Coal pits

The deep dark pits you see beside you were actually coalpits to feed the boilers which created the steam to drive the Mills. my father used to say there was coal everywhere around this mill and it was used right up until the early sixties when my grandfather installed the first oil fired boiler. If you look deep down into the bottom of the pit you'll of see a sort of Archimedes screw and this was used to draw the coal towards the boiler. every now and again it used to get and blocked apparently it was a terrible job for some poor worker to climb down the ladder and dig out!