Old buildings south-west of Pontop Hall
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Description
"I was at first unsure about the former purpose of this long range of brick-built sheds [[3716446]]. They have been extended in a second range towards the photographer at a later period and could have had an agricultural use. However, the presence of many old coal pits in the area, including one in woodland immediately to the left of the building, suggested a former purpose in the coal industry. The extension of the building suggests that the alignment is not necessarily to the track but rather to the line of a distinct tramway that can be traced behind the buildings and through the woodland near their far end. It is likely that this range of sheds was used as stables associated with this tramway which ran south of Pontop Hall to the Brass Thrill Drift just to its east (shown on the 1921 OS map). It also lies close to an extension of the much older Western Way waggonway, which passed to the north of the hall, following the old track along the contour and terminated just west of here at Spring Pit. http://pontvalley.net/cms/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_printable&PAGE_id=29&lay_quiet=1 A recent correspondent (October 2013) provided the following information: "Old buildings near Pontop Hall was originally the stables for the pit ponies used in the pit and drifts. I spent a lot of time at the stables as a young boy and have a few photos, including one (from 1947) with me aged about 3 on a pony with Tommy Trotter, who was the horse keeper at the stables. When I was a boy the ponies were washed in a pond when they finished their shift, but after a lad was drowned in the pond, it was filled in and a wash room added to the stables at the end of the row. The extension to the stables was added by the farm to keep pigs, some time in the late 60s after the mine had closed."" Photo by Andrew Curtis, 2013. -
Owner
Andrew Curtis -
Source
Geograph (Geograph) -
License
What does this mean? Creative Commons License
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Further information
Link: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3707371
Resource type: Image
Added by: Simon Cotterill
Last modified: 2 years ago
Viewed: 282 times
Picture Taken: 2013-10-20 -
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