Monument record 14059 - Bell Pits Adjacent to Danethorn Hollow

Two bell pits and their associated spoil heaps surviving as earthworks. The bell pits were dug to the level of the coal, which was then extracted by cutting out from the base of the shaft and hand winched to the surface. Typically no supports (props) were used, which limited the depth and the extent of the workings. Therefore it is quite typical to encounter sequences of bell pits which follow the line of the coal seam. This method of mining coal was in use from the medieval period till at least the eighteenth century.