The Last Pit

The last working colliery in the North. Mining anthracite coal from an eighteen inch seam with windy picks, shovels and AB cutters. Plans for guided tours.

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

The Last Pit. Creating a new airway at Ayle Colliery. https://t.co/tISobEHkFf via @YouTube

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

It's essential to keep the air flowing to where it is required in a coal mine, even if that means breaking into an old working. Here's a video showing that moment.
A link to the full YouTube video to follow!

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Visitors from @apedaleheritage put in a shift at #TheLastPit this week. R to L, Stephen Sedgewick, a regular visitor, Alex Dainty and Aidan Lee Croft, who came with a lamp and left with a shovel!

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Looks like Christmas but it's actually the first day of Spring. We'll have to keep digging coal! #TheLastPit

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

The Last Pit. Sump and fire at Ayle Colliery.
https://t.co/HXu8J3CyA9
Latest in the trilogy that began with 'Shifting stone' and then 'Hewing coal'. #TheLastPit #BANG! #Coalmining

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@maxmarr @BCLivingMuseum It is available from the mine near Alston in Cumbria. For availability, prices, delivery etc ring the office on 01434 382582.

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Our coal @PitLast is increasingly in demand for #steamengines and machinery. This pile is destined for @BCLivingMuseum, in Dudley. British Coal, British heritage!

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Follow the links to the video footage. Similar conditions to the Alston pits and other of the smaller licensed mines of the period.

[Frank Pleszak @frankpleszak]

40yrs since the last coal mine in Gtr Manchester closed Ludworth Moor Colliery a series of drift mines in Mellor operated 20s to 1981 & then 2yrs as an open cast mine My blog has a clip of the last working day underground on 18 July 1981 https://t.co/QqYl1Mp77j @miningheritage

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@BElliottAuthor Screen shot from a video, no posing involved!

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Shovelling coal under the low. #TheLastPit

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@pbellpainter Don't worry, good roof in the picture.

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@Eden6669 😂😂😂

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@MrStevenMoore @northumbriana @LaingArtGallery He was an inventor, eccentric, charlatan, depending on your pov. Used to walk around the streets of Newcastle with a tortoise shell on his head selling pamphlets.

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@northumbriana @MrStevenMoore @LaingArtGallery And the third brother, William, was quite a character too...

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@Eden6669 Pure quality. Like everything down't pit.

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

A tub approaching a crossroads at Ayle Colliery. #TheLastPit

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

@mccwales We pride ourselves on our powers of innovation!

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Bait time at #TheLastPit. Photo by James Deavin. Usually there is plenty of banter, but everyone clams up when a camera comes out!

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

The Last Pit. 6.30 am at Ayle Colliery, Northumberland Cumbria border. https://t.co/t6a8h8aCHl via @YouTube
This is the latest video on YouTube. It was filmed 2 years ago as part of a bigger project that was abandoned. Watch it and tell us what you think. #TheLastPit

[The Last Pit @PitLast]

Heritage rail sector under threat from mine closure via @railadvent https://t.co/TmlnS4Bc0q
A valid argument for the continuation of small scale coal mining in the UK.