Published at 15:43, Wednesday, 10 December 2008

WORK on the historic Saltom Pit remains at Whitehaven has been completed and now the old engine house and the surrounding coast can once more be appreciated and accessed by the public.

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Previously the area had been fenced off because the old building were considered a dangerous structure. The buildings, which in the last 10 years have suffered from erosion and vandalism, were in imminent danger of disappearing altogether.

Now efforts to save the scheduled ancient monument for future generations have seen a £175,000 spend on works to make the ruins safe and accessible.

The pit operated between 1729 and 1848 and was the first undersea coalmine in England.

Once minded to leave the structure to the elements, Copeland Council had a recent change of heart over Saltom Pit in the light of major regeneration work to the Whitehaven coastline at South Beach and Haig, in which there is much emphasis on its coalmining history.

The council has worked with partners the National Trust and West Lakes Renaissance, on the Saltom scheme, and received cash help and advice from English Heritage and European funding.

It is the best known surviving example of an 18th century colliery layout. Evidence of the shaft, horse gin, stable, winding engine house, boiler house and chimney, cottages, cartroads and retaining walls, all survive in situ.

Improvements at the site include a new information board explaining its historical significance. A major part of the work was the repair and strengthening of the sea wall to protect the pit head buildings. The access track down to the sea has also been improved.

New oak lintels have been put into the old building to replace damaged ones, brickwork has been supported and steel ties have been put in to strengthen the walls.

But the cliffs that surround the site are just as big a threat as the sea. The whole coastline is on the move and landslips have already buried two-thirds of the old pit-head buildings.

Work to the remains have formed part of the Whitehaven Coast project, in turn part of Whitehaven Regeneration programme, and has been funded by English Heritage, West Lakes Renaissance, the European Regional Development Fund and Copeland Borough Council.

Coun Allan Holliday, portfolio holder for the Coast project, said: “This is now a safe and interesting attraction and we would urge people to go down and see it. This is part of our local heritage as well as being in a lovely secluded setting.”

Jeremy Barlow of the National Trust said: “Saltom is not only a very important part of Whitehaven’s mining heritage but the beach has been a popular attraction for generations of local people. With this work completed it can continue to be a place for visitors and local people to enjoy the fantastic coastal scenery. It’s a beautiful, quiet spot where you feel away from it all.”

Paul Crooks of West Lakes Renaissance said: “The coast element of the Whitehaven Regeneration Programme is now beginning to take shape with works at Saltom and Haig completed, investment approved for Mount Pleasant and further developments anticipated for the old Marchon site.”

There is a section on the Whitehaven Coast website, www.whitehavencoast.org.uk, where you can find out more about the work at Saltom and where you can record your own memories of the site or download any old photos you may have.

Saltom Pit was sunk by Carlisle Spedding, and reached the Main Band coal seam in 1731. At a depth of 840 ft it was the first colliery to use a steam-powered pumping system to allow mining beneath the sea. The use of gunpowder for breaking up rock was also pioneered here.

Coal excavated from Saltom Pit was raised by horse gin to surface, then transported by tram through a tunnel to Ravenhill pit for lifting to the cliff top. Saltom Pit was used as a central pumping station, draining many of the other local mines via a drift driven in the 1790s, and continued in use long after it had ceased to work coal.

A major problem during the sinking of Saltom Pit was methane, or ‘firedamp’. At a depth of 252ft, a large pocket of firedamp was encountered in the mine. Spedding’s innovative solution was to have the gas piped to the top of the pit. The firedamp was then offered for sale for the illumination of Whitehaven.

Spedding experimented with the gas at Saltom Pit, and it was there that he invented the ‘Spedding Wheel’, or ‘Steel Mill, a device for illuminating the coal face and the forerunner of the Davy Lamp. He also introduced an innovative system of ventilation. At one time there was a small pier and staith in Saltom Bay to allow ships to approach for loading.

For over 100 years it led the way in mining technology and innovation. Men, women and children worked below the sea bed to dig a labyrinth of tunnels stretching 2km out from the shoreline.

Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk