Re: Christmas photos

a l l y wrote:

>
> "Edgar Iredale" <edgar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:dp2koa$pnt$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> Haven't seen the picture but if that's the conical heap by the railway
>> that
>> you can see from Dearham Bridge Road then I'd call it a tip - a colliery
>> waste tip. Similar to the one that collapsed at Aberfan. Years ago there
>> were lots of these in West Cumberland but it seems most have been removed
>> now. It's made up of rock and other waste separated from the coal. I
>> haven't heard them being called bings before.
>> (Some collierys produced both coal and clay and were able to make bricks.
>> The one at Camerton was another of these.)
>>
>> A slag bank/heap/tip is a different thing. It is formed from tipping the
>> slag which results from iron smelting. There was a big one at Workington
>> running from the works towards the harbour and I well remember seeing the
>> little engine and wagon climbing the bank and tipping the red hot liquid
>> slag which would run down the bank.
>>
> Aha! I always thought tips and slagheaps were the same thing. The ones I'm
> familiar with are the shale bings in West Lothian. Scotland's oil industry
> was started in that area by a chap known as James "Paraffin" Young, who
> discovered that many of the rocks to be found in coal mines also contained
> a lot of oil. He went on to find that the shale in West Lothian was even
> more oily than the Welsh coal mines he had first investigated, and was
> partly responsible for setting up the industry that mined shale. The red
> bings dotted the landscape around Broxburn, Armadale, Bathgate and
> thereabouts throughout my childhood. My dad used to say that if anyone
> could ever find a use for the stuff they'd make a fortune: in the end a
> use was found - hardcore for motorways.
>
> Was there a coalmine at Birkby? Somebody out there ought to know. I know
> about the brickworks - we even have Birkby bricks in our backyard. A
> neighbour, interested in such things, actually offered to buy these odd
> bricks from us - at least the ones on which the word "Birkby" can still be
> clearly seen.
>
> ally

For Birkby Colliery see:-
http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/b075.htm
(There's a link to a list of other nearby collieries there too.)
There was some fireclay produced.

I think Birkby Brick and Tile Works was at the same place as the Colliery
but earlier. It was near Dearham Bridge Station and is said to have used a
drift rather than a pit for obtaining the clay. It's shown on
www.old-maps.co.uk.

Incidentally there was another Birkby's Brickworks somewhere around
Huddersfield which seems to have been a rather larger affair.

Edgar

.