One of Brotton Lumpsey Mine in 1920s. Police and Mine security out in force. Possibly linked to the General Strike in 1926, except that after World War I, Constables and Sergeants wore helmets. Eric Johnson suggests they could be Special Constables.

(photo courtesy of Derick Pearson)

Another dawing by Mr Harrison, look at all those pit props carefully drawn.
(image courtesy of Joan Webster nee Robinson)

A lovely clear photograph of Lumpsey mine at Brotton. Some ruins of the buildings still remain with the shaft being capped off.

The Mine Manager and various Officials of Lumpsey Pit.

Standing (L to R): ??, ??, ??, ??, ??.

Seated (L to R): Mr. Clough (Engineer), Mr. Dixon (Manager), ??.

Can anybody name the rest?

Three men in rather a dangerous position, does anyone know when the minehead gear was replaced?

Simons book dates this photo to around 1900

This picture shows work being carried out on the upcast headgear about 1900 which was a wooden construction. It was replaced by a smaller steel structure in 1937.
The headgear over the main drawing shaft was also wooden until 1918 when it was replaced, again by a steel headgear.

Thank you Simon chapman for this information

What more can I say about this photo the heading says it all.

Named and dated again, but can you name any of the men?

A lovely clear photo dated and named.

The caption says where it is and what date it is so who am I to argue?

A lot of tubs waiting to go to the Iron and steel works and the pit props waiting to go down into the mine.

The end of a shift at least that is what I am presuming, as some of the men have logs under their arms these would be the off cuts from the pit props.  Anyone recognise any of the men in this photo?

How much ironstone can one filler get into a tub?  By the look of that tub quite a lot if you know how to load it.

Note that the guy in the background appears to be using a hand-operated rotary drill, a so-called ratchet. The props are deliberately cut to a bit of a point at the base so that if weight started to come on the working place this weaker part of the prop would start to ‘bunch-up’ and therefore give a visual warning.

Once again thank you Simon for the extra information

A lovely photo showing some of the buildings of Lumpsey Mine with four of the workmen.

Not the most charming group of men I have ever seen, I think they must be some of the work force of Lumpsey Mine, can I presume that the man in the middle is a blacksmith?  Gentlemen please correct me if I am wrong.  Not a gentleman to correct me but a lady, now can anyone identify any kin folk?

I think the blacksmith is James Kennedy on the photo, as he was recorded as a Blacksmith in 1911, whilst his brother John was listed as a Platelayer Underground.
The container held by the miner on the right was for carrying water or cold tea; it was known as a ‘Dudley’.

Left to right from the back row:

B Catron; J Wilks; T Clay; W Clay; H Clay; W Marshall; C Bealwall; R Marley; J.W. Marshall; J Walton; J Clay; G Best; S Webb; T Curtley; R Clough; R Peacock; W Cross; T Jackson; J Kennedy; D Annear; T Marshall; J Beadon.

A series of photographs showing Lumpsy Mine, in this one we can see the man bending at the front has put the’ sprag ’into the wheel of the tub to stop it moving, the sprags were very heavy.  Many of the horse leaders had serious accidents throwing the sprag into the wheel of the moving tub, if they didn’t get it right then it often came back onto their legs, we have to remember tht the mines were not level they had to follow the seam of ironstone up hill and down dale.

I’m puzzled by this image – it’s obviously posed, so was it for a training manual?  The ladder on the right looks like a metal ladder, when were they introduced?  The loader is wearing a tin hat (safety helmet, bump hat), so it was after the introduction of the safety helmet, but his colleagues don’t appear to be wearing theirs, so it must have been before they became compulsory.

Can anybody shed some light on the subject?