Old Workings

Workings that are finished and abandoned, often by an earlier and unrecorded concern, lying unseen near a live mine and commonly full of water or foul air.

Historical usage

The 1849 glossary of the Northumberland and Durham coal trade calls the old workings and airways the waste, and gives them their own men: wastemen, generally old men, employed in building pillars for the support of the roof in the waste and in keeping the airways open, under a master wasteman with some skill in ventilation. Stythe, the carbonic acid gas, was often found in old workings. The same glossary already required boreholes in the faces of drifts in coal or stone for the purpose of exploration in approaching old workings, straight ahead and at an angle. The danger grew as the coalfields aged. Between 1900 and 1980 there were 258 deaths in United Kingdom coal mines caused by inrushes of water, and in 1923 three incidents killed 52 men, the largest at Redding Colliery in Stirlingshire. The Water Dangers Committee appointed in 1924 reported in 1927, and the Mines (Precautions against Inrushes) Regulations followed in 1956. In 1973 two inrushes came in one year: at Lofthouse in Yorkshire, where seven men died when a heading broke into workings abandoned before the law required their plans to be deposited, and at Cynheidre in the Gwendraeth Valley, where a heading approaching the old workings of the neighbouring Pentremawr pit, abandoned in 1966 and allowed to fill with water, was flooded with the loss of one man. The 1979 Regulations that replaced the 1956 ones are still the law, and after the Gleision inrush of 2011 the Health and Safety Executive reminded every mine of them.

How it worked

Old workings threaten a live mine in three ways: the water they hold, the gas they hold, and the ground they have left unsupported. The defence is knowledge and distance. Accurate and up-to-date plans must show where disused workings lie; any working within 37 metres (about forty yards) of them, or within 45 metres of the surface, or near strata likely to hold water or material that flows when wet, is a potentially hazardous area, for which a scheme to prevent an inrush must be drawn up and sent to the inspectorate thirty days before work starts. Within such ground a heading is advanced behind boreholes, front and flank, bored ahead of the face to tap the water or gas before the coal is cut through; a Burnside boring machine was the coalfield tool for boring into old workings to detect water or gas. Where the water cannot be drained in advance a barrier of unworked coal is left between the live mine and the old.

Why it was used

Every coalfield worked for centuries is honeycombed with pits that were sunk, worked out and left, many before anyone was obliged to record them. A heading that holes into one meets whatever has gathered there since. The term matters because so much of the archive's history turns on it: the inrush records, the abandonment plans, the stythe found in the waste.

Risks & limitations

The Cynheidre inquiry found that boreholes could, and often had, missed the old workings they were drilled to find; little was known of the void ratio in old workings, so the volume of water they held was guessed, and the guess was wrong. At Lofthouse the workings that flooded the pit were not on any deposited plan at all. A flooded old working also carries foul air ahead of its water: at Cynheidre a plug of foul air came from the old workings during the inrush.

Regional variation

Waste in the North East, where the wastemen worked it; old workings, old men's workings or old waste elsewhere; disused workings in the Regulations. The hazard is the same in every coalfield and in the metal mines, where a level driven under an older one met the same water.

Related terminology

Abandonment Plan, Bell Pit, Borehole, Chokedamp, Goaf, Inrush, Subsidence

Mines associated with this term

5 examples chosen from 237 linked records — the term page is not an index.

• Auchenharvie Colliery — North Ayrshire (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the history: “…Iron and Steel Company. On 2 August 1895 water burst in from abandoned workings beyond the colliery's eastern boundary and nine people drowned.”
• Browns Folly Mine — Somerset (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the history: “…The southern section runs as several long main routes with the waste stone stacked along the sides of the passages, and there are few…”
• Califat Coal Mine — Leicestershire (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the history: “…changed from Calafat to Califat. In October 1863 water from the old workings of the Limby Hall Colliery burst into Califat and three men were…”
• Catpund Quarries — Shetland Islands (well documented example)
  Named in this record’s current condition: “…extracted bowls, partially cut blocks never detached, and mounds of waste chippings flanking the burn gully are all still clearly visible; a…”
• Cefn Coed Colliery — Neath Port Talbot (well documented example)
  Named in this record’s history: “…winding and workings driven by steam raised on gas drawn from the old workings. Employment peaked at around 1,200 in 1933 and was still over 900 in…”

Disasters associated with this term

5 examples chosen from 85 linked records, most direct relationship first.

• Aberfan disaster, 1966 (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “…that had already been marked on maps since 1874; the saturated waste underwent a sudden liquefaction failure, turning from a solid tip…”
• Aldridge Colliery firedamp explosion (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “On 1 August 1895 an explosion of firedamp that had seeped from old workings killed two stallmen at Aldridge Colliery, in the South Staffordshire…”
• Arkwright Town Methane Evacuation, 1988 (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “Methane rising from the abandoned workings of Arkwright Colliery was found at explosive levels in the terraces…”
• Aspen Colliery inrush, 1909 (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “Water from old workings burst into Aspen Colliery, Oswaldtwistle, on the afternoon of 30…”
• Beamish Colliery explosion, 1891 (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “Two stonemen looking for rails in old workings at Beamish Second Pit were fatally burned on 10 February 1891 when a…”

Sources

1. (primary) Mining Terms (B): glossary of the Northumberland and Durham coal trade, 1849 — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Mining Terms (S): glossary of the Northumberland and Durham coal trade, 1849 — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Mining Terms (W): glossary of the Northumberland and Durham coal trade, 1849 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Preventing inrushes at underground mines (safety alert HID 4-2011) — Health and Safety Executive
5. (secondary) Davies, A. W. (1982). Protection against inrushes in the United Kingdom. IMWA Proceedings 1982 — International Mine Water Association
6. (secondary) Pit Terminology — Healey Hero

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026