According to Keys to the Past, Stublick Colliery is one of the best surviving 19th century collieries in the country. It has a well preserved range of colliery buildings, including an engine house, store and furnace house and chimneys. The colliery worked the small Stublick coalfield and supplied coal to nearby Langley and Blaghill lead smeltmills. The buildings are Grade II Listed Buildings and the site is a Scheduled Monument protected by law. The mine closed in 1926.
There is a pleasing circularity to this arrangement. Turn 180 degrees and on the horizon is Stublick Chimney. A large flue system ran up the hill to the chimney from the nearby Langley smelt mills to vent noxious fumes produced by the furnaces. The chimney is visible on the horizon across Stublick Bog.
Stublick Chimney and the flue are marked on this version of the OS map while the long gone smelt mills were north of the larger reservoir in Langley.
The colliery is unmarked but is adjacent and immediately south of Stublick Farm. The farm is also abandoned but with planning permission for restoration and development to create three dwellings.
At any time this ‘development opportunity’ would demand significant vision and optimism. On a bleak, snowy January, it just seems impossibly daunting.
Apropos of nothing, here is another snowy video from Beaufront Woodhead:
Music: Hero’s Theme by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)
Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/280/h…
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org
Wonderfully atmospheric, Robin.
Thanks Tish – tried a new toy this morning – Adobe Spark (free with Creative Cloud):
https://spark.adobe.com/video/WimvUe4SxFwK3?w=_2208
First quick ‘production’ but could be useful for book promotion on social media.
nice shots
Many thanks Maureen – pretty to look at but not good for golf or motorcycles 😦
smile…
Nice
Many thanks Kelly, much appreciated
You find the most offbeat places, Robin. Thanks for keeping these ghosts alive. Love the tinting on these photos. And the video is so serene.
Thanks Julie – I pass nearby this every time I drive to the golf club (so quite often 🙂 ). By coincidence Allendale appeared in one of our national newspapers today, describing a similar flue and chimney system to the one at Langley – not sure if this link will work outside the UK but here it is anyway:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/23/country-diary-allendale-chimneys-lead-mining-clear-skies-peatland
The link worked. Thanks!
I feel like I’m flying while standing still, watching the video, Robin 🙂 🙂 Saw this the other day and didn’t have time to stop but I loved the chimney.
Many thanks Jo – think you might need to be tested for banned substances 🙂