Wigan Album

Was this part of the Gidlow coal washing plant as I cannot recall it in the 50's & early 60's?

this looks like part of gidlow washer built,1951 on the mineral NCB lines around giants hall, john pit & Standish hall drift,

If you walked down the farm road besides the cemetry at Gidlow near Boars Head, this piece of equipment would be clearly visible in front of you, about half a mile from Gidlow Houses. Not sure when this was demolished though, seem to remember seeing it there in the early 80's.

The structure is a Settling or Settlement Cone. It's a part of the plant that was used to recover the fine particles of coal that remained in suspension in the wash box water. Following the initial coal/dirt separation in the box, the "dirty" wash water would be pumped to the cone where the coal fines would settle, under gravity, to the bottom. They would then be drawn off as a sort of "thick coal soup" and then sent on to mesh screens enabling the separated coal to recovered. The "clean" water would be recirculated back to the wash box. It is possible that the water may have been sent to a Thickener where it would be treated with a flocculant in order to precipitate out the very fine coal particles before finally returning the water to the wash box. I don't know if Gidlow Wash was equipped with a thickener or not.