HOLE 4: WHEEL OF FORTUNE

COLLIERY PIT HEAD WHEELS:

These large wheels are part of the headframe structure at the top of a mine shaft and are used to raise and lower cages carrying miners, coal and equipment vertically to deep coal seams. Usually made of steel, pit head wheels often had spoked designs for strength and weight reduction and were generally powered by steam.  Cables acting as ropes would wind and unwind to move the lift cages.

RADSTOCK COLLIERY WHEEL:

Outside the Radstock Museum stands the Radstock Colliery Wheel – a significant memorial to the region’s coal mining heritage.

This restored winding wheel originally came from Kilmersdon Colliery, also known locally as Haydon Pit, which was among the last operational mines in the Somerset Coalfield before its closure in 1973.

In 2005, the wheel was incorporated into the Radstock Memorial Gardens, a project designed by New Leaf Studio to commemorate the town’s mining history and its war memorial. The gardens feature a sculptural base for the wheel, created by artist Sebastien Boyesen, providing a contemplative space that honours the community’s industrial past.

Further celebrating this heritage, in 2023, life-size metal silhouettes of miners were unveiled next to the wheel. These figures, designed and installed by Dave and Kate Speed, were part of commemorations marking 50 years since the last mines closed in the County.