The Lost Ganister and Clay Mines of Sheffield project: 2017 - to date:
Part 1: Stocksbridge, Deepcar and Wharncliffe is HERE
Part 2: Oughtibridge and Beeley Wood is HERE
Part 3: Wadsley, Worrell HERE
Part 4: Loxley Valley and Stannington
This area differs quite markedly from the previous areas covered. Firstly, in this area, it is all about the extraction of fire clay rather than ganister. Secondly, there isn’t the concentration of mining activity found areas such as those around Worrell. Thirdly, while the extraction of ganister was predominantly over by the 1930s, the mining of fireclay continued into the 70s and 80s.
This is a much shorter report than those previously but more than compensated for by the inclusion of Top Cabin mine and its extensive remains, including to adits.
Area Map:
(A) Robin Hood Mine
Located above the Loxley River at Little Matlock, the mine was opened in the early 1900s and was owned by Pickford, Holland and Co. of Attercliffe Road. In the “Special reports on the mineral resources of Great Britain” the mine is listed as yielding hard mine ganister coal, fireclay and some ganister.
The mine then appears to have changed hands and come under the ownership of Matthew Furness, the landlord of the "Robin Hood" in 1921. He was owner, manager and miner working the pit himself, mainly to provide coal for his own needs. An engine house sat close by to the pub using a converted Morris car engine to haul the corves up a steep slope from the mine entrance. This fantastic little new reel from 1947 speaks to a 60-year-old Mr Furness about his dual occupations here:
It’s unclear when the mine closed but now only a few hints of its existence remain.
The now blasted-in mine entrance:
Remnants of an old mine sleeper:
Small, culverted stream which the incline passed over:
The incline with two of its original sleepers still in situ:
Looking down the incline:
The concrete base of the winding hut is now slipping down into the valley:
Loading platform:
Nearby remnants of mining activity:
This structure is in the wood below Robin Hood’s mine:
As is this capped-off shaft:
(B) Top Cabin Mine
A – southern adit
B – main adit
C – incline boiler
D – WW2 air-raid shelter
During the industrial revolution in 1800s, the Loxley Valley became an important producer of refractory bricks for the Sheffield’s steel industry along with fireclay from Stannington’s pot clay mines. In the 1930s there were a total of three firms in the Loxley Valley using it to produce hollow refractories: Thomas Marshall’s, Thomas Wragg and Sons and Dysons. Between them, they supplied 95% of all the hollow refractories produced in Great Britain.
Wragg’s operations were located at Storrs Bridge at Storrs Bridge Fire Clay works. The site was badly affected by the Sheffield Flood on 11th March, 1864 when Dale Dyke dam burst sending over 700 million gallons of water surging down the Loxley valley. Although towards the bottom of the Loxley Valley, Wragg’s site was badly damaged, it was fortunately covered by its insurance policy, allowing the works to be rebuilt and to continue production of fire bricks as well as glazed sewage pipes and chimney tops.
Wragg’s owned their own pot clay mine located up an incline south-west of the factory. Referred to as Top Cabin mine (and sometimes, incorrectly, Storrs mine) in first opened in 1878 and extended deep into the north-facing hill side, and radiated out to three areas of workings, namely under Lea Moor near Dungworth, Storrs village and Storrs Green and finally Storrs Hall and Storrs house. The mine itself was linked to the works via an inclined tramway which used gravity to transport the tubs of fireclay to the works. At the top of the tramway were the main two adits. This operated right up to the 80s before their closure on 16th July, 1982. A southerly adit closed earlier in 1935.
The mine was pretty basic and during the Second World War struggled given many of its miners had been called up to fight in the forces. This was slightly at odds with the fact that the industry was vital to the war effort given its strategic importance to the manufacture of iron and steel. It has been said that if the Germans had bombed the Loxley Valley successfully, the war would have been over very quickly. As a consequence, there was a gun site on Wood Lane, Stannington, which shot down several Luftwaffe planes during the Sheffield Blitz.
After the war, the mine’s fortunes went from strength-to-strength as a number of improvements were made to it. In 1947, electricity was introduced into the mine, along with underground haulage and improved access to the main road. This greatly reduced the distances the fireclay had to be shifted in the tramming tubs. These improvements led to increased productivity and in the 1960s it was not uncommon for miners to produce up to ten tons of fireclay on a single shift.
The 1950’s saw a number of large-scale modernisations made to the factory itself. It consisted of 12 beehive kilns and two tunnel kilns, but capacity was expanded in the 1960s when a west plant was added. Wragg’s was subject to a takeover initially in 1970 by Gibbons and then in turn by GR Stein Refractories who were previously formed by the merger of Scottish-based John G. Stein and Co and General Refractories of Sheffield. GR Stein then became a subsidiary of Hepworth Ceramic Holdings Ltd. A collapse in demand for casting pit refractories, down to the introduction of continuous casting of steel worldwide and the general demise of the British steel industry eventually led them to close the mine in the early 1980s and the factory in the early 1990s. Since then, both factory and mine have been left empty and abandoned.
Quite a lot of pictures from here as there is a lot to see, plus I’ve made multiple visits over the years.
Starting at the southern end, this is an old stone-lined adit that was trammed. It appears to have closed first, in 1935. This is what remains:
Walking northwards along the tram line I came to this old trolley:
The tracks continue to the main mine entrance:
It’s pretty impressive:
Nice bit of vintage Coloquix:
And another:
On to the wagon way:
It starts off as a nice, bricked arch:
But as we get to the timbered section, it all starts to get a bit sketchy:
Time to come back out:
Part 1: Stocksbridge, Deepcar and Wharncliffe is HERE
Part 2: Oughtibridge and Beeley Wood is HERE
Part 3: Wadsley, Worrell HERE
Part 4: Loxley Valley and Stannington
This area differs quite markedly from the previous areas covered. Firstly, in this area, it is all about the extraction of fire clay rather than ganister. Secondly, there isn’t the concentration of mining activity found areas such as those around Worrell. Thirdly, while the extraction of ganister was predominantly over by the 1930s, the mining of fireclay continued into the 70s and 80s.
This is a much shorter report than those previously but more than compensated for by the inclusion of Top Cabin mine and its extensive remains, including to adits.
Area Map:
(A) Robin Hood Mine
Located above the Loxley River at Little Matlock, the mine was opened in the early 1900s and was owned by Pickford, Holland and Co. of Attercliffe Road. In the “Special reports on the mineral resources of Great Britain” the mine is listed as yielding hard mine ganister coal, fireclay and some ganister.
The mine then appears to have changed hands and come under the ownership of Matthew Furness, the landlord of the "Robin Hood" in 1921. He was owner, manager and miner working the pit himself, mainly to provide coal for his own needs. An engine house sat close by to the pub using a converted Morris car engine to haul the corves up a steep slope from the mine entrance. This fantastic little new reel from 1947 speaks to a 60-year-old Mr Furness about his dual occupations here:
The now blasted-in mine entrance:
Remnants of an old mine sleeper:
Small, culverted stream which the incline passed over:
The incline with two of its original sleepers still in situ:
Looking down the incline:
The concrete base of the winding hut is now slipping down into the valley:
Loading platform:
Nearby remnants of mining activity:
This structure is in the wood below Robin Hood’s mine:
As is this capped-off shaft:
(B) Top Cabin Mine
A – southern adit
B – main adit
C – incline boiler
D – WW2 air-raid shelter
During the industrial revolution in 1800s, the Loxley Valley became an important producer of refractory bricks for the Sheffield’s steel industry along with fireclay from Stannington’s pot clay mines. In the 1930s there were a total of three firms in the Loxley Valley using it to produce hollow refractories: Thomas Marshall’s, Thomas Wragg and Sons and Dysons. Between them, they supplied 95% of all the hollow refractories produced in Great Britain.
Wragg’s operations were located at Storrs Bridge at Storrs Bridge Fire Clay works. The site was badly affected by the Sheffield Flood on 11th March, 1864 when Dale Dyke dam burst sending over 700 million gallons of water surging down the Loxley valley. Although towards the bottom of the Loxley Valley, Wragg’s site was badly damaged, it was fortunately covered by its insurance policy, allowing the works to be rebuilt and to continue production of fire bricks as well as glazed sewage pipes and chimney tops.
Wragg’s owned their own pot clay mine located up an incline south-west of the factory. Referred to as Top Cabin mine (and sometimes, incorrectly, Storrs mine) in first opened in 1878 and extended deep into the north-facing hill side, and radiated out to three areas of workings, namely under Lea Moor near Dungworth, Storrs village and Storrs Green and finally Storrs Hall and Storrs house. The mine itself was linked to the works via an inclined tramway which used gravity to transport the tubs of fireclay to the works. At the top of the tramway were the main two adits. This operated right up to the 80s before their closure on 16th July, 1982. A southerly adit closed earlier in 1935.
The mine was pretty basic and during the Second World War struggled given many of its miners had been called up to fight in the forces. This was slightly at odds with the fact that the industry was vital to the war effort given its strategic importance to the manufacture of iron and steel. It has been said that if the Germans had bombed the Loxley Valley successfully, the war would have been over very quickly. As a consequence, there was a gun site on Wood Lane, Stannington, which shot down several Luftwaffe planes during the Sheffield Blitz.
After the war, the mine’s fortunes went from strength-to-strength as a number of improvements were made to it. In 1947, electricity was introduced into the mine, along with underground haulage and improved access to the main road. This greatly reduced the distances the fireclay had to be shifted in the tramming tubs. These improvements led to increased productivity and in the 1960s it was not uncommon for miners to produce up to ten tons of fireclay on a single shift.
The 1950’s saw a number of large-scale modernisations made to the factory itself. It consisted of 12 beehive kilns and two tunnel kilns, but capacity was expanded in the 1960s when a west plant was added. Wragg’s was subject to a takeover initially in 1970 by Gibbons and then in turn by GR Stein Refractories who were previously formed by the merger of Scottish-based John G. Stein and Co and General Refractories of Sheffield. GR Stein then became a subsidiary of Hepworth Ceramic Holdings Ltd. A collapse in demand for casting pit refractories, down to the introduction of continuous casting of steel worldwide and the general demise of the British steel industry eventually led them to close the mine in the early 1980s and the factory in the early 1990s. Since then, both factory and mine have been left empty and abandoned.
Quite a lot of pictures from here as there is a lot to see, plus I’ve made multiple visits over the years.
Starting at the southern end, this is an old stone-lined adit that was trammed. It appears to have closed first, in 1935. This is what remains:
Walking northwards along the tram line I came to this old trolley:
The tracks continue to the main mine entrance:
It’s pretty impressive:
Nice bit of vintage Coloquix:
And another:
On to the wagon way:
It starts off as a nice, bricked arch:
But as we get to the timbered section, it all starts to get a bit sketchy:
Time to come back out:
