Well done Johnnie Walker. This was the first Coalmine in Kent, Shakespeare Colliery 1896.
In January 1843 the South Eastern Railway Company gunpowdered the unstable Cliffs and the spoil was flattened as a base for the Railway Line (the chalk was too unstable to Tunnel through).
In 1881 a shaft was sunk for the Channel Tunnel at this site, but work stopped in case it was used for invasion.
June 1896 sees the first shaft sunk by the Kent Coalfields Syndicate Ltd, but they hit underground water at 303ft. November 1897 a second shaft was sunk and again flooded at 303ft, sadly eight workers drowned. 1902 sees cast iron tubes installed to prevent flooding and Coal was found the following year. By 1907 eight tonnes a day of Coal was produced, but not finacially viable.The colliery was closed in 1909 and placed in the hands of the receiver. Work commenced again in 1910 but it finally closed in 1915 and was sold for scrap in 1918.
