OMG, I didn't realise just how quick & noisy the cage would be. It must have been terrifying going up & down 100's of feet each day. How the shafts were sunk is beyond me. Huge respect to all the miners who worked in these conditions. Bless all of you & thank you for your service. ❤

Normally on a deep mine the man cage would drop at around 32ft per second. Your ears would repeatedly 'pop' as you dropped. It took me a while to learn how to clear them and it was painful if they didn't. Coming up was easier on them. The coal skip would drop around 48ft per second. A thing to see if you were at the top and watched as it came into line with the discharge hopper. Very fast. If i remember they would put 30 men onto each deck of the skip, could be an uncomfortable squash. So there could be 90 men dropping at one time. As a boy apprentice i was amazed at the engineering. 960mts straight down. All gone forever.

I’m crying just watching this video. Did my father work in such a hell hole just to bring me up. My respect and gratitude to all of you that worked in such terrible conditions.

Great video. Just think of the skill involved in sinking a shift. We will all soon realise how precious the black stuff really is.

I worked there for 26 years, rode the shaft 5 or 6 days a week, at manriding times the decks (there were two decks) would be full and you could end up pressed against the mesh gates, cool in summer, freezing cold with ice in the shaft in winter, it was 1000m deep.

I went down Asfordby, 1500m before it opened, in a huge 6 man open steel bucket Indiana Jones style, all the way to the bottom !! Once the closed the steel cover at the top and your eyes got used to the dark you could see an orange pinprick of light below you. 20 mins later that pinprick was an almighty building site at the bottom of the shaft. Apart from the breeze rushing by there was complete silence on the descent. Periodically huge horizontal galleries would rush by and in the lights you could see bulldozers the size of dinky cars working away which for a moment gave you some idea of the scale of the place before you descended into darkness again. Best day at work I ever had.

I used 2 work at blackhall on the north east coast .. 1700 feet down at 40ft a second and worked 7 mile out under the sea , great 4 a 16year old lad hey :)

My dad moved from Scotland to work at Maltby with his brother in law. My grandad and great uncle also worked down there. I grew up in Dinnington and my dad would have kicked me into next week if I’d become a miner.

Thank god I never had to work down the pit , these miners men , women , and children are and always will be legends.

Great video brings back memories.I worked there for nearly 40 years

Would rather go down a true working deep coal mine to feel the true atmosphere than a museum as the museum isn't that deep, and growing up liking deep coal mining in the early 80s was great as the memories will live forever if you let them.

Thats an incredible descent! I didn't realise just how fast the cage went down, that's certainly faster than any lift!! 😮🤔😊😁😷😎👍

It's fantastic seeing this, a constant reminder of an entire way of life.

What's really fun, is when the power goes off and the fans go down. Then you have to walk from the mining face to the shaft and walk up steps to the surface. This happens occasionally at U.S. mines in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. Actually it's not fun at all.

In this area, West Wales, we still have the shafts but most of the mains and roadways have closed up years ago, at Pentremawr in the Pumpquart seam the floor was lifting up 2ft over a weekend! there was so much pressure in the bigger seams that "outbursts" of gas and fine dust were common and many lost their lives, its sad that coal has now gone but it saves the health problems many had to endure.

My dad worked at Maltby pit till just before the miners strike he retired just before. So too did my 3 brothers. My dad was called Ted Fells before he finished he use to take trainees. Brought back memories. Dad died in 2003

This brought back a few memories. I worked down Treeton and remember going down Maltby pit for a trip when I was doing my training. I remember it being very hot

Brilliant video thank you for posting

I'm a millennial that's never been down a mine before. I come from a working class mining family and have always wondered what they were like. I can't believe how fast those lifts are, I was expecting it to be the same as like a shopping centre or car park. I personally don't like lifts so I think this would definitely have my heart racing 😂

Awesome, was a bugger when you’d be squashed in behind the bloke in front on a Monday morning and he’d been in the colliery club all weekend swilling Banks’s bitter 💨💨💨

I did My First Training at Grimethorpe; There was over thirty of us that Day that were for the First time going to go down a 5000 ft shaft; some of us seemed to be a little timid and others either shit scared or didn't seem to Mind ? I was excited; We all stepped into the Cage and Handed our Tally Cheques as we stepped into the Cage ! The Banksman or Onsetter would Now Pull down the Meshed Gate and begin to wrap the Bell for the Widerhouse to Release the Brake and to Lower the Cage ; Suddenly this Guy of More than six feet seven Inches began to Panic and Scream ! Let Me Out Let Me out !! He Pulled his way to the Front of the Cage and tried to Pull up the Gate as the Cage was speeding its way down to the Bottom three Lads had to Pull him away from off the Gate; 30 seconds Later we were at the Bottom of the Shaft being un-caged; It was obvious this Giant Haystack was terrified and was trembling with fear and so Onsetter told him to get Back onto the Cage: He at First refused saying that he was Terrified in the end four Lads Helped him Back onto the Cage: Now Some Collieries Take coal up in the Cages and or supplies down the Mine shaft; when Lowering Men to their work the Windinghouse slowly Starts to lower the cage down and then simply speed it up; But as for Sending Coal out of the Pit ! One Jerk and the Cage shoots up: two signals are given for each Windup's the Naughty Onsetter singled that it was coal coming up what a scram ; the speed of the Cage made him Crumple onto the Cage deck: He Never went down a shaft ever again

I just saw this video I am a big lift lover I have loved lifts since I was 7 and I have never been down a mine shaft and seeing this video has made me wanna go down one now!

Love it, Cheers.

Worked at Maltby Coliery 1967 to 1972 , 3228 ft depth app ,1076 yds, many trips down for work, occupation collier

Goes past an inset (shaft landing part way down the shaft) at 3-38 I see. When I worked down Moorgreen pit we always got on & off the cage at the Piper seam inset, the cage would be bouncing & swaying as you walked across a screaching loading ramp, I'd always look further down the shaft to the lit up Low Main seam pit bottom a few hundred feet further down & scare myself...

I worked in one of the deepest coal mines in Europe Hem Heath colliery stoke-on-trent and seeing is believing. Looking back wow would love to see it one more time

looks like great fun👍👍

Wonderful video

My father drove a winder in the South Wales coalfield. Pit was 475yds deep and he would turn the pit in 30secs.

DONT GO HOME AND HAVE A BATH!!! hahahaha respect.

2008 wróciły wspomnienia

Swiped my card through that machine a few hundred times 20 years ago :)

brilliant thank you

7:45 when you escaped from Aperture Science (portal 2)

brill jim thanks

Best job in the world 🌎 i still miss it so much.

you can hear and feel the strong breeze coming from the high pressure ventilation fans and the noise and rushing sound from the cage. The cage will move air as it travels very fast down the shaft. the same on the way up.

Shout out to my dad Patrick Birkett who worked very hard at Maltby Pit. Love you

If any one can answer was that No2 or 3 shaft? What was the seam(level) they 1st passed. Then the 2nd one they stopped at then finally the 3rd they got off at? Barnsley, Swallow Wood, Parkgate?

No2 shaft side has changed some what. Did 12 years here straight from school 1980 to 1993 minus 1 year of for strike. No2 run on ropes no1 run on rails

DANG THAT'S FAST

Just what was he performing with the slide gate ?

That’s so far down...... my great uncle committed suicide down a pit shaft and it’s just so sad to think how long it would have taken him to hit the bottom.... I know he most likely would have been dead before he hit the bottom but still.

What year is this?

One mine I worked at would take over 6 minutes to get to the bottom

good video.

Omg that cage decent, I'd be shiting myself

75 Seconds to get to the Bottom of the Shaft The first Few Seconds would go down the shaft One Yard a second and the remainder would be about 35 Yards a second and the Last Remaining Seconds would be 3 seconds a Yard I'm only Guessing but I'd imagine that this Shaft was about 1,700 yards

Would it be possible to use this in a project I'm involved in ?

I love going down mines

Deep...

It doesn't bode well, when you can't even lock the gate (worry)

That wasn't fast they we're faster than that ,the thing was after dropping down the shaft you would probably walk or ride for another 1 1/2 - 2hrs to get to your district

Good god in heaven! That looks like proper good fun! How far down in the earth does that lift go?! And how fast are you falling at??? Jesus! I'd love to abseil down it but I'd probably be there all day!

The only thing I'd be worried about there is that flippin safety gate at the beginning slipping onto my head as I walk into the cage

Should try being in the cage when it trips out going full on and ya left bouncing up and down in the cage, the most frightening experience of my life .many many years being a Miner and it only ever happened once coming to Bank.

RIP Maltby and Daw-mill

Was a lot faster when they wound up coal

Worked at Shelby it was great wen it just stoped for no reason like a bloody yo yo bouncing

Thank you so much, this is something I've never seen, and my dad went down them shaft in my area, thank you so much. Please follow me I'm recreating mines within a game.

How Deep is the shaft ?

Banksman having a bad day.

Do you mind if I use the audio from the elevator for a film I'm making? I need a noise that represents slipping into depression.

Last pit I ever worked....

What's the pat down for ?

This seems slow. Ours was 45ft per second.

I am disapointed because I saw only the lift shaft and not a complete tour into the mine and that is what the film made interesting. Question why not a complete tour into the whole mine and all the rooms and floors? And were is the mines locations and what is his name and speciality?

Buggers int mine shaft!

So what was the point of that guy messing with that gate? He sure seemed to take a long time making sure it was opened perfectly. And what did he do search you?

How deep is that mine?

The Onsetter's not too bright is he 😵‍💫

Eh up yer buggers! Get up them Penine ‘ills !

All under hundreds of feet of water now

Nope......not even for a gold clock would I go down there....I'd be scared fartless!

my dad andrew fletcher commented on this vid i come from maltby