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Hamstead Colliery

If you go onto the link posted by the wonderful Mikejee ( post9 ) you will find a list of all people that worked at the mine. I found a friends dad that worked there in the 50s.
Unfortunately, the site seems to have been stripped of much of its information, but a list of those killed, and other information, is at https://www.dmm.org.uk/pitwork/html/hamstead.htm
 
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Thanks for the photo of the miners digging the air shaft, I have never seen it before.

Lyn, Granddad could be on it but as they all wore caps and they all had a moustashe...

The photo of the mound is so part of living in Hamstead, it's is viewed from the Lane as it was then known, now Hamstead Road. At the foot of the mound there was a Reservoir, or razza to us kids, I was terrified of walking by it and always crossd the road because my naughty cousin would tell me to mind the water rats, and he would pretend he could see them.

I went to the Centenary memorial sevice at St Johns Church at the top of Hamstead Hill, in March 2008. It was very sad and moving and the church was full. The Lord mayor of Birmingham was there and chatting to him I don't think he knew about the disaster until he ws invited to attend.

Sadly I didn't know of the memorial stone dedication, I would have liked to have been there at the ceremony when it was dedicated.
 
Hello Mohawk, I lived in Coleraine Road from 1952 to 1972 and used to get to sleep by watching the overhead cable, with its buckets. The side used to drop away and the coal fell out - better than counting sheep.
Mary
 
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I lived at 88 Coleraine Road when I was born from 1953 for 18 months until my family moved to Sutton. I have a few photo's taken there this one is me in my new pram.The coal tip and cable can be seen in the background.
 
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Hi Maryd
I remember driving under the overhead cableway and now wonder whether they had something under it to stop bits dropping on to the road - I can't remember the exact details.
oldmohawk
 
I remember one day when the cable carrying the buckets had a major breakdown and the buckets crashing into each other and falling off the cables, much excitement for the neighbours in Coleraine Road
Where the cable passed over the Hamstead road they had a wooden trough that was suspended under the cableway to catch any spillage.
 
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Thanks,
I can just see the buckets - first time in 40 years!! Ahh, we all had those prams then didn't we? Proper prams, not like these nimminy pimminy buggies....
I don't remember the bucket crash either, but we were over the other side of the road. Ours was the only house with a garage on the front, because it was on the corner and there was a turn in the road there, making just enough of an angle. My brother still lives there. He must be the resident who has been there the longest - from 1952.
 
I used to drive under the cableway every day in the mid 1960's but these days could not really remember what it looked like. It was over the junction of Hamstead Rd and Old Walsall Rd and the photo below refreshes my memory.
 

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That's a great photo. Brings back lots of memories. Thanks. There was a little post office just on the right, and further towards the camera was a great toy shop where we bought our guns and caps....! Can't remember the name of it but it was our favourite shop! Then there was also a shop my mom used to call the cafe, Lord knows why as it was just a little general store where I remember the huge red bacon slicer and it was the first shop we had seen where you had a basket to put your own goods in.
 
The Post Office was run by the Billing family, a cousin of mine married one of them. By the 50's Ernie Billing had taken over from his mother.
 
Hi, I remember it was absolutely tiny, you practically had to queue up to get in! The toy shop and I think newsagents, the name Andersons came to mind yesterday, but I have no idea if it is right. I remember there were two counters as you entered, left and right and then straight on there was a step up to where the toys were kept.
 
A 1966 view on Hamstead Rd and the colliery winding wheel can be seen on the skyline to the left of the West Bromwich bus. The colliery was closed just before this date.
Hamstead Rd_1966.jpg
 
Ah yes, takes me back. My Aunt lived in Stanton (Avenue?) which was just behind the onlooker on the left.
 
Oh the number 6 West Bromwich bus. I went to Hamstead school during the war years and my mother worked so I used to catch the number 6 up to Hamstead Hill, cut across the field to my aunt in Jayshaw Avenue, have a quick lunch then catch the bus back to school.

A few years ago I went on a nostalgia trip with my sister, we took the train from town, caught a bus in Hamstead and had a ride up to the Hamstead pub for lunch. We found that there is just one of the old miners houses left, right opposite to where I was born in Old Walsall Road in my Nan's house. It was having a refurb, the brewhouse wall was still there in the little fenced in yard and there were radiators in the tiny little rooms and I remember thinking - Imagine that Nan!!
 
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How lovely Di I love going on nostalgia trips. Some times good but also can be very sad. It must have been lovely to see the old miners cottage and be able to take a look inside. My grandma's brother lived in Jayshaw Avenue but I don't remember the number. His name was Thomas Smith, about the most common name in the U.K....HA HA.
 
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