Ellerbeck Collieries (ruin)

Once a large colliery server by a specially constructed branch of the LMSR railway the ruins at Ellerbeck are substantial including large, concrete machine plinths, two fenced-off mineshafts and a good number of open manholes, some of which are quite deep - careful here.

The ruins of Ellerbeck Colliers seem to indicate a large complex of what could be mine drainage and possibly filter beds down near the stream, which appears to be a purpose built extension into the brook following the bottom of the large embankment. The main colliery and shafts above. There are many walls and heaps of spoil and strange bits of old machinery scattered through the undergrowth.

The colliery remained active longer that nearby Duxbury Park Colliery and closed sometime in the latter half of the 20th Century.

Nearby a large embankment held the railway line as it passes over the small clough of Eller Brook, which is culverted below. The brook looks a bit polluted and grey here, in contrast to the areas downstream that are rather pretty.

An area to the North - now fields - was open-cast mined with the first coal seam around 7 metres down.

Created: 2  November  2019  Edited: 29  November  2023