Prior to 1922, the ventilation fans were steam driven. The supply for the fan engines was obtained from a set of boilers located near to the fans at the SW end of the South pit heapstead. There were 4 boilers facing the fan-houses with a single chimney to the rear. Coal was delivered by a short stretch of railway track along the front of the boilers.

  fan-houses and fan-boilers circa 1916 (JST)

View from  the SW around 1918  showing the ventilation fan boiler-house chimney in the fore-ground

A water-colour painting of the colliery shows the chimney for the ventilation-fan boilers to be somewhat different to those of the main boilers. It looks to be round, it has banding and the base appears to be octagonal. The base plinth is  surmounted by round-nosed drip-stone lintels like those on the other chimneys, but the chimney seems narrower and the plinth is noticeably tapered in at its foot.  The over-sailing seems to be similar to that of the other chimneys, with the central round-nosed drip-stones.   This chimney is shown banded but the other chimneys did not have banding at this time.

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05 May, 2009