Bell-Pit

Baildon Moor is dotted, or rather pitted, with hundreds of deep conical depressions which are a legacy of the surface and deep coal mining that happened here from medieval times until about a hundred years ago.

Many of the pits are collapsed bell-pits, which as this illustration shows, was a rather hazardous way of extracting coal. More recently it's been suggested that the larger pits, like this one near Dobrudden, are collapsed ventilation shafts for the deep coal mines that were sunk into the moor in the nineteenth century. There's currently a community archaeology project surveying the pits, trying to detect patterns in form and distribution.

If these are ventilation shafts, then at the bottom of the pit is some sort of cap, above a shaft which may be hundreds of feet deep. For that reason, it's generally not recommended to run down to the bottom and jump up and down. Should I ever get around to writing my children's novel, it will be a rip-off of the Weirdstone of Brisingamen involving a child who ignores this advice, and slips into an underworld of old tunnels...

Today also sees the start of a month long Bradford Photo a Day challenge, with each day in April having been given a word for a theme. I'm sure the folk behind it would be delighted if Bradford blippers got involved. Today's word was "digital", and you'll find my offering here.

filling
a pit
with stories
what
lies beneath