engineer for Dosco Mining Machinery.

26 thoughts on “Welcome”

    1. Hi Pamela,
      Did you work at Gascoigne Wood until closure? What was your role? I worked at Riccall Mine from 1986 until 1998 and they were the best years of my mining career. I only ever visited Gascoigne Wood surface once, for a Mines Rescue Training practice but went into the spine tunnels many times at the Riccall connection whilst installing the booster fans.

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      1. I worked as Manager’s PA at Gascoigne Wood from 1994 (before privatisation!) until 2002 but also covered Wistow when we were a “combined mine” for about a year or so. I was also a GMB lay rep and continued representing our members also at national level within the coal industry until the final closure of Kellingley. I went underground at Gascoigne Wood in 1994 with the manager and came out at Riccall, but also on 301’s face at Stillingfleet. I worked for four colliery managers, all very different, but I was trained as a safety auditor and a quality auditor so went out on site at Gascoigne Wood in those roles.

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    1. Hi Mark,
      Sorry I haven’t got back to you. Glad you like the site. It was a work in progress then Covid lockdown stopped me in my tracks. I fully intend starting it again soon.

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    1. Hi Tony,
      I didn’t work for IMC during my mining career. I became a Firefighter in 1999 but continued to work part time at Hayroyds Colliery as an Electrician/ Faceworker and The National Coal Mining Museum. What is your mining heritage? Do you still work for IMC?

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      1. Hi Chris , I work as a Deputy in Australia and I thought I remembered you doing some work for Tahmoor Colliiery in early 2000’s when I was there. I have worked with many men from UK but I never did myself , nearly took a job at Longannet years ago actually would have been just before if flooded as luck would have it. Is the mine in Newcastle still going ahead or has it to been stopped?
        Tony.

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  4. Interesting read! My dad was a miner at Wistow, moving on to the control at Kellingley when the pit closures came! Pretty sure i have heard your name before, both from my dad and an old work colleague named Burt Kinder!

    Nice to see someone keeping the history alive!

    Regards,

    Matthew

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    1. Hi Matthew,
      What was your dad’s name. Which pit did he work at before Wistow? He will know some of my mates from from the National Coal Mining Museum. I worked there for 22 years so came across quite a few Wistow boys. Did you work in the pit?
      Chris

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    1. Hi mate,
      Riccall Mine was doing well and producing a lot of coal. We were told Whitemoor Mine was closing and some men wanted to come to Riccall. We were told in late 1997, that Riccall had only 7 years left. We still had loads of reserves so closure was a surprise. We were told we had to drift upto a new seam to keep the pit open and still only had 7 years reserves. We were told to either stay at Riccall, transfer to Wistow Mine or take voluntary redundancy. I sadly decided at 36 years old to change career so took redundancy in 1998. I was offered a job as a faceman/ electrician at a small drift Mine called Hayroyds for 18 months until I became a firefighter. I really wished I could have continued at Riccall but it closed in 2004.

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  7. Hi Chris I’ve been fascinated reading your site I always knew the Shelby complex was big but not so as you have described. The amount of taxpayers money that was invested in that complex was a huge investment but equally so a tragic waste when it is now closed what an engineering marvel only to be sentenced to death by politics, just the investment alone would have justified mothballing as a future source of energy in the event the world goes pearshape, it would cost many $billions to replicate. Thanks again for the great insight into your world.
    Tony Leslie

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    1. Hi Tony, Thank you for your kind comments. It was the largest coal complex in the world at the time and the cost was vast but it did pay itself easily when it was managed properly as you can see from the performance figures in the 90s.
      Yes, I agree with you totally that the closure of the Selby Coalfield was a sad indictment of the attitude of the governments at the time to mining coal, coal miners and unions and the energy needs of the U.K.. The complex had 600m tonnes of Barnsley Seam Coal of which only 133m tonnes was mined. Another prime seam called the Stanley Main ( called the Beamshaw Seam in Barnsley) was also available of which only 5 faces were mined. I am adding post all the time so keep an eye out Tony.
      Keep in touch mate,
      Chris

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  10. Hi, Chris. Thanks for the fascinating site – so much info and context on a place that fascinated me when I lived in the area. I was lucky enough to explore some of the above ground workings after the mines shut. If you’d like any of the photos let me know – they were shot on a 2008 mobile phone so the quality is a little below modern par! Thanks for your hard work putting this info together.

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