ALL NEW Competition Thread...Last Post WINS ;-)

[naughty.tortie]

Well..... it couldnt be lost forever could it !

So its back... all singing, all dancing... no farting allowed...

May the dirtiest player win 😄




I am first... I WILL BE LAST

[peteryola]

That is most definitely true. 🙂

[cke786]

And speaking of chance; I went walking about in the Gin Pit Village in Astley this Wednesday after work (my hours got reduced for that day), I managed to find most of what I went looking for, albeit without finding my original focus, however on getting back to my car after my rambling through hawthorn bushes and brambles an inch thick and thorns to match, I decided on a whime to go on to another site I had some interest in, despite the threat of incoming rain.

Very glad I did, as I found a lot! It was the site of Kermishaw Nook Pit, found most of the capping for the shafts, deepest of which was about 2832ft in depth.... not sure which one this was, my phone ran out of power earlier on:

[peteryola]

Crikey - that's deep... I hope they fitted that cap securely!!!!!

Is there a plaque on or near it saying what it is?  If not, there should be... local history and all that...

[cke786]

Nope, nothing there at all to say what any of it is!

Also, from a document I read online, there should also be the remains of the Gin Pit heapstead somewhere in the present new village build, I'll be searching for that a little later.

[peteryola]

Well... I would have thought, given the historical importance of the mines to the country and the local communities, that there jolly well ought to be something to explain to people what they're looking at...  It wouldn't even cost much either would it?!

[cke786]

It's Wigan Council, they won't spend a penny on anything outside of Wigan unless they really really really 'REALLY'  have to, even then they drag their feet! Again it's something I could do out of my own pocket, but I don't exactly have much excess cash.

It's a pity I wasn't on any historical journey back in the early 2000s, as the workshops and warehouses for the Gin Pit were still up and around in 2003, I would have gone to take photographs of them before they were torn down to build the new housing estate that's there now.

[peteryola]

Stuff the council - the local history groups could probably easily raise the necessary funding...?  There must balso be more than a few trophy engravers in the area for whom a plaque would be a doddle?

[cke786]

1st I'll have to identify which monument is for which shaft, which I'll do this Saturday, plus do a little clearing with the ol' limb-lopper, plus I'll bring along some hand tools to clear the dirt of some of the ground features, see exctly what they are and their relation to the pit works.

I'll bring my power bank so that my phone won't run out of power and I'll be able to do the whole site, also I want to go back to the site I went to first just around the corner:

[peteryola]

Be careful about digging!!!!!!  We don't know just how well the capping was done...

[cke786]

No probs, I not going to be doing any digging around any cappings anyway, there's the other things around I'm after, like the warehouses, tracks, huts, workshops etc, though I'll probably just brush off the moss from the capping spires.

The Meanley's House was also interesting, unforunately the local louts have been digging out the cobbles, so I'll probably try reseed them and seal them up with lime mortar. Not sure when or why it was demolished, but if my reading is correct, it was built in the 1700s, so the fact there is so much left is a miracle!

[peteryola]

What were the louts doing digging up the cobblestones?  It's not exactly all that easy to do is it?  Would have thought there'd be easier things for them to vandalise!!!!!!!

...and a heads up that I'll be off air for a few days after the weekend.  An ashes scattering mission in a semi-remote area...

[cke786]

Well I went back, though I took my older brother with me, so I didn't do anything much other than walk around showing him the sights. I did do something silly, I lost my footing on a muddy slope, ending up with nearly dislocating my left foot, leaving me limping around since.

[peteryola]

Ouch - do you not wear walking boots when working in these muddy areas?!

[cke786]

I do, but it seems I have little luck escaping from injury 😅

[peteryola]

You are Mr Bump and I claim my £5...

[cke786]

I'll send you an IOU 😁

[cke786]

Anyway, my next targets will be another colliery, as well as a place called Sod Hall.

[cke786]

I'll also hit up the old Tar Works too:

[cke786]

Maybe the old hall today, I'll be near there when I get back from work!

[cke786]

Might as well take the 18000 post 😉