Pit Head Gear in Fred's Back Garden

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 5 Feb 2018

As a child growing up in Bolton, Fred Dibnah had been surrounded by pits such as Ladyshore Colliery which led to an interest in mining and he decided to dig a replica coal mine in the back garden of his home with the aim of being able to demonstrate the basic working of an early colliery. He assembled the wooden pithead gear and, using traditional shaft-sinking techniques and the labour of mining friends, a shaft was sunk to a depth of 20 feet into the hillside below his garden and lined with brick (Image]). Fred’s original plan was to sink a 100-foot brick-lined shaft below this into the hillside. At the bottom of the shaft, a horizontal tunnel would have led out to the steep side of the valley below his garden. The intention was to have a narrow gauge railway running along the tunnel, back up the hillside on a rope-hauled inclined plane, returning to the pithead. Problems with planning permission and Fred’s ill-health and death meant that these plans had to be cut back somewhat.

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