The Lost Ganister and Clay Mines of Sheffield project: 2017 - to date: Part 2
Part 1 is HERE
Like the first part of these reports, the remnants are scarce and far from spectacular. However, there are some interesting remains, including the actual mines themselves, serving as a reminder of this once vital industry.
2. Oughtibridge and Beeley Wood
Again the mines in this area are predominantly ganister mines, however, both coal and ganister was mined from a number of them. Sometimes they are also listed as fireclay mines. In 1908, records stated total output from the valley to be circa 40,000 tons.
(A) Usher Wood quarry and mine
Usher Wood quarry and mine is an interesting one. Information on it is in short supply, apart from a paragraph or two in Roy Battye’s “Forgotten mines of Sheffield”. Located high above the A6102 on the western side, about half a mile north of Oughtibridge, it produced pot clay rather than ganister. It was owned by William Ellis who lived close by in Don House. While maps show a quarry located here from 1890, records indicate mining commenced in 1925. The mine appears to have been expanded during the Second World War to meet increased demand for refractory brick due to the increase in steel production. It was accessed by three drift entrances, one of which was directly above a chute down to Langsett road where the lorries were loaded with potclay. Apparently remnants of the stone chute still remain today. The mine also had two shafts to facilitate the ventilation of the mine. Interestingly, no maps show the drift entrances. The records state the mine closed in March 1947 and the 1950 OS map of the area marks the quarry as disused (pictured below):
When we checked the place out, we couldn’t see the stone chute. Little remained to suggest there was a mine here but there were some steps down to the quarry and a few areas that looked like they potentially could have been where the drift entrances were.
A miner’s track down into the quarry?
The quarry itself:
And something that, potentially, looks like the location of an adit entrance:
(B) Wharncliffe Wood ganister mines
Wharncliffe woods sit to the north of Oughtibridge and to the east of the River Don. Over the years the area on the outcrops on the western-facing slopes of the River Don have been the subject of both extensive quarrying and mining of ganister. The mines were owned by the Oughtibridge Silica Brickwork Co to the south. The company was established in 1858, before ganister was widely used, so initially used other refractory materials such as pot clay. They were then incorporated in 1918. The lidar map below shows just how extensive the workings were. The older workings from the late 1800s were due north of the fire brick works and as these mines were exhausted, the mining headed north.
The lofty location of the mines meant that gravity and the inclined tramline greatly eased the last of taking the ganister down to the Great Central railway line between Manchester and Sheffield. Opened in 1845, this then facilitated the short remaining leg to the works themselves. Dropping the “Oughtibridge” from its name, the works and mines prospered and became particularly strategic during the World War II. It’s hard to determine the exact dates when the mines opened and when they closed. However, best guesses are that the earliest mines opened in the 1860s and the last mines closed sometime around the finish of World War Two. In 1947 the works were taken over by Steetley and then in the 1980s the southern half of the former Silica Fire Brick site was redeveloped for housing while the remaining north half is owned by Sheffield Refractories Ltd.
O/S map from 1920 of the main mining area:
This area has already been covered in a number of reports here on the forum. There is one small mine that is open to the left of the stream that runs down the hill. It doesn’t go a long way in after you have crawled into the partially infilled brick arched entrance. Then it’s into a horse-shoe shaped passage that song comes to a dead end. Most of the year the water-table is high making wellies/waders essential. It may be small but it’s a key piece of Sheffield’s ganister-mining history.
On the lower levels of the slope you come to this now blasted in drift entrance:
Sadly, no way in:
Further up the hill if you follow the stream you come to the first mine entrance. It’s a tight squeeze:
But when you’re in you’re in!
Turn right:
And you are greeted with this stunning view:
Up to the left and across are another set of mines. A lovely stone-lined tramway contours the hillside with periodic turns off to the right into now blasted-in adit entrances:
Going back to the first entrance and contouring round the other side, you come to some sort of sluice/water control gate:
And further round is the large overgrown adit approach:
It’s impressive still:
And here it is, a second adit entrance:
It’s an interesting place:
But a real challenge when the water level is this high:
So best visited when the water level is lower as it was here:
The coal seam forms the roof of the mine here:
It’s pretty mucky down here:
And before long it gets a bit sketchy:
This side passage of the main adit looks a bit sketchy too:
Time to head back out:
And back down the incline. We pass the older workings from the late 1800s, but little remains bar hints of adits:
Part 1 is HERE
Like the first part of these reports, the remnants are scarce and far from spectacular. However, there are some interesting remains, including the actual mines themselves, serving as a reminder of this once vital industry.
2. Oughtibridge and Beeley Wood
Again the mines in this area are predominantly ganister mines, however, both coal and ganister was mined from a number of them. Sometimes they are also listed as fireclay mines. In 1908, records stated total output from the valley to be circa 40,000 tons.
(A) Usher Wood quarry and mine
Usher Wood quarry and mine is an interesting one. Information on it is in short supply, apart from a paragraph or two in Roy Battye’s “Forgotten mines of Sheffield”. Located high above the A6102 on the western side, about half a mile north of Oughtibridge, it produced pot clay rather than ganister. It was owned by William Ellis who lived close by in Don House. While maps show a quarry located here from 1890, records indicate mining commenced in 1925. The mine appears to have been expanded during the Second World War to meet increased demand for refractory brick due to the increase in steel production. It was accessed by three drift entrances, one of which was directly above a chute down to Langsett road where the lorries were loaded with potclay. Apparently remnants of the stone chute still remain today. The mine also had two shafts to facilitate the ventilation of the mine. Interestingly, no maps show the drift entrances. The records state the mine closed in March 1947 and the 1950 OS map of the area marks the quarry as disused (pictured below):
When we checked the place out, we couldn’t see the stone chute. Little remained to suggest there was a mine here but there were some steps down to the quarry and a few areas that looked like they potentially could have been where the drift entrances were.
A miner’s track down into the quarry?
The quarry itself:
And something that, potentially, looks like the location of an adit entrance:
(B) Wharncliffe Wood ganister mines
Wharncliffe woods sit to the north of Oughtibridge and to the east of the River Don. Over the years the area on the outcrops on the western-facing slopes of the River Don have been the subject of both extensive quarrying and mining of ganister. The mines were owned by the Oughtibridge Silica Brickwork Co to the south. The company was established in 1858, before ganister was widely used, so initially used other refractory materials such as pot clay. They were then incorporated in 1918. The lidar map below shows just how extensive the workings were. The older workings from the late 1800s were due north of the fire brick works and as these mines were exhausted, the mining headed north.
The lofty location of the mines meant that gravity and the inclined tramline greatly eased the last of taking the ganister down to the Great Central railway line between Manchester and Sheffield. Opened in 1845, this then facilitated the short remaining leg to the works themselves. Dropping the “Oughtibridge” from its name, the works and mines prospered and became particularly strategic during the World War II. It’s hard to determine the exact dates when the mines opened and when they closed. However, best guesses are that the earliest mines opened in the 1860s and the last mines closed sometime around the finish of World War Two. In 1947 the works were taken over by Steetley and then in the 1980s the southern half of the former Silica Fire Brick site was redeveloped for housing while the remaining north half is owned by Sheffield Refractories Ltd.
O/S map from 1920 of the main mining area:
This area has already been covered in a number of reports here on the forum. There is one small mine that is open to the left of the stream that runs down the hill. It doesn’t go a long way in after you have crawled into the partially infilled brick arched entrance. Then it’s into a horse-shoe shaped passage that song comes to a dead end. Most of the year the water-table is high making wellies/waders essential. It may be small but it’s a key piece of Sheffield’s ganister-mining history.
On the lower levels of the slope you come to this now blasted in drift entrance:
Sadly, no way in:
Further up the hill if you follow the stream you come to the first mine entrance. It’s a tight squeeze:
But when you’re in you’re in!
Turn right:
And you are greeted with this stunning view:
Up to the left and across are another set of mines. A lovely stone-lined tramway contours the hillside with periodic turns off to the right into now blasted-in adit entrances:
Going back to the first entrance and contouring round the other side, you come to some sort of sluice/water control gate:
And further round is the large overgrown adit approach:
It’s impressive still:
And here it is, a second adit entrance:
It’s an interesting place:
But a real challenge when the water level is this high:
So best visited when the water level is lower as it was here:
The coal seam forms the roof of the mine here:
It’s pretty mucky down here:
And before long it gets a bit sketchy:
This side passage of the main adit looks a bit sketchy too:
Time to head back out:
And back down the incline. We pass the older workings from the late 1800s, but little remains bar hints of adits:
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