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Report - - Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum Underground Experience, Chell, Staffordshire - July 2019 | Mines and Quarries | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum Underground Experience, Chell, Staffordshire - July 2019

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cunningcorgi

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Visited with @Saltburndan1971

HISTORY

Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum rose from the ashes of the old Chatterley Whitfield Colliery which had operated outside Chell, Staffordshire from 1853 until its closure by the NCB on Friday, March 25th, 1977.

The museum opening in 1979 and was soon welcoming over 70,000 visitors a year. It offered a range of activities - derelict buildings were renovated, mining machinery restored in its original working condition in order to show the working conditions of local miners and an underground tour of workings was also offered.

The underground tour was through the Winstanley shaft. Problems first arose in 1984 when the pumps at Wolstanton colliery were turned off as Chatterley Whitfield had been connected underground to Wolstanton. Coal production was stopped at Wolstanton in 1981 but pumping operations continued there until May 1984 to facilitate salvage work. With the pumps now turned off, there was a danger that water levels and methane would make the underground tour at Chatterley Whitfield unsafe. This duly came to pass and the underground tour finishing when a new purpose built mining experience (The New Pit) was opened on Wednesday, August 20th, 1986. This new tour - the subject of this report - continued until Monday, 9th August, 1993 when the museum was closed and put into the hands of the liquidators.

PHOTOS

1. Pit bottom

48289376252_7be464e2ed_b.jpg


2. Phone

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3. Candid camera

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4. Control room

48289269486_a50da655da_b.jpg


5. Offices

48289268851_7a2427fbc7_b.jpg


6. Stair, rail and conveyor

48289268336_a0b2cbca4b_b.jpg


7. Shearer

48289267451_0440914e7e_b.jpg


8. Support

48289266271_d229f7b077_b.jpg


9. Cutter face

48289369072_b4fdea9e55_b.jpg


10. Rust

48289264071_0a8bfb63eb_b.jpg


11. Face

48289366697_5b26994f5e_b.jpg


12. Horse

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13. Fan

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14. Pump

48289363427_cb2330b533_b.jpg


15. Chatterley Whitfield

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Thanks for looking and huge thanks to @Saltburndan1971 for both showing me around and for cracking this in the first place.
 
Last edited:

pirate

Rum Swigger
28DL Full Member
The hydraulic roof supports are nuts.

I’ve seen old videos of guys crawling between them mining out a seam of not more than a foot........not pleasant work
 

The Amateur Wanderer

28DL Regular User
Regular User
I knew it!! Now I need another visit!

Nice job, it looks great.

Give us a shout mate, leave in 2 weeks and it's on the list!

Excellent report, I don't think there's actually a single thing relating mining that this place is missing, all the mines and pits I've done over the years just seem to all merge into this place!
 

ChatWhit

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Are these photos recent, if so we could try and persuade the council to give us access for tours in the future.......
 

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