View from the top of No.1 winder's tower (from the North North East) showing No.2 winder's tower and associated service building containing compressor house, Seafield Colliery

Description View from the top of No.1 winder's tower (from the North North East) showing No.2 winder's tower and associated service building containing compressor house, Seafield Colliery

Date 9/5/1988

Catalogue Number A 81747

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 376415

Scope and Content View of Number 2 Winding Tower from top of Number 1 Winding Tower, Seafield Colliery, Kirkcaldy, Fife Seafield Colliery was sunk by the National Coal Board in 1954-66. It was one of five new super-pits and, in its heyday in 1970, employed 2,466 people. It was closed in 1988. Fresh air is sucked into Number 2 Shaft, the downcast shaft as the stale air is sucked out of Number 1 Shaft by extractor fans. The building at the base of the tower is the Compressor House which produces compressed-air to drive the colliery's machinery. Piped steam and compressed air are often used to power coal-mining machinery because it is safer to create power away from coal dust and possible pockets of gas than to risk setting off an explosion with a spark or flame from an engine or motor. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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