East Gawber Colliery

Overview

East Gawber Hall colliery north of Barnsley opened in 1856 and was gone before 1922, and the pit itself has been demolished. What survives, on the other side of a disused railway, is its fanhouse: the buried ground plan of the building, the earthworks around it, and above all the evasee, the chimney-like outlet that carried the stale air away, still standing ten metres high. It was scheduled as a monument in 1998.

History

The colliery opened in 1856, and the Durham Mining Museum gives it as closed in 1921; the scheduling description says only that it closed before 1922. For much of its life it had the same ownership as the nearby Wharncliffe Carlton colliery, to which its fanhouse has sometimes been mistakenly attributed. The Mines Inspectors' returns record Craik and Company and then J. J. Edey as owners, with 429 people in 1894, 285 in 1896 and 84 by 1900, raising coking, household and steam coal. The Durham Mining Museum's list of those killed here is unusually full for a pit this size, and the language in it is old: hurriers and byeworkers and corves rather than tub loaders and tubs. James Barlow, a carpenter of 34, put his head over the cage while in the shaft in January 1870. Thomas Evans, a trapper of twelve, fell out of the cage in August 1874. Isaac Birch, a byeworkman of 62, was run over by corves in February 1884, and J. Bryan, a byeworker of 68, was crushed by them a year later. The fanhouse is the reason the site is protected. It housed a Guibal fan, the steam-driven enclosed ventilating fan common in the late nineteenth century, about ten metres in diameter and thought to have gone in between 1875 and 1880 when the colliery shaft was sunk. Stale air was drawn out of the shaft through an inlet passage and expelled through the evasee. Historic England scheduled the remains on 26 July 1998.

Geology

East Gawber worked the South Yorkshire coalfield immediately north of Barnsley, raising coking, household and steam coal. No seam names have been found in the sources read for this record. An iron slag heap survives among the spoil on the monument site.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A colliery shaft sunk, on the scheduling's reckoning, between 1875 and 1880, ventilated by a Guibal fan about ten metres across in a brick fanhouse standing south of the pit on the other side of the railway. The fan was of the enclosed type: stale air came out of the shaft through an inlet passage and was expelled through a chimney-like outlet, the evasee. Shaft depths have not been found in the sources read for this record.

Closure

The Durham Mining Museum gives the closure as 1921. The scheduling description says only that the colliery closed before 1922, and that it has since been demolished.

What remains

The colliery itself is demolished. The fanhouse site lies south of the New Lodge housing estate in scrub and woodland, and is a scheduled monument. The evasee is the most prominent survival, standing to ten metres with a brick wall projecting south-west from its north-west wall. To its south and south-east are other structural and earthwork remains, including a brick structure surviving to 1.2 metres and earthworks associated with a mine shaft, with spoil heaps, an iron slag heap and iron mountings visible around them. The complete ground plan of the fanhouse is thought to survive as a buried feature.

The evasee of the fanhouse, ten metres high, with associated brickwork and earthworks, spoil heaps, an iron slag heap and iron mountings.

Nearby mines

• North Gawber Colliery — 1.7 km NW
• Barnsley Main Colliery — 3.1 km SE
• Carlton Main Colliery — 3.4 km E
• Oaks Colliery — 3.6 km SE
• Woolley Colliery — 5.5 km NW

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The brick fanhouse housed a Guibal fan, a steam-powered enclosed ventilating fan, thought to have been installed between 1875 and 1880 when the colliery shaft was sunk and to have been about ten metres in diameter. Stale air was drawn from the shaft through an inlet passage and expelled through a chimney-like outlet or evasee. ¹
• The earthworks, buried remains and ruins of the fanhouse and its associated structures were scheduled by Historic England on 26 July 1998. The complete ground plan of the fanhouse is thought to survive as a buried feature and to retain information on the building's internal arrangement. ¹
• For much of its lifetime East Gawber Hall colliery had the same ownership as the nearby Wharncliffe Carlton colliery, to which the fanhouse has sometimes been attributed. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) East Gawber Hall colliery fanhouse, 800m north east of Croft Farm — Ancient Monuments, after the Historic England scheduling
2. (secondary) East Gawber Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026