IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Harris Grove, ROTHERHAM, S60 8BL

On a reclaimed opencast coal mine site

Scene of Arthur Scargill's famous arrest. Taken in the early '80s.

These look like Worthington Simpson duplex non-rotative pumps. Undoubtedly handling a noxious liquid like tar or some sort of liquor (not single malt Scotch). A nice "mood" shot that captures the ambience of this long defunct site.

I've posted the boosters on the other side of the wall separately. This is a Belliss and Morcom diesel and half hidden to its left is the first of a row of big electric driving motors. We had a pleasant afternoon here amongst the carcinogens - very bracing.

Steam turbine driven exhausters hard at it sucking gas off the battery. Our guide told us these were Richardson Westgarth sets built in 1918, making them very venerable turbo-exhausters. This bit of the site was a little grubby - note the puddles.

This is the coke oven gas booster house with a row of at least six reciprocating compressors. That closest was a Belliss and Morcom and diesel driven. I can't remember who built the others but they were electric motor drive. The driving motors are the other side of the wall on the left. This entire large complex is no more. Grid reference is approximate.

The big structure with an arched opening is the quenching tower. Emerging from the hole is the blue locomotive and attached coke car (lack of smoke suggests this is not containing a freshly discharged (unquenched) load. The round structure with a conical bottom is almost certainly the quenching water header tank. The structure behind is almost certainly the coal conveying plant feeding the bunkers that charge the loading cars running on top of the battery.

This is not the world's largest toaster. This is an empty coke oven after a push. The pusher is to the right. When the door is replaced it will be refilled from above. The incandescent coke has gone out the other end and been carted off for quenching.

The battery. These are the ovens in which coal is anaerobically baked to produce coke. The major byproduct is town's gas with entrained tar etc. The pipe exiting stage right at high level is probably one of the gas mains.

British Steel Corporation coke works that was the site of major "battles" between pickets and police during the 1984 miners' strike. The road and works have both gone but my 1988 Landranger OS map has saved the day. Another series of pictures is definitely in the wrong place. The huge cloud of water vapour (steam is invisible) is a result of a periodic quench. Coke is produced anaerobically and is incandescent when pushed out. It must be rapidly quenched by water sprays or it will just self combust in the air. This quenching is dramatic as can be clearly seen.