Geology of Caphouse Colliery, Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK Item Type Article Authors Davies-Vollum, K. Siân; Guion, Paul. D.; Knight, John. A.; Smith, Andrew Citation Davies-Vollum, S. et al, (2016) 'Geology of Caphouse Colliery, Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK' Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 2015-372 DOI 10.1144/pygs2015-372 Publisher Geological Society of London Journal Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society Rights Archived with thanks to Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society Download date 27/09/2021 16:40:57 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10545/620682 1 1 Geology of Caphouse Colliery, Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK 2 K. S. Davies-Vollum1,2, P. D. Guion2, J.A. Knight3 & A. Smith4 3 1Department of the Natural and Built Environment, Sheffield Hallam University, Howard 4 Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB, UK 5 2College of Life and Natural Sciences, University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 6 1GB, UK 7 3Harworth Minerals Consultancy, 2 Church Street, Shirland, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 8 6BJ, UK 9 4National Coal Mining Museum for England, Caphouse Colliery, New Road, Overton, 10 Wakefield, WF4 4RH, UK 11 Correspondence: [email protected] 12 13 Abstract: The National Coal Mining Museum in West Yorkshire affords a rare 14 opportunity for the public to visit a former colliery (Caphouse) and experience at first 15 hand the geology of a mine. The geology at the museum can be seen via the public tour, 16 limited surface outcrop and an inclined ventilation drift, which provides the best 17 geological exposure and information. The strata encountered at the site are c. 100 m 18 thick and are of latest Langsettian (Pennsylvanian) age. The ventilation drift intersects 19 several coal seams (Flockton Thick, Flockton Thin, Old Hards, Green Lane and New 20 Hards) and their associated roof rocks and seatearths. In addition to exposures of 21 bedrock, recent mineral precipitates of calcium carbonates, manganese carbonates and 22 oxides, and iron oxyhydroxides can be observed along the drift, and there is a surface 23 exposure of Flockton Thick Coal and overlying roof strata. The coals and interbedded 24 strata were deposited in the Pennine Basin in a fluvio-lacustrine setting in an 25 embayment distant from the open ocean with limited marine influence. A lacustrine 26 origin for mudstone roof rocks of several of the seams is supported by the incidence of 27 non-marine bivalves and fossilized fish remains whilst the upper part of the Flockton 28 Thick Coal consists of subaqueously deposited cannel coal. The mudstones overlying the 29 Flockton Thick containing abundant non-marine bivalves are of great lateral extent, 2 30 indicating a basin-wide rise of base level following coal deposition that may be 31 compared with a non-marine flooding surface. 32 33 Caphouse Colliery (the National Coal Mining Museum) is situated on the north side of 34 the A642 (Fig. 1), mid-way between Huddersfield and Wakefield [SE 2523 1638]. Strata 35 that may be viewed in the present-day underground roadways extend from just beneath 36 the Joan Coal down to the New Hards (Middleton Main) Coal (Fig. 2). Coal production at 37 Caphouse ceased in 1985 when the mine closed in association with downscaling of the 38 mining industry in the UK. In 1988, the site was re-opened as the Yorkshire Mining 39 Museum with technical support and assistance from the British Coal Corporation. In 40 1995 it was granted national status and became the National Coal Mining Museum with 41 the support of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Heritage Lottery funding in 42 the early 2000s has allowed further development and expansion of the site 43 (https://www.ncm.org.uk/about). The National Coal Mining Museum is one of the few 44 locations in the UK where the public are able to participate in underground tours of a 45 coal mine that are led by former coal mine workers. Public tours take visitors 140 m 46 down the Caphouse No. 1 Shaft to view former workings and exhibits in the New Hards 47 (Middleton Main) Seam workings (Fig.2). In addition to the public workings, it is 48 possible for parties of up to 17 persons to visit by prior arrangement the inclined cross- 49 measures ventilation drift (Figs. 3, 4), which acts as a second egress, and provides a 50 unique educational resource for the study of Coal Measures rocks. 51 This account provides a description of the geology of Caphouse Colliery and 52 summarizes its mining history, as well as giving more general background information 53 that places the mine in the context of the regional geology. It is intended as a guide to 3 54 the geology for visitors to the National Coal Mining Museum and is based in part on 55 information previously published in Guion & Davies-Vollum (2013). 56 57 Brief History of Mining 58 Historical accounts of Caphouse Colliery have been provided by Goodchild (2000) and 59 Schofield (2003), so only a brief summary is included here. A description of the surface 60 features around Caphouse Colliery has been given by Brown & Goodchild (1978). There 61 is evidence for small scale, open pit mining in the area prior to 1515. During the 18th 62 century, the Flockton Thick Coal was initially worked from a series of shallow shafts 63 spaced at 200 to 250 m intervals and later by pillar and stall, but by 1803 the Flockton 64 Thick was exhausted or abandoned. Shaft 17 (also named the Wellington Shaft) 65 corresponds to the present Caphouse winding shaft. Several of the shafts were later 66 deepened to the Flockton Thin Seam (Fig.2), including Shaft 17. By 1850, the Flockton 67 Thin Seam was exhausted, and this shaft, now named Caphouse, was deepened to work 68 the Old Hards (2nd Brown Metals) Seam. In 1876, the Caphouse shaft was deepened 69 again to mine the New Hards (Middleton Main) Seam, which was worked extensively, 70 particularly in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The Furnace Shaft was sunk at the same 71 time to improve ventilation. The top of this shaft, which is covered with reinforced glass, 72 may be viewed in the museum at the start of the public tour. Prior to nationalization of 73 the coal industry in 1947, Caphouse Colliery was part of Denby Grange Collieries Ltd., a 74 group of small collieries centred on the Denby Grange Estate, located 2 km to the WSW 75 of the Caphouse site. 76 Some of the roadways in the public section date from the 1940s and later; others 77 were constructed to develop the underground public displays from the 1980s onwards. 78 In the 1970s, a 1 in 16 roadway (the Caphouse Slit) was driven in a NW direction. This 4 79 enabled the construction of a drift with a 1 in 4 gradient towards the surface in order to 80 allow more efficient removal of coal from the workings (Figs 3, 4). A 1 in 4 drift was also 81 driven downwards towards the NW to connect to the stratigraphically lower Beeston 82 Seam level in Denby Grange Colliery (Figs 3, 4), enabling coal from Denby Grange to be 83 brought to the surface via the drift. 84 Hope Pit is located approximately 600 m SW of the Caphouse Shaft with the two 85 linked underground (Figs 1, 3). The Hope Pit shaft was sunk to the Old Hards Seam in 86 1832, but production was brief. It was deepened in 1840–1841 to the New Hards Seam, 87 with further deepening between 1870 and 1893. Production of coal here also ceased in 88 the 1980s. 89 Much of the coal between the Flockton Thick and New Hards seams was extracted 90 using the traditional hand filling methods described by Schofield (2003), although there 91 are records of pillar and stall extraction in the Flockton Thick and New Hards seams. 92 Coal from Caphouse Colliery is mainly high volatile bituminous coal (Coal Survey 1960; 93 National Coal Board 1965), which was primarily supplied for household use (Addison et 94 al. 2005a). However, the Flockton Thick and New Hards seams in the local area were 95 also used for gas production and coking coal, and the Green Lane Coal was used 96 primarily for coking. According to Wray et al. (1930) and Addison et al. (2005b), the Old 97 Hards Coal was formerly important as a source of sub-anthracite. 98 99 Local geological setting 100 The rocks exposed within the mine and adjacent areas are shown on 1:50,000 101 Geological Sheet 77 (Huddersfield) (British Geological Survey 2003), and recent 102 summaries of the geology of the area have been published by Lake (1999) and Addison 103 et al. (2005a, b). In addition, information gained from opencast working north of the 5 104 colliery has contributed to geological knowledge. More general accounts of the 105 Carboniferous of Britain, and in particular the Pennsylvanian of the east Pennines, 106 include those of Aitkenhead et al. (2002), Waters & Davies (2006) and Davies et al. 107 (2012). 108 109 Structural Geology 110 The mine is within the East Pennine Coalfield (Waters et al. 2009), which extends more 111 than 120 km south from Yorkshire into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and is situated 112 on the eastern flank of the north–south trending Pennine Anticline (Fig. 5), with a 113 regional dip of 2–5° in an easterly direction, although dips may be locally higher, 114 especially near to faults (Addison et al. 2005a, b). Faulting, which has affected both coal 115 depth and mining operations, is extensive and includes both normal and strike-slip 116 faults.