South Yorkshire Times — April 26, 1952
Denaby Pit Now Has the Latest in Lamphouses
The new lamphouse at Denaby Main Colliery which has been under construction for about a year was opened last week-end, and has now replaced the old two-storey lamphouse. The new building incorporates a “partial self-service” method of charging and distributing lamps, and is expected to save considerable time and manpower.
It is a single-floored building and the arrangement of lamps for collection, return and charging is such that a man can be in and out of the building in a few seconds. Previously, lamps that had been charged had to be lowered from the first floor of the old building to the floor below, where men waited for them.
The old lamphouse, also, was not big enough to meet the requirements of about 1,400 men out of the pit’s total employed roll of 1,800 who were needing lamps, especially when, perhaps, 800 men would want them for one shift.
The old lamphouse will probably be converted into a time-office. The present time-office in the pit yard is also too small, and no immediate plans have been made for the utilisation of this building.
The old lamphouse has been in use, it is believed, for about 50 years, and it is thought that before that there was another one. And during that half-century it must have seen the charging of millions of lamps.
The construction of a new lamphouse is part of a large scheme for the improvement of the colliery amenities, a scheme which is now more than two parts finished.
It included the provision of a lamphouse, of a treatment centre, and improved bathing facilities. The first two are now in everyday use, and the work on the baths is expected to reach completion next year. At present only the ground floor of the pithead baths is in use and only 1,300 men can be bathed, but when the upper floor is completed the whole complement will be accommodated.