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

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.

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. ❤

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

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.

RIP Maltby and Daw-mill

Hi paddy

Banksman having a bad day.

Happy Birthday Bonio.

The Onsetter's not too bright is he 😵‍💫

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

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

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

What's the pat down for ?

Last pit I ever worked....

Just what was he performing with the slide gate ?

I was at this gig, on the guest list, a fabulous night.

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

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 wish I could like this more than once

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?

brilliant thank you

And you have people on you tube crying because there's only two servers in Starbucks.when there should be three and they can't take the extra workload.when proper men used to work in these places to put food on the table like my father did.you snivelling excuses for human beings

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

I lost count how many times I saw these, amazing band and this song will always be there in my top five songs of all time. Cheers for putting this Video up, brings back a lot of memories.

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

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

i met these 3 before a show when they were in their prime, via the bassist who i seem to remember doing some business with regarding Sisters of Mercy cassettes. brilliant style of music , fun and cool with it.

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

My band Bates Motel had the honour of supporting Billy Bragg at Shepton Mallett back in the mid 90s. He was a top bloke and I'm sure he'd appreciate Ken's excellent rendition.

Another night watchin FD to get our fix before Stockton, if you have never seen them live do it! Great version by Ken of a great folk tune.

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

Great song 👍👍👍👍👍

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

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.

Brilliant video thank you for posting

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

love

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!

All under hundreds of feet of water now

The Banksman made a right fuck of lifting the cage gate...probably a job seller and ex-stay at home picket.

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.

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.

Omg that cage decent, I'd be shiting myself