HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

 Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

Caphouse Colleiry.

Caphouse Colliery, Yorkshire.

 A few years ago I visited Caphouse Colliery, originally known as Overton Colliery, near Wakefield in Yorkshire.  It was worked from the 18th century mining coal until it was closed in 1985.  It re-opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum, and later became the National Mining Museum for England.

At the time we had a Cavalier King Charles dog called Suzi, that needed an MRI scan and we had to take her to Dewsbury for it, which isn't far from the mining museum.  We left our dog there for the scan, the process would take a few hours as she would need to be sedated.  My son Michael had driven me there so we decided to visit the mining museum.  Son Michael is a keen photographer like myself.

I've posted the photo's from the visit before but, as I haven't any current pictures, decided to post them again.

There was a reconstruction of a typical miners cottage as you passed through the reception
area.  Very plain and basic with an outside toilet, I liked the cricket bat propped up against
the wall.  Yorkshire is a proud cricket county. 

A collection of miners lamps was in a glass case in reception.

And then outside to the mine area, the iconic "pithead winding gear" dominated the sight.

Small coal trucks that would have been on narrow gauge tracks below at the coal face 
to bring the coal to the pit head and up to the surface.

this is the side of a standard gauge coal wagon, used to take the coal away, mainly to one
of the many power stations in the area.

A conveyor belt to take the graded coal to the waiting wagons to be loaded.

The winding house was where the pithead lift was operated from.

The miners and any equipment were lowered down the pithead shaft on a cable operated
from here and coal was brought up to the surface. 

Another view of the Winding House.

Here you can see the winding cables going from the winding engine, up to the wheel
at the top of the pithead and then they descend down the shaft, lowering the cage.

This lady gave talks on the history of coal mining to visitors.  She insisted I took her photo.

Modern electric miners lamps being charged up between shifts.

This is the engineering workshop and Blacksmith's forge.  It was at the pithead where 
visitors could descend for a trip down the mine.  We didn't go down as the trip lasted for 
two hours and we didn't want to miss the call from the vet to say Suzi was ready for collection.
Cameras, mobile phones and any other electrical equipment wasn't allowed below ground
anyway due to the risk of gas explosions.  So we gave it a miss.

The Pithead Baths.  In the early days the miners had to go home in their dirty clothes  to
get bathed at home.  Usually in a tine bath by the fire.  But then pithead baths were introduced.

The miners had their own lockers which had doors on both sides.  A "dirty side" as seen
here where they would remove their clothing at the end of a shift before showering.
The opposite side was were their clean clothes were to go home in.

The miners bought soap from the shower attendant, as long as they'd remembered the money!

Inside the showers, most of the shower heads had been removed, which  was a shame.

A view along the showers.

Someone forgot their soap!

This controls the temperature of the water from cold, tepid and hot.  I wonder how many
times a workmate turned it to COLD while someone had soap in their eyes!

Coal mining in Britain began in Roman times and became a huge industry during the Industrial Revolution, but it went into decline in the 1970's when the government closed most of the mines.  The last deep-pit coal mine in the UK, Kellingley Colliery  in North Yorkshire closed on December 18th 2015 marking the end of deep-pit coal mining in Gt. Britain.

Panasonic G5 + 14-140 lens.

 

  

Agricultural equipment on display.

 My previous post was of All Saints Church at Saltfleetby.  Across the road from the church is a fascinating display of preserved agricultural machinery.  It's open to the public at certain times but I was allowed to go around to take a few photo's on a day closed to the public.

The leaning tower of All saints Church across the road.

All manner of farm items were on show.

Sack barrows, probably used for sacks of corn.

A strange looking creature made from a camshaft and pistons.

A "Super Dexter tractor".
I only knew that as it says so on the front!

The workshop.

I think this was used for turning newly cut hay to dry out in the sun before collecting.

As I left a sign to South Somercotes, I may go there sometime.

Nikon Z6.2 with 24 - 70mm lens.

All Saints Church, Saltfleetby.

 I posted some photo's taken at Saltfleet Haven a while ago, a short distance away is the village of Saltfleetby.

The parish church there is All Saints, I've always been interested in the small, often redundant parish Churches.  They have a charm of their own, with an atmosphere not found in larger Churches and Cathedrals. 

All Saints Church, Saltfleetby, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Saltfleetby All Saints, Lincolnshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands in the marshland of Lincolnshire, and has a leaning west tower.

The church dates from the 12th century, with alterations and additions in each of the following three centuries, in 1611, and in 1873. Inside are fragments of a building probably dating to about 1150. It was built in the Early English and Perpendicular styles. It was repaired in 1886 by R. J. Withers. The church was declared redundant in November 1973, and was vested in the Redundant Churches Fund (the forerunner of the Churches Conservation Trust) during the same year.

Above info curtesy of Wikipedia.

The tower at this church has been leaning for many years.

The south porch façade appears to lean outwards too.

Inside All Saints the Knave is unconventional as it has central pillars dividing it with
a chapel on either side.  This might be because of alterations and extensions to it in 
the past but I've not seen that before.  There's also no decorated East Window.
I think this south side is a later addition to a smaller church.

The Chancel on the South side has a plain carved screen separating it from the choir area.

A plain table serves as an alter and the latticed gothic window lights it.
A lot of these small country churches have plain glass windows with leaded lights
which I prefer to the usual stained glass sort.   

I don't know what the plant is but there were several around in this Church.
I'm sure someone will advise me what it's called.

A view from the north aisle chapel looking back to the west end of the Knave.

This lovely font stands near the south entrance door.  It's intriguing to think of all the 
Christenings that have taken place here over many centuries. 

More of the plain latticed windows allowing a clean white light into this area decorated
with more of the plants.

Another view from the north west corner looking across the knave. A carved screen separates
the north aisle from a second Chancel, and there is an east window which might suggests
this was the original Knave?

The Eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted a visitor apparently entering the Church?

It's only Popcorn waiting patiently for me to finish.

Nikon Z6.2 with 24 - 70mm lens.