Back in 1929 the Hampshire village of Steep adopted Broompark, which at that time had a population of about seven hundred people. As we know It was a grim period for many, what with serious long term unemployment and poverty.
WB
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Interesting. I suppose i have only scratched the surface on the coal mining side of Broompark. I never knew about the fire in 1904 and never knew that Broompark was then closed as a mine due to a decision that because the coal seams or layers were not very thick it was not worth repairing and re building so it was decided that Broompark was in a good location to be used as just a distribution coal field and coal was sent there by train and stock piled and other trains and lorries carted it out to other destinations.
ReplyDeleteThis would have obviously cut the employment down dramatically leaving many families stranded without an income.
I know when i lived there -(1955 to 63) there was public transport and some of the men traveled to other coal mines and other employment but i am wondering what transport would have been available from the fire and closure of the mine in 1904 - to 1929 other than shank,s pony.
So what did the village of Steep do when they adopted Broompark.??
Was the help in some form of employment or donations of some sort.?
Ron, You are a few years out if you are dating the washery situated outside Broompark where the coal was washed and then sent onwards by rail This Washery had no connections with the colliery at Broompark. It was created to wash and distribute the coal taken from the top seams by opencast mining. There were a number of these opencast sites in the Deerness Valley operating at the same time and all the coal ended up at this Washery The earliest site I can remember was on the left hand side of the road roughly from where Watsons Garage is situated and along to the "rec" at Broompark. Eventually it went over the hill and down towards Aldin Grange and the site was operational for a number of years. It was in opeartion in 1947 when we moved to Victoria Court.
ReplyDeleteBrian Mc
Thanks Brian, anything i post about coal mining here is only taken from what i previously stumbled upon when researching Broompark and i had no idea about the washery or when it started or when it finished.
ReplyDeleteI found an article that stated that new Brancepeth coal decided to close the mine and then use the site as a stock pile area. Trying to find that same article now but having a struggle. My mention of Lorry's also was from an interesting article i came across where someone mentioned the lorry's leaving the site and some having had put extra boards up the sides to carry more coal but as they left the site and drove up the slope to Relly bridge they lost quite a few bits of coal and there was often a black trail of coal and this person claimed they were picking up the fallen bits.
The main gates were right at the bottom of my dads allotments which were the allotments first seen on the left coming up the slope into Broompark from Relly Bridge and straight after dads allotments were 2 adjoined houses which i believe might still stand today.
We had rakes and shovels in my dads brooding- chicken shed and we lifted the fence wire often and there was 2 big piles of -?(i think dad called it slack) so at night we used the rakes to rake the pile and picked out all the bigger bits. We even had a sieve and screened it through small chicken mesh. If we had ever been caught we would have been thrown out of our house. The rent collector was a man called Mr Crossier and my mother said although nice, - he was corrupt and on the take.
I only remember this building on the coal site which i could see from my bedroom window. It obviously is the conveyor system they used to load the trains.
http://www.davidheyscollection.com/userimages/roy-lambeth-67690.jpg
Annoying that this site has no edit option unless it is your own post.
ReplyDeleteForgot to say that this train shot also shows the old village of Broompark and i can see the end of Albert street - George street and also James street in the distance and also East street but the trains smoke has it hidden.