Kent Coalfield
The Coalfields Trust defines the Kent Coalfield as the wards of Barham Downs and Marshside in the Canterbury district, and the wards of Aylesham, Eastry, Eythorne & Shepherdswell, Middle Deal & Sholden, Mill Hill and North Deal in the Dover district.
[1] Coal was discovered in the area in 1890 while borings for an early Channel Tunnel project were taking place; the resultant Shakespeare colliery lasted until 1915.
In the early years many collieries were sunk, and the East Kent Light Railway was built to exploit the anticipated business.
Extensive plans had been drawn up by 1914 for major coal exploitation in east Kent, and the coalfield expanded rapidly in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with its maximum output reached in 1936.
Had coal been more easily accessible, the open, rural landscape of east Kent could have changed beyond recognition.
Godwin-Austen put forward his views in 1857, and they were accepted by Sir Joseph Prestwich, who was a member of the Royal Coal Commission from 1866 to 1871.
They are listed in stratigraphical order with the uppermost/youngest at the top and the lowermost/oldest at the bottom:[6] Test bores were made at the following places:- Standing to the northwest of Deal, this colliery was served by a branch off the Minster to Dover line.
The fact that its owners, the Anglo-Westphalian Kent Coalfield Ltd., had German connections caused questions to be asked in Parliament.
[8] The colliery had an extensive internal standard gauge rail network, connected to the mainline at Snowdown and Nonington Halt.
St Martin, which had been badly damaged when its tanks were left full of water which froze on a winter night, was scrapped.
In the final days before closure the railway was worked by British Rail Class 08 shunter engines.
An accident in 1913 killed three men and destroyed the pumping system, causing the mine to flood and work was abandoned for nine months.
[26] The site was connected to the East Kent Light Railway in 1915 and coal first brought to the surface in March 1916.
A system of tokens was used in the pithead baths and canteen[30] and a lamp check was operated, in common with the majority of pits.
[33][34] A mine at Cobham produced a small quantity of brown lignite, although some bituminous coal had been found.
[15][35] The first test shaft was sunk in 1906, hoping to find the coal seams discovered under Waldershare Park.
[45] The Kent coalfields were deep under the chalk; consequently miners worked under extremely hot and humid conditions.
A medical investigation into an epidemic that affected workers at the coalface noted: There are certain well-recognized peculiarities about the Kent coal mines which may have some bearing on the question.
The men work without clothes and sweat profusely; on an average they drink about six pints of water during a shift.
[46]Mine workers came from the north of England, South Wales and other parts of Britain to find work in Kent the Depression years; some tramped from Scotland.
However, it appears that miners' wives disliked their new environment even more, for they missed the warmth of the traditional mining areas, and local people feared and detested the new immigrants.
