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Kent Coalfield
The Kent Coalfield is a coalfield in the eastern part of the English county of Kent. The Coalfields Trust defines the Kent Coalfield as the wards of Barham Downs and Marshside in the Canterbury district, and the wards of Aylesham, Eastry, Eythorne & Shepherdswell, Middle Deal & Sholden, Mill Hill and North Deal in the Dover district.
Coal was discovered in the area in 1890 when abandoned borings for the first Channel Tunnel project were used to investigate the local geology; the resultant Shakespeare colliery lasted until 1915.
In 1911, investigation into whether there was other workable coal was planned. Six 'bore holes' were put down in search of coal (at Rushbourne, Hoads Wood in Sturry, Herne Bay, Reculver, Chitty (which is near Chislet) and Chislet Park near the future site of Hersden). In the early years many collieries were sunk, and the East Kent Light Railway was built to exploit the anticipated business.
Extensive plans had been drawn up by 1914 for major coal exploitation in east Kent, and the coalfield expanded rapidly in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with its maximum output reached in 1936. The outbreak of war and disappointing test results resulted in four collieries surviving: Betteshanger, Chislet, Snowdown and Tilmanstone. Had coal been more easily accessible, the open, rural landscape of east Kent could have changed beyond recognition.
Various geologists, including Robert Godwin-Austen, theorised that the geological conditions in East Kent were conducive to the existence of coal and therefore the potential for coal mining. Godwin-Austen put forward his views in 1857, and they were accepted by Sir Joseph Prestwich, who was a member of the Royal Coal Commission from 1866 to 1871.
The rock sequences found in the "concealed coalfields", all those of the counties of Kent, Berkshire and Oxfordshire have been formally renamed in recent years using terms established for the South Wales Coalfield. Much of the strata now assigned to the Warwickshire Group was formerly assigned to the Upper Coal Measures. The following seams are recognised. They are listed in stratigraphical order with the uppermost/youngest at the top and the lowermost/oldest at the bottom:
Test bores were made at the following places:-
Standing to the northwest of Deal, this colliery was served by a branch off the Minster to Dover line. The colliery opened in 1924, the first coal was raised in 1927. In 1945, the workforce was 2,033, with 1,594 being employed sub-surface and 439 above. Betteshanger was infamously the location of the 1942 Betteshanger miners' strike, the only such action during World War II, which raised much public contempt despite justification. Betteshanger was the last pit to return to work after the 1984–85 Miners' Strike and it closed on 26 August 1989. A few of the buildings survive today.
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Kent Coalfield AI simulator
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Kent Coalfield
The Kent Coalfield is a coalfield in the eastern part of the English county of Kent. The Coalfields Trust defines the Kent Coalfield as the wards of Barham Downs and Marshside in the Canterbury district, and the wards of Aylesham, Eastry, Eythorne & Shepherdswell, Middle Deal & Sholden, Mill Hill and North Deal in the Dover district.
Coal was discovered in the area in 1890 when abandoned borings for the first Channel Tunnel project were used to investigate the local geology; the resultant Shakespeare colliery lasted until 1915.
In 1911, investigation into whether there was other workable coal was planned. Six 'bore holes' were put down in search of coal (at Rushbourne, Hoads Wood in Sturry, Herne Bay, Reculver, Chitty (which is near Chislet) and Chislet Park near the future site of Hersden). In the early years many collieries were sunk, and the East Kent Light Railway was built to exploit the anticipated business.
Extensive plans had been drawn up by 1914 for major coal exploitation in east Kent, and the coalfield expanded rapidly in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with its maximum output reached in 1936. The outbreak of war and disappointing test results resulted in four collieries surviving: Betteshanger, Chislet, Snowdown and Tilmanstone. Had coal been more easily accessible, the open, rural landscape of east Kent could have changed beyond recognition.
Various geologists, including Robert Godwin-Austen, theorised that the geological conditions in East Kent were conducive to the existence of coal and therefore the potential for coal mining. Godwin-Austen put forward his views in 1857, and they were accepted by Sir Joseph Prestwich, who was a member of the Royal Coal Commission from 1866 to 1871.
The rock sequences found in the "concealed coalfields", all those of the counties of Kent, Berkshire and Oxfordshire have been formally renamed in recent years using terms established for the South Wales Coalfield. Much of the strata now assigned to the Warwickshire Group was formerly assigned to the Upper Coal Measures. The following seams are recognised. They are listed in stratigraphical order with the uppermost/youngest at the top and the lowermost/oldest at the bottom:
Test bores were made at the following places:-
Standing to the northwest of Deal, this colliery was served by a branch off the Minster to Dover line. The colliery opened in 1924, the first coal was raised in 1927. In 1945, the workforce was 2,033, with 1,594 being employed sub-surface and 439 above. Betteshanger was infamously the location of the 1942 Betteshanger miners' strike, the only such action during World War II, which raised much public contempt despite justification. Betteshanger was the last pit to return to work after the 1984–85 Miners' Strike and it closed on 26 August 1989. A few of the buildings survive today.