Woodhorn Colliery: Mothergate

Longwall working was developed to allow many men to work at the coalface at one time and comprised hewing, coal-cutting faces and conveyors.

Three tunnels, supported by steel girders, were driven forward from a main roadway. A coalface was formed each side of the central tunnel, or Mothergate, and was accessed from each of the outer tunnels, or barriers. Conveyors ran along each coalface and through the Mothergate. Tools and equipment were brought to the coalface through the barriers and coal was taken away through the Mothergate.

The coalface was temporarily propped and, as it moved forward each day, the space left behind by removing the coal was packed with waste stone and allowed to collapse. Twelve fillers would have worked on each face with a deputy in charge, as well as two sets of cuttermen.

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