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Gascoigne Wood Mine
Visited 2005
Gascoigne Wood was largest Mine in the Selby Complex, which was made up from five interconnecting deep mines within a 20 mile area. The combined output of these pits was surfaced via the twin drift shafts at Gascoigne Wood where the coal was it was the graded, washed and stored.
The Selby Complex was to be the largest deep mining complex in the world, developed during the 70's the complex provided coal for the nearby coal fired power stations. When it opened heralded as the future of deep mining, providing highly efficient secure energy for the future.
The Complex was privatised along with the remains of the coal industry in the early 1990's when it was run by RJB Mining and then UK coal. The low price of coal led to a reluctance to mine difficult geological areas instead there was a concentration on easy reserves, millions of tonnes of resources were deemed uneconomic and simply ignored. This lead to accusations that the owners were selling out the future of the complex. in 2002 the closure of the complex was announced with production to wind down over the next few years. It was suggested that the mines could be put on care and maintainence securing the resources for the future use but this was rejected and in 2004 the whole complex was closed and the shafts filled.
I have Photographs of the other Selby Mines which I hope will be online soon.
Rail loaders,
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