Former hard coal mine in Kamp-Lintfort whose 79-metre winding tower over Schacht I survives as a listed monument and visitor landmark within the Zechenpark.
Zeche Friedrich Heinrich - Schacht I was the primary winding shaft of a major hard coal colliery established in Kamp-Lintfort, on the western edge of the Ruhr coalfield. The mine was founded in 1906 as an Aktiengesellschaft, and shaft-sinking at Schacht I began in 1908 using the freezing method. Production commenced on 1 July 1912.
The French concern Les Petit-Fils de François de Wendel & Cie held a majority stake from 1914 and remained the dominant shareholder until the Ruhrkohle AG absorbed the mine on 1 January 1970. The original timber headframe over Schacht I was replaced between 1955 and 1957 by a concrete winding tower approximately 79 metres high. The colliery was integrated into Bergwerk West in 2002 and ceased production on 21 December 2012.
The winding tower and the associated brick pithead buildings survive as listed monuments. The former colliery site hosted the Landesgartenschau Kamp-Lintfort 2020 and now forms the Zechenpark.
The mining rights over the Friedrich Heinrich field take their name from Friedrich Heinrich Freiherr von Diergardt, who inherited them in 1869. The field was granted its formal designation in 1872. Exploratory drilling between 1901 and 1904 confirmed workable seams, and on 14 August 1906 a French banking group led by Société Générale de Crédit Industriel et Commercial acquired the field and constituted the Aktiengesellschaft Steinkohlenbergwerk Friedrich Heinrich, with its registered office in Düsseldorf. Franz Brenner was appointed mine director and entrusted with the planning and construction of the entire colliery. In 1906 and 1907 the company acquired some 1,200 Morgen of land for the surface works and the accompanying residential settlement.
Sinking of Schacht I began in 1907, with systematic freezing-method work starting in 1908, carried out by the specialist firm Tiefbau und Kälteindustrie, vormals Gebhardt und König of Nordhausen. Temporary timber-frame auxiliary buildings were erected to support the sinking operation, and a narrow-gauge railway was laid to Bahnhof Repelen for materials transport. In 1909, at a depth of 145 metres, a quicksand incursion disrupted work in Schacht I. The difficulties were overcome, and Schacht I reached the Carboniferous strata in 1911 at a depth of 307 metres. The 1. Sohle was established at 400 metres depth. Coal production commenced on 1 July 1912. Schacht I was then developed as the principal winding shaft, while Schacht II served as the ventilation shaft.
The mine had been designed from the outset for the then exceptionally high output of 5,000 tonnes per day. By 1914 daily output had reached 4,300 tonnes with a workforce of around 2,000. The French concern Les Petit-Fils de François de Wendel & Cie acquired the majority shareholding in 1914 and retained it until the formation of the Ruhrkohle AG. A coke plant with five batteries and by-products facilities was built at the Schacht I/II complex in 1913 and 1914. A residential settlement — the Alt-Siedlung Friedrich-Heinrich — was developed on the Lintforter Heide from 1907 onwards and eventually comprised some 2,500 dwellings; it formed the nucleus of the later city of Kamp-Lintfort.
The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 led to the call-up of around half the workforce and a sharp fall in daily output, though production recovered somewhat before the armistice. During the Second World War the surface plant and the housing stock suffered bomb damage, and in early March 1945 operations were halted entirely when power supplies failed. American forces occupied the site on 5 March 1945, and limited production restarted on 18 March 1945.
Post-war reconstruction included the rebuilding of the coke plant between 1947 and 1954 with 160 new ovens; two further batteries were commissioned in 1954. In 1955, with the wash plant extended between 1953 and 1956, the decision was taken to replace the original timber headframe over Schacht I with a concrete winding tower. Construction took place between 1955 and 1957; the tower rose to approximately 79 metres and was equipped with two four-rope skip hoisting installations capable of raising raw coal at a rate designed to reach 24,200 tonnes per day in continuous operation. The tower rapidly became a landmark of the city. The winding engine house attached to Schacht I contains the two electric winding machines, both of which survive. The coke plant was closed in 1978 because the Ruhrkohle AG had excess production capacity.
The Bergbauvermögen of Zeche Friedrich Heinrich passed to the Ruhrkohle AG on 1 January 1970, and the mine was assigned to the Bergbau AG Niederrhein. In 1990 the mine entered a joint production arrangement with Zeche Rheinland, and in 1993 the merged entity was designated Verbundbergwerk Friedrich Heinrich/Rheinland. With the administrative consolidation of the Deutsche Steinkohle AG, Zeche Niederberg was merged with Friedrich Heinrich/Rheinland on 1 January 2002 to form Bergwerk West. The last coal was wound from Schacht I on 21 December 2012, after a production history of exactly one hundred years, and the mine was formally closed on 31 December 2012.
Following closure, the pithead shafts were filled. The demolition of most ancillary plant was completed by the end of 2017. The winding tower over Schacht I and the steel headframe over Schacht II were retained as listed monuments. Following a public consultation in 2017 in which two-thirds of Kamp-Lintfort residents voted for its preservation, the winding tower was conserved in a programme completed in 2019; a viewing platform was installed at approximately 67 metres and the winding machinery made accessible for guided visits. The Fördergemeinschaft für Bergmannstradition linker Niederrhein e.V. operates a mining museum, including a demonstration underground roadway, on the former site. The Landesgartenschau Kamp-Lintfort 2020 was held on the colliery grounds, which have since become the Zechenpark. The Hochschule Rhein-Waal established its Kamp-Lintfort campus on part of the site. The long brick row of workshop, administrative, and welfare buildings along Friedrich-Heinrich-Allee, constructed between about 1908 and 1914, is regarded as a largely unaltered example of early twentieth-century colliery architecture rare in the Ruhr.