| Summary : The upstanding remains of Haig Colliery, the last deep coal mine to have worked in the Cumbrian coalfield. It includes two engine houses and a power station now all housed within the same building, an assortment of in-situ machinery inside this building, and the surviving steel-framed pithead winding gear and surrounding shed. The main building, which incorporates the two engine houses and the power station, is constructed of brick with slate roofs and has been recently mineral-felted over. The engine houses, which are a mirror image of each other, lie at the north and south end of the main building and are separated by the power station which was extended eastwards in 1936. Number 4 engine house lies at the north end of the building; it contains an overhead crane and a working twin cylinder horizontal single parallel drum steam winding engine built by Bever Dorling and Company Limited of Bradford. This winding engine was installed in 1916 and used to haul men and minerals up number 4 shaft. Number 5 engine house, at the south end of the building, contains internal machinery identical to number 4 engine house. However, its steam engine was installed in 1920 and is larger than that of number 4 engine house. It was used to haul coal up number 5 shaft. The steel pithead winding gear, thought to date to 1917, still survives at this shaft. The power station has been stripped of much of its machinery but a steam turbine compressor engine still remains. Extensive cellars beneath the main buildings contain footing for the engines, the shaftmen's workshop, an emergency generator twin cylinder vertical steam engine, two winches, the main steam reciever for number 4 engine, and the hydraulic power packs for the brakes of each winding engine. Haig Pit was sunk by the Whitehaven Colliery Company between 1914 and 1918. In 1986 Haig Colliery was closed, the shafts capped, the baths, lamproom, washery and other buildings demolished. |