Monkwood Colliery Video.

Taken early 1990’s.

It follows the walk from Lea Bridge to New Monkwood Colliery passing the area where the tramways passed over the footpath.

Then coming back to Old Monkwood Colliery, the terminus for the inclined plane haulage and then on to the then empty waterworks. Passing the end of the branch line.

The Area has now been altered beyond recognition with the colliery buildings being buried and the farm and waterworks under new ownership. And restored and improved.

The Monkwood Collieries. 

This walk covers a few miles and was originally written in 1990, some things have since changed but it is basically the same walk. The starting point is at Lea Bridge around 344754 it is worth noting the inscription under the bridge on Keepers Cottage side, you might have to get your feet wet to see it. 

John Ingman y

Mason & Hugh

Rippon y Thirdbaro 

in 1722

 

 A Thirdbaro was a keeper of the peace or a constable third in line in the local command structure. John Ingham was the mason who built or rebuilt the bridge under the command of Hugh Rippon the constable in 1722. 

Walking from Lea Bridge with your back to the cottages walk to the right towards the small footbridge turn left as you cross over the wooden bridge and bear left and follow the brook on your left is a small square stone building which is possibly the remains of an old sheep dip and a small stone built bridge over the brook, the bridge is made of local stone and it diverts the original footpath over the brook as it comes down from Monkwood colliery. At this point the footpath becomes much wider and appears to be stone paved. 

On the path at 343759 is an embankment lined with local stone this is the remains of the tramway bridge which carried the coal over the footpath from Barlow Lees colliery (343759) to the Old Monkwood or the number one colliery. The footpath is now about twelve feet wide, wide enough for carts and ponies and a little farther on, on the right is the place where the stone for the tramway bridge and footpath was quarried. The footpath climbs uphill and ends up at the colliery. 

The remains of New Monkwood or the number two colliery are at 346760 and are raised about fifteen feet above the ground level and the elevation is built by utilising shale and coal waste. The air shaft feeding to the ventilation chimney can be seen it is constructed out of six and a half foot brick arching sat on top of blocks of stone. (This is now filled in as the roof was collapsing). The upcast shaft is about five feet deep now, red brick lined and about eight foot in diameter. Evidence of other brick and stone buildings can be seen and a little further uphill is the downcast shaft. Off the steepest edge of the hill over to the fields was the other tramway which took the coal from here to the number one colliery. The shafts were over 300 feet deep. 

The colliery is shown as disused in 1919 and not present on maps of 1876. The colliery may have closed around 1881 when the Monkwood colliery company failed. It is also possible that the pit was mothballed and reopened later on.

 There is little to identify that Monkwood number one colliery at 349755 ever existed but the fields at the back of the timber yard once housed several railway sidings for the Monkwood branch line and the coal was loaded here from the collieries which came via two tramways. A walk down the branch line starts from the timber yard, cross the road and you will see that the first part of the old line has been made into a road. The line is well defined with the remains of many rotting rail sleepers are lying about, the walls that bound the line are made from grey-white boulders of slag from the iron or steel process and are now discoloured with age. Off the line comes the Nesfield branch line which serviced the Nesfield colliery nearby. This is a pleasant walk which unfortunately terminates at the Sheepbridge industrial estate.