Point of Ayr Colliery started with trial borings in 1865 and, at the time of visiting in 1994, was still in production with approximately 188 miners, 30 surface workers, and administrative & clerical support staff.
Nos 1 & 2 shafts were sunk in the 1880s: no.1 is 3.66m (12 feet) in diameter and is currently the `spare? manshaft; no.2 is 2.44m (8 feet) in diameter and, with no.1, is upcast for ventilation. Both shafts have steel headframes. No.3 shaft, 250m (820 feet) deep and opened c1957, is used for men and materials and is surmounted by a pre-stressed concrete headframe. The winding engine house and electric winder date from 1952. The drift was opened in 1987 and is used for coaling via a conveyor. No.3 shaft and the drift are downcast. Currently, there are two ventilation fans: no.1, operational, and no.2 on standby, but with its drive removed. Both are Aeroto screw fans, supplied by Davidson & Co. Ltd, Sirocco Engineering Works, Belfast, and are numbered 61437 and 61438.
There are five workable seams, between 2m and 7m thick and inclined at up to 1 in 4, normally worked out to 3km under the sea and up to 450m below sea bed level. Longwall mining finished completely by October 1993 and currently the pillar and stall method is used, with Joy continuous cutters.
Coal is treated in the Coal Preparation Plant (CPP) and washery on site; 75% of output goes to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station, with the rest going to other power stations, various industrial customers and the domestic market. Normally there are 20-30,000 tonnes of stock at the colliery. Transport off-site is by rail to the power stations and by lorry for the remainder. Generally one 45-wagon train of 1400 tonnes capacity calls each night; it is split into two rakes, each is run twice under the conveyor loader (35-40t capacity surge hopper), the train is remade and moves off site, the whole operation taking about 2? hours.
The main washing facility is a LARCODEMS washer (LARge COal DEnse Medium Separator), where coal and shale are separated. The raw mix is fed into the top of the chamber; a magnetic medium is pumped in under pressure, creating a vortex which separates the coal and shale, coal being removed from the bottom of the chamber and shale from the top.
The 1952 power house is constructed in pre-stressed concrete and contains a turbo-generator, powered by diesel fuel (10,000 litres per day) or methane gas recovered from underground, and two Belliss & Morcom two-stage compressors which supply compressed air for doors, gates, drilling equipment, &c.
(Source: Colliery Manager Peter Redford, Surface & Coal Preparation Plant manager Peter Eastham and field visits by B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, on 27 January 1994 and 18 May 1994)
Point of Ayr colliery closed on 23 August 1996.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 29 January 2016.