WoodnesboroughWe are indebted to John Drake for the following information about Woodnesborough Colliery:
"The site was the 'Works' shown on the First Series 1:50000 OS sheet at 295 558, on the west side of the Hammill - Woodnesborough road, near Hammill. The buildings were erected around WW1 following the exploration drilling, but no shaft was ever sunk."
Investigation of the area reveals that the colliery buildings were taken over by the Hammill Brick Works, and are still in use today. We will try to obtain pictures of the site in the near future.
The following additional information was supplied by Mark Frost:
"Woodnesborough Colliery is indeed the site of Hammil brickworks (it also had the name Hammil Pit). It most certainly did dig shafts though; the evidence is two 18ft wide shafts still standing in the scrub at the rear of the site, complete with concrete tubbing lining. I don't know how deep they are but they haven't been capped - they are full of water and somehow abundantly stocked with fairground goldfish! The winding shed survives, now incorporated into the kiln building, and close by the two shafts are two substantial colliery buildings (one an engine shed?) which are derelict."
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