Here is a description of the lay-out and working of Dawdon Colliery:

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Nearest the gate were the offices - they housed the Manager's Office and Manager's Clerk's - he protected the Manager from pesky callers, and would be a man, not a woman. Also the Under-Manager's. They all concentrated on organising underground work, that is, the production process. Also there would be a Training Officer alias Personnel Officer, the Draughtsman's Office and Administrator's Office (he was in charge over the office staff), the Surface Superintendent (an Under-Manager approaching retirement). On another floor would be the Head Engineer (or Mechanic) and the Head Electrician - they had specialist responsibilities. In fact, quite a lot of Capital Letters in that area. Further in were the Baths - there would be a Bath Superintendent and two helpers per shift (a Boilerman and a Bath Attendant - their job would be to clean the baths, guard the lockers, and so on). Next the Time Office, with the Head Timekeeper and assistants (called time clerks). The same office would house the Head of Wages and his staff. Mechanics and surface workers would clock on and off there, and for the miners, that was where tokens were handed out and collected. So there were racks of cards. But the tokens were kept on one long board, for speed of access - the men would come and pick off their two tokens (identical by number but of different materials, say brassy and silvery). They would hand one in as they went down, and the other when they came up. Then the men went to the lamp cabin to pick up their battery cap lamps - they picked out their own numbered lamp and 'self-rescuer' (a box to clip on the belt, with a filter that could help you breathe for say 20 minutes). Also there were oil lamps for a Deputy (it was his job to test for gas as he went round). Next was the Powder Cabin - there some of the men would collected the 'dets' (detonators); the explosives would be sent in separately in a special wagon (painted red) when there was some special task such as driving roadways. Then the Mechanics' Planned Maintenance Office, where each mechanic would visit an Assistant Engineer to get their instructions for the shift - like what district or face they were needed on. And the Deputies' Room (or 'betting shop' - on account of all the internal telephones in their alcoves). This was where they maintained contact between bank and underground. Any small jobs or equipment needed could be phoned up to here at shift changeover. Then you would reach the tunnel to the shaft. There the miner would be searched for matches, go into the cage and ride to the bottom of the shaft. For surface workers there was a three-shift system, 7am-3pm, 3pm-11pm, and 11pm-7am. This arrangement had a tendency to merge into a single convenient day shift of 8am-4pm, but that was never officially approved. Underground the shift system depended on the pit and the needs at any particular time. At Dawdon, tub-loading started at 12 midnight, the foreshift started at 4.30 am, the dayshift at 8 or 8.30 am, the backshift at 10.30am, and the nightshift at 3.30pm. They would be about seven and three-quarters hours each. Dayshift was the one most favoured. Generally you would work a shift one week, then change, but men on supplies, for example, could work a permanent nightshift if they asked to. Or if there was a special job to finish, you would stay with that shift till it was done. Every shift was a coaling shift (except for maintenance periods, which were Friday night to Sunday night). But when it was slacker, they wouldn't get coal at night - the overnight shift (4pm-4am) would become the maintenance shift. Or similarly, they would lay one face off, and coal 24 hours a day on some other faces during refitting the idle one. It depended a lot on the Manager. Then there were the workshops. At Dawdon these were the Pipe-Fitters' Cabin (2 dozen men in all, spread out to work through the pit) - they looked after the underground water pipes - pumping water out, bringing clean water in for cooling the coal-cutting machines and the like. There was the Doughty Shop - these were surface-based men who repaired the Doughty props (hand-operated hydraulic props, like jacks). And a Painters' Shop - they produced all manner of DON'T notices, and repaired windows, and so on. The Joiners' Shop was very important - there was a sawyer's room as well - there they cut two-foot by 6-inch chocks into six inch wedges (the chocks were a convenient size to start from). Also they would produce 'mouse-trap' doors (the airlock sort), cupboards, tables, shuttering for concrete, and anything. Wooden props came straight into the pit via the stockyard. Also there were men working on maintenance ('shaftsmen') and blacksmiths ('cagesmiths') - together they looked after the cage and shaft. 'Buntings' were timber guides for the cage. There would be a fitter, too, to look after the windy-power gates (pneumatic ones, that is), the wheels and ropes (wires). Them that specialised in wire ropes were called the blackhand gang. There was a Blacksmith's Shop where they would straighten things that got mangled (not rails, though, they were just replaced) - and do all kinds of repairs. And make all manner hand-made items for the pit (and garden) - there were lifting chains for bank and underground.... There was a bricklaying squad. They could build walls underground if it was needed, and do work on building maintenance on bank. But generally a rough sort of work, nothing fancy. The Mechanics' (or Engineers') Shop was the largest of all. They looked after maintenance on bank and underground and included plumbers, fitters, etc. It covered all the machines from coal-cutters to canteen machines. They would remove gear-boxes and parts for repair, like drive-belts and that. All new machinery had to be dismantled and packed to be sent underground where it was re-assembled. There was a welding shop: they prefabricated pipes, and chutes for where the coal changed from one conveyor belt to another, underground; and repairs - but if possible the damage would be brought to bank and repaired there. There was a Compressor House - that was serviced from the Engineers' Shop. It held three compressors, one working, one standing-by, and one being maintained. This provided the power for the cages, for the coal-cutting machines, the windy-picks. There would be three men on 8-hour shifts, for one compressor had to be constantly in action. They kept the place polished and shiny! The compressors were powered in turn by electricity, though before 1960 the power was steam from coal furnaces ('fire-holes'). Also of course the power for the big fans that kept the air in circulation came from here. The Stockyard was for timber (props, chocks, inch packing material for use with props), and wire-mesh, and any stores for underground. They moved them by forklift. The Engineering Stockyard used an overhead crane - here there was heavier gear: railway lines, wire meshing, cable, rolls of belting, all that sort. It had its own railway direct to the shaft. And Loco Sheds: here were the diesel loco's for surface haulage like hauling coal wagons. The Washeries were next - properly the CPP ('Coal Preparation Plant'). It actually started with an Inspection House, a sort of 'dry-cleaning' process - to get some of the stone and dust out of the coal - the dust could be put to use if needed. Then the raw coal was fed by a belt uphill to the top of the washery, washed, screened and de-watered, then graded and loaded into wagons. To give a bit more detail : the coal would drop into a V-shaped wash-box - stone and shale would sink. Then various grids would separate the coal onto special elevators and there would be de-watering screens and classifying screens. The waste water that was left would be re-cycled, you could recover small industrial coal from that and all. The coal meanwhile would go straight into wagons ready for dispatch, or sometimes be diverted to a stockpile. Slurry went directly by pipe into the sea; or was put in settling tanks , when the clarified water was drained off the top, then once a week the residue would be washed down the pipe into the sea. Shale was put in a wagon and tipped over onto the beach. Lastly there was the Granary ('choppy-house') - that was where the ponies' food was kept once, and the oats ground up ready for them, but now it's used by bricklayers. There would have been a Saddlers' Department too, but all that ended in the 1960s with electrification. And there was a canteen, and a really first class medical centre, them next to the baths. The water used to cool the compressors was led into a cooling pool - that was also available as a swimming-pool.
[per T.C.]

Mike Weller